San Ygnacio

San Ygnacio (Ignacio), the oldest town in Zapata County, is on the Rio Grande and U.S. Highway 83, thirty miles south of Laredo and fourteen miles northwest of Zapata. It was settled in 1830 by former residents of Revilla (now Nuevo Guerrero, Tamaulipas) under the leadership of Jesús Treviño. The site was in the southwest corner of the original Hacienda de Dolores, a grant made in 1750 by Col. José de Escandón to José Vázquez Borrego, and was named for the patron saint of Guerrero, Saint Ignatius Loyola. In 1830 Treviño built a sandstone home, known as Fort Treviño, 100 by 140 feet. José Villarreal placed a sundial at the home in 1851; the timepiece has become a tourist attraction.

San Ygnacio became a center of trade by the mid-1800s, and the town was the scene of several border skirmishes throughout the years. During the Civil War Confederate troops fought followers of Juan N. Cortina there. In 1890 revolutionary opponents of Mexican president Porfirio Díaz led raids into Mexico from San Ygnacio. And on June 15, 1916, troops of President Venustiano Carranza raided the United States border and fought a United States Cavalry unit there.