Founded by Tomas Sanchez on May 15, 1755, by order of Jose De Escandon, colonizer of Nuevo Santander, this settlement was chartered by the King of Spain and organized as Villa De San Agustin De Laredo in 1767. It was incorporated in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, in 1821, served as a concentration point for the Mexican Army under General Santa Anna during the Texas Revolution, and became the capital of the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1839. General Alexander Somervell temporarily occupied it for Texas in December 1842, and Captain Mirabeau B. Lamar under General Zachary Taylor occupied it for the United States on November 8, 1846. The Texas Legislature incorporated it as the City of Laredo in 1848. During the Confederacy it was the headquarters of Colonel Santos Benavides, and afterward it remained loyal to Old Glory.