Bagdad was a town established in 1848 on the south bank of the mouth of the Rio Grande, in Mexico. Because the town was inside the municipality of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, it was also known as the Port of Bagdad or the Port of Matamoros. It was officially declared non-existent in 1880.
During the American Civil War, the town allied with the Confederate States in its rebellion against the United States. The cotton trade in Bagdad brought together more than 20,000 traders and investors from the United States (Union and Confederacy), England, France, and Germany. This led to the growth of Bagdad from a small coastal outpost into a fully developed town.[1]Ships would anchor in the area off Bagdad and unload their legal goods during the day onto smaller boats, while they waited until nightfall to unload any obvious war materials. These materials were immediately sent to the Texas side and were never officially recorded by the Mexican customs authorities.[1]
When the war concluded, it had a devastating impact on the Port of Bagdad, which was left mostly abandoned. As of 1984, the port had never fully recovered from its decline.[2] Today, nothing remains of the original settlement. However, a small lighthouse is located along the shores of Bagdad Beach about 0.3 km (0.19 mi) east of the former settlement. The resort town of Playa Bagdad is located about 14 km (8.7 mi) to the south.
Irby, James A. Backdoor at Bagdad. El Paso, Texas: Texas Western Press, The University of Texas at El Paso, 1977.
Kearney, Milo, and Anthony Knopp. Boom and Bust: The Historical Cycles of Matamoros and Brownsville. 1st ed. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press, 1991.
Lea, Tom. The King Ranch. Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown, 1957.
McAllen Amberson, Mary M., James A. McAllen, and Margaret H. McAllen. I Would Rather Sleep in Texas. Austin, Texas: Texas State Historical Association, 2003.
New York Herald, July 29, 1865.
Parisot, P. F. Reminiscences of a Texas Missionary. Austin, Texas: Johnson Bros. Printing Co., 1899.
Gonzalez Ramos, Manuel Humberto. Historia del puerto de Bagdad. Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico: Cronista 7 Cartografo de la H., 2004.
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