PASO DE JACINTO. The Paso de Jacinto, a crossing on the Rio Grande, was first discovered by a detail of soldiers on reconnaissance from San Juan Bautista in 1745. The crossing was possibly named for a descendant of Alonso De León named Jacinto De León, who discovered the place where a man on horseback might cross. This site was located near the later land grant made by José de Escandón to Tomás Sánchez de la Barrera y Gallardoqv, who brought four families to the site in 1755 and founded the Villa de Laredo, which gave rise to the town of Laredo. A ferry later operated at the site.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Carlos E. Castañeda, Our Catholic Heritage in Texas (7 vols., Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones, 1936-58; rpt., New York: Arno, 1976). Robert S. Weddle, San Juan Bautista: Gateway to Spanish Texas (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968). J. B. Wilkinson, Laredo and the Rio Grande Frontier (Austin: Jenkins, 1975).
