Texas Historical Marker #04626
Sebastian. Originally part of the San Juan de Carricitos land grant, this townsite later was part of South Texas' famed King Ranch. Sebastian was known as Stillman Town Tract until 1906, when it was renamed to honor an officer of the Rock Island Railroad. In 1914, the Sebastian Realty Company was promoting the town in the hope that it would become a major agricultural center. During the early 20th-century period of lawlessness in South Texas, Sebastian experienced a bandit raid in which two members of the Austin family were killed. (1985) #4626
US 77 & FM 506, Sebastian, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #05089
Stage Coach to the Rio Grande (C.S.A.). About 10 miles east of this site during the Civil War was Paso Real, ferry point on Arroyo Colorado. As early as 1846, stagecoaches had gone over Paso Real Ferry (the name probably meant "The King's Pass"). In the 1860s, the spot had international importance. It was a crossing for the Cotton Road, lifeline of the Confederacy. When Federal coastal blockades had cut off imports and exports for the entire south, this road moved cotton down to Matamoros so that it could be exchanged for guns, ammunition, medicines, cloth, shoes, blankets and many other vital goods. Besides the prized cotton loads that went past Paso Real, the stagecoach connection there was of importance of Confederate and foreign businessmen, government agents, diplomats and army personnel. This was an area of conflict and intrigue. Bandits and army deserters watched the road for stages and cotton wagons to pilfer. Mysterious travelers went this way--sometimes with a pursuing sheriff on the next stage. Of 31 stagelines in Confederated Texas (hauling mail, soldiers, civilians), no other was more vital or more interesting to travel than this through Paso Real. (1965) #5089
US 77 & FM 1018, Sebastian, TX, United States