The U.S. army did pass this way en route to the Rio Grande in March of 1846.
Taylor and his 4,000 troops camp many times during their trek, including a stay somewhere in the vicinity of this marker.
But the marker has not always been at this spot.
This is a Centennial Marker—one of many placed by the State of Texas in 1936 on the 100th anniversary of Texas independence.
At that time, the monument was placed under a tree reported to have shaded Zachary Taylor’s tent in 1846.
In 1978, officials of the Texas Department of Transportation received a request to move the marker several hundred yards to this rest area.
They originally resisted, noting the move would invalidate the words etched in stone.
They changed their mind, when they discovered the monument had already been moved once before, form a positions almost a mile from this spot.
The decision was then made to allow the relocation, and to add a plaque that explained the monument had been repositioned.
The monument was transferred, but the new plaque never was attached.
Whether the monument was ever correct may never be known, but it is fair to say that General Zachary Taylor camped somewhere near here—just not here
For information about Taylor’s march to Rio Grande, enter stop number 602.