7 Flags Over Texas?

In a recent entry I provided a listing of the six flags that make up the famous “Six Flags Over Texas.” What is less known, and what many Texans along the southeastern border with Mexico believe, is that there were actually SEVEN flags over Texas. Had history gone a little differently this flag from the Republic of the Rio Grande would have joined the more recognizable list.

Three sections of Mexico split away as a result of Santa Anna’s increasingly dictatorial rule: the Republics of Texas, Rio Grand and Yucatán. The Republic of the Rio Grande existed only briefly for about ten months in 1840, sandwiched between Mexico and the Republic of Texas. It was composed of three Mexican states, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Coahuila claimed a northern border up to the upper Medina River, and Tamaulipas up to the Nueces River. Both claims extended far north of the Rio Grande where the Republic of Texas staked its southern border. For a time this patch of land was in serious dispute, claimed by Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande and the Republic of Texas.

The Republic of the Rio Grande set its capital north of the river in Laredo, in what is now Texas. The Republic failed when the commanding general of its army accepted a position as a brigadier general in the Mexican army. Today there is a museum in what was once the old capitol building in Laredo.

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Image of flag has been released to the public domain at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_the_Republic_of_Rio_Grande.svg

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Image of the area disputed by Mexico, Rio Grande and Texas licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Texas_Mexico_Disputed_Border_1836_to_1848.PNG,
with http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/co&tex1836.htm#currtex
cited as the original source of the edited uploaded material

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