Editing Van Horn, Texas (section)

==History==
Anglo-Texan<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anglo-American Colonization |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/uma01 |website=The Handbook of Texas Online}}</ref> settlement began in the late 1850s and early 1860s supportive of the [[San Antonio–El Paso Road|San Antonio-El Paso]] [[Butterfield Overland Mail|Overland Mail]] route.<ref>{{Cite web |title=San Antonio-El Paso Mail |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eus01 |website=The Handbook of Texas Online}} For more on the establishment of this route, see {{Cite book |last1=United States Army, Corps of Topographical Engineers |url=https://archive.org/details/reportssecretar01engigoog |title=Reports of the Secretary of War: with Reconnaissances of Routes from San Antonio to El Paso |first2=Joseph |last2=Eggleston Johnston |first3=Francis T. |last3=Bryan |first4=Randolph Barnes |last4=Marcy |first5=William F. |last5=Smith |first6=N. H. |last6=Michler |first7=S. G. |last7=French |first8=W. H. C. |last8=Whiting |first9=James H. |last9=Simpson |publisher=Union Office |year=1850 |location=Washington, DC |access-date=May 22, 2009}}</ref> Although U.S. Army Major [[Jefferson Van Horne]] is believed to have passed near the area in 1849 on his way to take command of what would later become [[Fort Bliss]], the town is instead named for Lieutenant James Judson Van Horn who commanded an army garrison at the Van Horn Wells beginning in 1859. Lieutenant Van Horn's command was relatively short-lived, as the post was seized by [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] forces in 1861 and Lieutenant Van Horn was taken prisoner.<ref>Regarding prisoner exchanges including Lt. Van Horn see January 26, 1862, correspondence from J. P. Benjamin to Major General Benjamin Huger in {{Cite book |last=United States War Department |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7AIVAAAAYAAJ&q=van+horn&pg=PA782 |title=The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Volume III) |publisher=Government Printing Office |year=1891 |location=Washington, DC |page=782 (and others) |access-date=May 21, 2009}}</ref> Settlement was further stimulated by the construction of the [[Texas and Pacific Railway]] in 1881.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Van Horn, Texas |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hgv01 |website=The Handbook of Texas Online}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Van Horne, Jefferson |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fva08 |website=The Handbook of Texas Online}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Cullum |first1=George Washington |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0cstAAAAYAAJ&dq=jefferson-van-horne&pg=PA400 |title=Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.: From Its Establishment, in 1802, to 1890; with the Early History of the United States Military Academy |first2=Edward Singleton |last2=Holden |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin & Company |year=1891 |location=Boston |page=400 |access-date=May 21, 2009}}</ref> The town has several buildings on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] including the [[First Presbyterian Church (Van Horn, Texas)|First Presbyterian Church]] (now Primera Iglesia Bautista), built in 1901.