Fort Inge, Camp Dix, C.S.A.

Col. James M. Norris set up Camp Dix on April 4, 1862, at Black Waterhole, where the San Antonio-Eagle Pass road crossed the Frio River, and Capt. John J. Dix Jr. of the Frontier Regiment commanded it. It was one of several camps guarding the Confederate export trains bound for Mexico, and it was abandoned when the regiment was consolidated in March 1864. The war years were hard in Uvalde County: delinquent taxpayers tripled between 1862 and 1863, half the county's school fund went to the war, and for nearly two years the county had no sheriff.

What the plaque says

Fort Inge, Camp Dix, C.S.A. A major road west from San Antonio forked in the area of these forts. One road went toward El Paso, the other to the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass. Travelers heading west "put on their guns" in this region, the start of hostile Indian country, troops from these posts guarded against Indian raids, bandits from Mexico, and marauders. Fort Inge, 4.5 mi. southeast, was on Cotton Road to Eagle Pass over which hundreds of wagons, oxcarts took cotton to Mexico in exchange for vital goods. Part defense line from Brownsville to El Paso. Occupied by volunteer cavalry. (Back of Fort Inge, Camp Dix) Camp Dix, located 7 mi. East. Established in 1862. Part of state frontier defense line a day's horseback ride apart from the Red River to the Rio Grande to protect frontier settlements. Occupied by Texas Frontier Regiment. Although Uvalde County voted 76 to 16 against secession, a number of men joined the Confederate Army. Some, being Unionists, moved to Mexico. The war brought hard times and a rash of Indian attacks. In 1863-64 when Federals held the lower Rio Grande, Eagle Pass became the chief export city for the Confederacy and wagon trains increased along the road. Often without food, clothing, horses, ammunition, the Confederate and State troops, backed by citizens' posses brought a measure of protection to this frontier region. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy. Erected by the state of Texas 1963.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Uvalde Grand Opera House — steps away
  An 1891 Victorian opera house on the Uvalde square with a turret and a dragon weathervane, once owned by John Nance Garner and still staging volunteer theater upstairs.
• Briscoe-Garner Museum — 0.4 mi
  The Uvalde house of John Nance Garner, the vice president who made the office a power in Congress, now a free museum to him and to Governor Dolph Briscoe.
• Fort Inge Historical Site — 2.4 mi
  A county park on the Leona River below a 140-foot volcanic plug, where an army post guarded the new road to El Paso from 1849 to 1869 and Texas Rangers camped after.

More markers nearby

• Early Texas Wagon Yards — steps away
• Uvalde County — steps away
• Kincaid Hotel — steps away
• The Uvalde "Leader-News" — steps away