PALO ALTO VISITOR CENTER OPENS TODAY
(Please be aware this post was written in 2004 and published at that time in the Houston Chronicle (Houston, Texas) newspaper. Some of the news in this post, therefore, may not be current. Current and future posts on this blog may revisit and update news on this and other posts on this blog. If you have questions and/or suggestions, please send Mic a note using the comment page -Don’t forget to use the orange “subscribe” button to receive new posts-Thanks, Mic)
The National Park Service is celebrating the grand opening today of the Palo Alto National Historic Site visitor center in Brownsville. Texas Governor Rick Perry and other dignitaries will be present to highlight the ceremonies. Signed into law in June 1992 the Palo Alto Historical Site preserves 3,400 acres of land where the first battle of the United States-Mexican War was fought. While there were other battles fought in the United States during the war the Palo Alto site is the only unit operated by the National Park Service and the only one with a primary focus on the Mexican War. The new center features an interpretive exhibit and narrative description of the Battle of Palo Alto and the entire two year international conflict. It incorporates both the origins and consequences of the war with a bi-national perspective. With the opening of the visitor center the Palo Alto Historic Site will be open year round seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information visit the National Park Service website at http://www.nps.gov/paal or call the visitor center at 956-541-2785.
MEXICAN WAR CONFUSED WITH OTHER WARS
The Mexican War was fought between 1846 and 1848 and is an anomaly to many Americans. It is often confused with the Texas Revolution which took place between 1835 and 1836, the Spanish American War which took place in 1898 and the Mexican border skirmishes which were occurring between 1913 and 1916. The war resulted in a number of warfare firsts: It was the United States’ first war fought on foreign soil; it was the first war to be photographed; it was the first war where newspaper correspondents reported from the battlefield; it was the first war where steamboats played an import role; and it was the first major war where West Point Military Academy graduates participated. Readers who had male ancestors between the ages of 18 and 45 living in the United States or Mexico during the Mexican War might well have a Mexican War veteran in their family tree. On the American side approximately 13,000 naval officers and men and 116,000 army regulars and volunteers saw some service in the war. Of the twenty eight states in the Union in 1846 only Vermont, Maine, Connecticut and Rhode Island failed to provide volunteer units. Texas and Illinois sent the most volunteers. Many of those serving from Illinois were reputed to have been unemployed Irishmen. JOIN THE DMWV The Descendants of Mexican War Veterans was formed in 1989 as a national lineage society for historical, genealogical, educational and charitable purposes. The society currently has over 500 members living in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Members are persons interested in the Mexican War or descendants of persons who served on either side of the war either as a regular or volunteer officer, enlisted man or civilian employee. Membership in the DMWV is $30 per year and includes subscriptions to the society newsletter, The American Eagle, and the bi-annual (winter-summer) The Mexican War Journal. For more information about the DMWV and learn how to join write the national society at DMWV, P. O. Box 830482, Richardson, Texas 75082-0482 or visit their website at http://www.dmwv.org. The DMWV national president is William Bozic a world geography teacher at Houston’s Cy-Springs High School. Bozic may be personally contacted by e-mail at texmexfla@yahoo.com .
