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 Banquete Cemetery Posted by:  QuesterMark
N 27° 48.566 W 097° 47.284
14R E 619374 N 3076681
This post-mounted subject marker stands next to SH 44 in Banquete. The cemetery is, according to the marker, 1 mile east.
Waymark Code: WM16DNY
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 07/08/2022
Views: 5
Marker erected by the Texas Historical Commission.
Texas Historical Commission Atlas data:
Index Entry Banquete Cemetery
Address SH 44 E of Banquete
City Banquete
County Nueces
UTM Zone 14
UTM Easting 619223
UTM Northing 3076555
Subject Codes cemetery; women, women's history topics; Irish immigrants/immigration; roads; Civil War
Marker Year 1976
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark No
Private Property No
Marker Location from Banquete take SH 44 about 1 mile east, just past high school to marker on south side of highway
Marker Condition In Situ
Marker Size 27" x 42"
Marker Number: 298
Marker Text:
In June 1832 the colony of Irish families settled along the Nueces River by John McMullen and James McGloin was linked to Mexico by completion of the Matamoros Road. Mexican officials sponsored a fiesta near this site as a goodwill gesture to the colonists. The village that later grew up here was called "Banquete", the Mexican name for the 4-day celebration.
Banquete was settled before the Civil War (1861-65) as a stock raising and horse trading center. During the war, it was an important stop on the trade route to Mexico. Oldest marked grave in Banquete Cemetery (1 mi. E) is that of Joseph P. Madray (b. 1840), a local rancher who was serving in the Confederate Army when he died of typhoid fever, June 2, 1863. Also buried here are other Confederate soldiers and prominent Banquete residents, including members of the Bennett, Elliff, Saunders, and Wright families.
By tradition, the cemetery property was once the site of stockpens belonging to Sally Scull, notorious horse trader and cotton freighter of the Civil War period. Pioneer rancher B.A. Bennett (b. 1824) deeded one acre for the community burial ground in 1910. In the 1950's, another acre was added to the cemetery, which contains about 200 marked graves. (1976)
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Visit Instructions:
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