Fort Duncan

Before it was a fort the site was Camp Eagle Pass, a temporary post set up at the start of the Mexican War in 1846, and it took Duncan's name on November 14, 1849. There was stone but no timber, and the soldiers who built it, half the labor alongside hired workers, suffered from exposure; one artillery company asked to build its own quarters at its own expense. On June 19, 1864, about 100 men from the area and Piedras Negras attacked the post and took only a few horses. The government finally bought the site in 1894.

What the plaque says

Fort Duncan Established March 27, 1849, by Capt. Sidney Burbank with Companies A, B, and F, First U.S. Infantry. Name honors Col. James Duncan, a hero of the Mexican War. Fort served as a frontier outpost near trail of California emigrants; base of operations against hostile Lipan Apache Indians. In 1851 it became the headquarters of the First Infantry. By 1856 garrison included units of mounted rifles and first artillery. Abandoned May 1859, post was regarrisoned in March 1860 because of border assaults by Juan N. Cortina, desperado of the area. At outbreak of the Civil War, 1861, fort was again abandoned, only to be occupied later as "Rio Grande Station", by Confederate forces. In 1868 Fort Duncan was regarrisoned by the 9th Infantry and headquarters company of 41st Infantry, under Col. William R. Shafter. Seminole-Negro Scouts, organized here Aug. 16, 1870, played a large part in ridding Western Texas of Indians. After 1883, post declined in importance; known as Camp Eagle Pass, it was abandoned about 1900. Mexican border troubles in 1916 again brought reoccupation; its use as a training camp continued during World War I. In 1938 the fort property was purchased by City of Eagle Pass, for use as park and recreation area. (1970)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Duncan Museum — steps away
  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

• Fort Duncan — steps away
• Fort Duncan Infantry Barracks — steps away
• Camp Rabb and Fort Duncan, C.S.A. — 0.2 mi
• Eagle Pass, C.S.A. — 0.4 mi