Fort Ringgold

The fort's worst night came in November 1899. Troop D of the Ninth Cavalry, a Black regiment home from Cuba, was posted here and met restrictions and harassment in town. On November 20 the post commander, Lt. E. H. Rubottom, ordered Gatling gun fire between the fort and Rio Grande City after a reported attack. One person was slightly hurt. Investigators called the order unwise but urged no charges, and Governor Sayers backed local demands to move the troops. The army closed the post in 1906 and sold it as surplus in 1944.

What the plaque says

Fort Ringgold Established October 26, 1848, at Davis Landing by Capt. J.H. La Motte, 1st U.S. Infantry, as Ringgold Barracks • • Named in honor of Brevet Major David Ringgold, 4th U.S. Artillery, who died of wounds received at Palo Alto, May 8, 1846 • Troops were withdrawn March 3, 1859 • Reoccupied December 29, 1859 • Abandoned in 1861 • Reoccupied by U.S. troops in June 1865 • General Robert E. Lee passed a few days here in 1856 and in 1860 Erected by the State of Texas, 1936

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Roma Historic District — 13 mi
  A bluff-top Rio Grande steamboat port, now a National Historic Landmark District where Heinrich Portscheller's molded brick and walled stone compounds face Ciudad Miguel Alemán across the river.
• Falcon State Park — 25 mi
  A 576-acre state park at the foot of the Falcon International Reservoir, made by the dam Presidents Eisenhower and Ruiz Cortines dedicated in 1953, known for bass fishing, camping and brush-country birds.
• Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park — 30 mi
  A 587-acre stand of Rio Grande woodland near Mission, once part of a Spanish porción, given to the state by the Bentsen family in 1944 and now headquarters of the World Birding Center.

More markers nearby

• Fort Ringgold, C.S.A. — steps away
• Site of Cortina Battle — 0.7 mi
• The Rev. Gustav Gollbach, O.M.I. — 0.7 mi
• Rio Grande City, C.S.A. — 0.7 mi