JULY 4, 1876

It was a hot, humid day as Brownsville prepared to celebrate Independence Day, July 4, 1876. Only 26 years old, Brownsville, like the nation and state it represented, was a product of fire and smoke. Veterans of both the Mexican-American War and the Civil War retained vivid memories of their experiences in the trenches. Though patriotism ran high, there were some among the populace of 6,000 who held sympathies for the Mexican and Confederate causes.

Brownsville was part of the frontier. No train from the north reached the tiny town surviving on the periphery of civilization. Apaches and Comanches roamed the countryside, but their incursions this far south and east were increasingly rare. In Brownsville peace and stability reigned. There had been no terrible epidemics or devastating storms in recent years. Agriculture, cattle and river commerce stabilized the economy. The Rio Grande Railroad ran back and forth to Port Isabel servicing the ships that hugged the Gulf coast from New Orleans to Veracruz.

"It was in August of 1846 on an unusually warm day," mused one of the old timers over breakfast at the Miller Hotel on the corner of 13th and Elizabeth this celebratory morning. "My wife and I, as was customary those days, were taking our evening ride on the river's bank. We lived in Matamoros since there was no Brownsville and the hostilities hadn't yet commenced between the opposing forces. General Zachery Taylor on that afternoon had arrived with his army of occupation to the Rio Grande.

"The thirsty soldiers were splashing in the river. While my wife and I were checking our horses and watching the scene, the American flag was hoisted from a short willow staff on the utmost verge of the river. The flag swung lazily to and fro. How eloquently it appeared to say: 'This is mine!'"

It was a fine parade. A thirteen-gun salute inaugurated the march from the garrison wall at Fort Brown down Elizabeth Street. The infantry and cavalry led the way followed by a Mexican brass band. Two floats, the first with 14 young ladies to honor the original states and the District of Columbia, and the second with 25 beautiful belles to honor the subsequent states, brought proud smiles to the enthusiastic crowd lining the route.

The three Dalzell girls, Irene, Lulu and Julia representing New York, Wisconsin and California, were among the community's leading families contributing to the festivities. Their names resounded with the diversity of this great country: Cummings, Willman, Krausse, Ashheim, Gomila, Angelina, Scanlan, Gerhard, Schottz, Garnier, Ysnaga.

Drawing a mixture of cheers and boos, the mayor, the city commissioners, the Blue Club and the Red Club grinned and grimaced as they walked past their fellow citizens. The participants arrived at the custom's house where J.M. Bailey read the Declaration of Independence "with splendid emphasis and distinctiveness" according to El Ranchero in its coverage of the Centennial.

The official ceremony closed when Colonel John L. Haynes recited A Hundred Years to Come, which concluded with this verse: "We all within our graves shall sleep,/One hundred years to come!/No living soul for us will weep,/One hundred years to come!/And other men our streets will fill,/And other men our lands will till,/And other birds will sing as gay,/And bright the sunshine as today,/One hundred years to come!"