Camp Rio Frio, C.S.A.

Rio Frio began as about thirty people in eight to ten crude dwellings at the mouth of Leoncita Creek in the fall of 1858. Levi J. Edwards opened the first general store in 1862 and later added a saloon, and the settlement started its first school the same decade. It picked up the name Dog Town in the early 1860s; one explanation says drunken cowboys shooting up the street left about fifteen dead dogs. A post office followed in 1871. The home guard of the plaque was these neighbors, enrolled in the Twenty-ninth Brigade of the state militia.

What the plaque says

Camp Rio Frio, C.S.A. A Civil War home guard post, acting as buffer to protect older settlements from Apaches and bandits. Scattered local men were members of the 29th Brigade, Texas Militia. Picket homes with dirt floors. Diet of prickly pear salad and fruit, Spanish dagger blooms, hominy, turkey, quail and deer meat. Homespun and linsey clothing dyed blue with Brazil root or gold with agarita. Such was local scene the home guard protected. Camp Rio Frio was later Dogtown, then became Tilden. It proved itself in a rugged era. (1964)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Choke Canyon State Park — 12 mi
  A reservoir state park on the Frio River in two units, built after a 1982 dam, with birds, alligators and fishing on land people have crossed for more than 10,000 years.

More markers nearby

• Moses William Hindes — steps away
• Boot Hill Cemetery — steps away
• McMullen County — 0.2 mi
• Tilden — 0.2 mi