Is Antonio Castillo up to another cheap publicity stunt by wanting to move the Jefferson Davis Boulder in Washington Park moved and renaming the Robert E. Lee Learning Center?
Because these names offend him, Antonio wants to have them erased or removed from the general public.
If he truly finds these names offensive, then his family name, Castillo, should be equally offensive to him.
My research combined with help from the Harlingen chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have discovered that 13 Castillos fought for the confederacy, including three from Laredo, such as Pvt. Cristobal Castillo, age 25, Pvt. Serapio Castillo, 22, and Pvt. Severiano Castillo, 19, under command of Col Santos Benavides of the 33rd Texas Calvary.
One of these Castillos could have been one of your relatives from Laredo that you told me about.
These Castillos were a part of the 42 man Regiment who fought off 200 Union troups at the Battle of Laredo on March 18, 1864 that kept the only major cotton pipeline open from Laredo to Brownsville/Matamorous to Bagdad (Mexican seaport).
The Rio Grande Valley/Laredo played a very important part in the Civil War that included 15 skirmishes, mostly along the river, as well as two major battles: the Battle of Laredo and the last battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Palmito Ranch (Hill).
Texas history has long forgotten the 2,550 Tejanos and Mexican Nationals who fought for the Confederacy, as well as the 958 Tejanos and Mexican Nationals who fought for the Union.
Antonio, we should not judge these soldiers of the Civil War, but honor their bravery and courage for their choices that they felt that they had to make.
And, if you can not do this in your heart and still ashamed of your Civil War relative, then you need to change your family name of Castillo to Castle …
Jack Ayoub Harlingen
