Fort Ewell

Fort Ewell took its name from Lieutenant Thomas Ewell, killed at Cerro Gordo on April 18, 1847. Captain Andrew J. Lindsey brought two companies of Mounted Rifles to the Nueces crossing in May 1852, and the garrison grew from 149 to 492 men in the first month, its peak. The site proved unhealthful, and the army left on October 3, 1854. Guajoco grew up a mile and a half away; by 1871 it had a saloon, a store, a stage stop and a post office whose first postmaster was William Allen Stewart, called Peg-leg.

What the plaque says

Fort Ewell Established here in 1852, guarded not only the frontier but the main San Antonio and Laredo Road, which crossed the Nueces River at this point, the Huajuco Crossing. The fort was abandoned in 1854, but when La Salle County was organized in 1880 Fort Ewell was its chief settlement. Near this site stood the first court house, a wooden building, later moved to La Mota Ranch. O. Henry came to Fort Ewell for his mail.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Brush Country Museum — 24 mi
  La Salle County's local museum, with a segregated-schools display that sets the scene for the Welhausen School, where Lyndon Johnson taught Mexican American children in 1928-29.
• Chaparral Wildlife Management Area — 25 mi
  A 15,200-acre South Texas brush country research tract in La Salle and Dimmit counties, open to the public in spring and summer, with a short accessible trail and a long ranching past.

More markers nearby

• John M. Ramsey — 17 mi
• Encinal Presbyterian Church — 21 mi
• The Nueces River — 23 mi
• Cotulla's First School — 24 mi