DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the source, and I'm just the voice carrying it down the road — here's what it says about Fort Inge, Camp Dix, and the country they kept watch over. Now, if you were heading west out of San Antonio in those years, there came a moment — right about here in Uvalde County — where the road forked. One branch pushed on toward El Paso.
The other dropped south to the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass. And whichever fork you took, there was something travelers understood at that split in the trail. This was the spot where you put on your guns.
Because this was where hostile Indian country began. That phrase — put on your guns — isn't my invention. That's what they said.
The marker says it too. Fort Inge sat four and a half miles southeast of that fork, right along what was called the Cotton Road to Eagle Pass. And that road earned its name.
Hundreds of wagons, hundreds of oxcarts rolled along it, hauling cotton down to Mexico and coming back with vital goods — goods the region couldn't do without. Fort Inge was part of a defense line stretching all the way from Brownsville to El Paso, and its volunteer cavalry kept watch against Indian raids, bandits crossing from Mexico, and marauders of every description. Now, seven miles east of here stood Camp Dix — a different post, a different purpose.
Established in 1862, it was part of the state frontier defense line, posts spaced roughly a day's horseback ride apart, running from the Red River all the way down to the Rio Grande. The Texas Frontier Regiment occupied it, tasked with protecting the frontier settlements strung along that long, exposed edge of settlement. Here's where the story gets complicated, and the marker doesn't flinch from it.
Uvalde County voted seventy-six to sixteen against secession. Seventy-six to sixteen. That's not a close vote.
And yet a number of men from this county joined the Confederate Army all the same. Others — Unionists — chose a different path. They moved to Mexico.
The war brought hard times and a rash of Indian attacks both. Then came 1863 and 1864. Federal forces held the lower Rio Grande, and that changed the geography of the Confederacy's trade in a hurry.
Eagle Pass became the chief export city for the Confederacy. Wagon trains increased along this road — the same Cotton Road Fort Inge had always guarded, now carrying the weight of a war. Often without food.
Often without clothing, horses, or ammunition. That's the marker's own accounting of what those Confederate and state troops had to work with. Backed by citizens' posses, they still managed to bring a measure of protection to this frontier region.
A measure. That's an honest word. Not glory.
Not triumph. A measure. The marker calls itself a memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy, erected by the state of Texas in 1963.
And the story it tells is one of a county that mostly said no, a region that suffered anyway, and men who patrolled a dangerous road — armed or half-armed, provisioned or not — while the rest of the world sorted out what kind of country this was going to be.
What the marker says
A major road west from San Antonio forked in the area of these forts. One road went toward El Paso, the other to the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass. Travelers heading west "put on their guns" in this region, the start of hostile Indian country, troops from these posts guarded against Indian raids, bandits from Mexico, and marauders. Fort Inge, 4.5 mi. southeast, was on Cotton Road to Eagle Pass over which hundreds of wagons, oxcarts took cotton to Mexico in exchange for vital goods. Part defense line from Brownsville to El Paso. Occupied by volunteer cavalry. (Back of Fort Inge, Camp Dix) Camp Dix, located 7 mi. East. Established in 1862. Part of state frontier defense line a day's horseback ride apart from the Red River to the Rio Grande to protect frontier settlements. Occupied by Texas Frontier Regiment. Although Uvalde County voted 76 to 16 against secession, a number of men joined the Confederate Army. Some, being Unionists, moved to Mexico. The war brought hard times and a rash of Indian attacks. In 1863-64 when Federals held the lower Rio Grande, Eagle Pass became the chief export city for the Confederacy and wagon trains increased along the road. Often without food, clothing, horses, ammunition, the Confederate and State troops, backed by citizens' posses brought a measure of protection to this frontier region. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy. Erected by the state of Texas 1963.