New grant will promote preservation of Palo Alto site

The role of Brownsville’s Palo Alto Battlefield in U.S. and Mexican history has been acknowledged by the National Park Service with a grant of $26,000 to local historians to study the site with an eye toward appropriate preservation.

The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College are the recipients of the grant, announced last week in Washington.

Michael Scott Van Wagenen, assistant professor of history at UTB-TSC, is excited about the project, which he says will allow him to become a participant in the preservation effort in addition to his more customary role of critical observer of history.

"Working with National Park Service rangers at the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Park and other faculty at UTB-TSC, we will create a cultural landscape inventory," Van Wagenen said, describing how the grant will be used. "This will include above-ground surveys of historical features and geographic information system maps showing the changes in the battlefield over the last 164 years."

The Palo Alto Battlefield, on the north side of Brownsville, was the site of a key battle in 1846 at the outbreak of the U.S.-Mexican War. It helped break the siege by the Mexican Army on what was then called Fort Texas — soon renamed Fort Brown in honor of Jacob Brown who was killed during the siege.

Van Wagenen has been interested in the history of Fort Brown and the Palo Alto battlefield since he was a student at UTB-TSC in the 1990s.

"Professor Tony Knopp took our class out to the site and explained its significance to American history," Van Wagenen said. "I immediately fell in love with the old ruins."

The experience eventually led him to write a book about the U.S.-Mexican War, which he termed the "forgotten war."

"In the book I document the ways this siege has been commemorated over the years, and now I get to be involved in this evolving story in a more intimate way," he said. "I’ve moved from being a critical observer to being an actual participant, and I couldn’t be happier about it."

The Palo Alto Battlefield became a national historic park in 1991, around the same time that archaeologists were studying remnants in the area of Fort Brown because of an expansion in U.S. Customs facilities at the International Bridge.

Van Wagenen is quick to stress the importance in history of both the U.S.-Mexican War and the involvement of Brownsville.

"However you want to interpret the war, it has unquestionably shaped how both the United States and Mexico continue to relate to one another," he said. "All of this had its genesis right here on the banks of the Rio Grande in Brownsville."

Work related to the grant will begin as soon as August and may take about a year, he said.

"This is a collaborative project that will involve the talents of professors Gene Paull, Jude Benavides, and students from UTB-TSC Geographic Information Systems Laboratory," Van Wagenen said. "Long-time community volunteers such as Walter Plitt (who helped bring the national park to Brownsville) will round out our team."

Also participating will be National Park Service rangers Mark Spier, Douglas Murphy and Rolando Garza, who are on staff at the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park here, Van Wagenen said.

The grant is one of 25 announced last week by the National Park Service aimed at preserving significant battle sites.

"These places are symbols of individual sacrifice and national heritage that we must protect so that this and future generations can understand the struggles that define us as a nation," National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis said.

Van Wagenen hopes that with this project in Brownsville he and his colleagues will be able to provide a better understanding of an important historical site and perhaps lead to future plans to preserve and interpret the battlefield.

"It became clear to me during this process that I am just the latest of many individuals over the years who have wanted to help preserve this site," Van Wagenen said. "Anything I accomplish will be built upon a foundation laid by community leaders, historians, and government officials across many generations."