Santos Benavides, son of Jose Jesus and Marguerita Benavides and great-great grandson of Laredo founder Tomas Sánchez, was born in Laredo on November 1, 1823. He married Augustina Villarreal in 1842. Appointed Procurador, administrative agent, of Laredo in 1843, he openly cooperated with the forces of Mirabeau B. Lamar that occupied Laredo during the Mexican War of 1846-48 in an effort to pacify the region. He was elected mayor of Laredo in 1856 and 1857 and Chief Justice of Webb County in 1859. During the Civil War, he raised a company of cavalry at Laredo that defeated Juan Cortina in the Battle of Carrizo in 1861, then became a colonel in command of his own regiment, known as the Benavides Regiment. On March 19, 1864, his regiment successfully defended Laredo with only 42 men against a Union force of more than 200 men. During the late 1860s and 1870s, he engaged in mercantile and ranching activities with his brother Cristobal. He served in the Texas Legislature during the 1880s, was appointed Texas Commissioner to the World's Cotton Exposition in 1884, helped found the Guarache Party, a faction of Laredo's Democratic Party, and died in Laredo on November 9, 1891.