In the spring of 1840, the Republic of the Rio Grande’s demise started. Gen. Artista captured Zapata in the Battle of Santa Rita in Morelos. Zapata was offered amnesty, but chose death.

This place, like the rest of the Rio Grande, wasn’t part of the Republic of Texas that seceded from Mexico in 1836. Only in 1848, after the U.S. invaded Mexico, did it annex the river’s ...