Eagle Pass, C.S.A.

Eagle Pass was one of several back doors in a trade the Confederacy at first tried to choke. Early in the war Jefferson Davis's government held cotton back from Europe, hoping shortages would bring British recognition, and asked planters to lend it the proceeds of their crops. Texas had a way around: cotton from counties west of the Brazos could cross the Rio Grande at Brownsville, Laredo or Eagle Pass and travel down to Matamoros, then to the port of Bagdad, where foreign ships took it to Europe in exchange for Enfield rifles, ammunition and percussion caps.

What the plaque says

Eagle Pass, C.S.A. A major terminus of the Cotton Road, customhouse and Confederate port of entry into Mexico 1863-65 when Union forces held lower Rio Grande. Cotton was "lifeblood of the South," Texas its lifeline and storehouse west of the Mississippi. Confederate, state and private agents sent thousands of bales through here to be traded for needed guns, ammunition, clothing, blankets, leather goods and medical supplies. One Arkansas train contained more than 100 wagons loaded with cotton. Arriving from San Antonio over a hot, dusty road threatened by Indians and plagued by bandits, the cotton bales were removed from oxcarts and ferried across the river on barges. It was then sent down the River Road to Matamoros or carried inland sometimes as far as Mexico City. Confederate customs took one-half of all private cotton passing through as export duty, and at one time bales spread from the river bank to the edge of town. Fort Duncan and Camp Rabb, Confederate garrisons, afforded protection for the wagon trains and controlled Eagle Pass which had voted 80 to 3 against state secession. Union sympathizers, renegades and sulkers wanting to avoid the conflict of war fled across the Rio Grande attempting to settle in Mexico. Many slipped back into Texas to prey on wagon trains and isolated ranches. One large party of raiders overcome Fort Duncan and went to attack Eagle Pass. Alerted citizens fighting from behind barricades of cotton bales caused them to flee. Erected by the State of Texas 1963. Erected by the State of Texas 1963.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Duncan Museum — 0.4 mi
  The 1849 river post at Eagle Pass, where the first Black Seminole scouts enlisted in 1870, kept by the city as a park with its old headquarters as a museum.

More markers nearby

• Maverick County — steps away
• Camp Rabb and Fort Duncan, C.S.A. — steps away
• California Camp — 0.3 mi
• Fort Duncan — 0.4 mi