DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Fort McIntosh has to say — and friend, this one earns every word. March 3, 1849. Troops of the 1st U.S.
Infantry march out of Ringgold Barracks under the command of Lieutenant E. L. Viele, and when they find their ground — a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande, half a mile to the northwest — they get to work.
What rises from that bluff is no ordinary camp. It's a star-shaped earthen fortress. Think about that for a moment.
Star-shaped. Built from the earth itself, looking down over the river, staking a claim on the frontier like it meant to stay there a good long while. At first they called it Camp Crawford, after Secretary of War George W.
Crawford. But that name didn't hold. On January 7, 1850, it was changed — to Fort McIntosh.
And the reason behind that name carries some weight. Lieutenant Colonel James S. McIntosh died on September 26, 1847, of wounds he'd received two weeks earlier at the Battle of Molino del Rey, in the Mexican War.
A man honored in stone and timber and Texas caliche, even if he never lived to see the place himself. Through the 1850s, Fort McIntosh became a vital link in the defense system stretching along the Rio Grande frontier. Vital — that's the marker's own word, and it fits.
But nothing out here stayed simple for long. The post was abandoned in March of 1859, reoccupied in January of 1860, then abandoned again in April of 1861, when the U.S. Army pulled out of Texas following secession.
The Civil War came and went, and not long after it ended, Fort McIntosh came back to life — reoccupied, and then moved to this very location in 1869. For years after that, soldiers here were riding escort duty, scouting for raiding Indians and bandits on both sides of the Rio Grande. Up through the mid-1880s, that was the rhythm of this place — watchful, restless, always keeping one eye on the river.
Then came a new century and new trouble. The Fort McIntosh garrison was deployed along the border to prevent incursions by Mexican revolutionaries. And if that wasn't enough to ask of one patch of Texas dirt, the post then served as a training camp for soldiers who went on to fight in both world wars.
Both of them. Fort McIntosh was discontinued as an Army post on June 9, 1947. Ninety-eight years of service.
From a star-shaped earthwork on a river bluff to a training ground for men headed to the far corners of the world — this ground held a lot of history without ever once moving very far from the Rio Grande. Some places earn their markers. Fort McIntosh is one of them.
What the marker says
Established March 3, 1849, by troops of the 1st U.S. infantry from ringgold barracks under command of Lt. E. L. Viele. The star-shaped earthen fortress built on a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande (1/2 mile northwest), was first called Camp Crawford, in honor of Secretary of War George W. Crawford. On January 7, 1850, the name was changed to Fort McIntosh for Lt. Col. James S. McIntosh, who died Sept. 26, 1847, of wounds received two weeks earlier in the Mexican War Battle of Molino Del Rey. During the 1850s, Fort McIntosh served as a vital link in the defense system along the Rio Grande frontier. The post was abandoned in March 1859, reoccupied in January 1860, and abandoned again in April 1861, when the U.S. Army left Texas after secession. Soon after the Civil War, Fort McIntosh was reoccupied and moved to this location in 1869. Until the mid-1880s, soldiers were involved in escort duty and scouting for raiding Indians and bandits on both sides of the Rio Grande. After the turn of the century, the Fort McIntosh garrison was deployed along the border to prevent incursions by Mexican revolutionaries, and the post served as a training camp for soldiers who fought in both world wars. Fort McIntosh was discontinued as an army post on June 9, 1947, after 98 years of service. (1974)