Old Fort Davis C. S. A.

When the Confederates withdrew they left the post with Diedrick Dutchover, a Belgian who had stayed neutral and run a few sheep nearby. Almost at once the Apache leader Nicolás struck. Dutchover, a Mexican woman with two children and four Americans hid on a roof for three days while the post was looted, then on the third night slipped away, all but one sick man, and walked the eighty miles to Presidio, arriving four days later. A stage that arrived the next day found the post ransacked and the sick man dead on the roof.

What the plaque says

Old Fort Davis C. S. A. (Star and Wreath) Confederate supply point and frontier outpost on great military road from San Antonio to El Paso 1861-62. After surrendered by U. S. Army, occupied by detachment 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles. Apaches ambushed patrol from fort under Lt. Mays in Big Bend area August 1861. Used by Texas Confederate troops en route to and from New Mexico-Arizona campaign to stop flow of Gold to North and gain access to Pacific. Two cannons buried nearby on return have never been found. Occupied briefly California Union Cavalry, August 1862. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy. Erected by the State of Texas 1963

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Davis National Historic Site — 0.7 mi
  A frontier post of 1854 to 1891 on the San Antonio-El Paso Road, garrisoned after the Civil War by Black regiments, with its buildings restored to their 1880 look.
• Davis Mountains State Park & Indian Lodge — 2.5 mi
  A 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps park above Fort Davis, with the CCC's Skyline Drive, the white adobe Indian Lodge and a trail down to the old fort.
• Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens — 4.9 mi
  The Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute's grounds south of Fort Davis, with an 18-acre botanical garden, a cactus museum and trails into the desert foothills.
• McDonald Observatory — 9.5 mi
  The University of Texas observatory on Mount Locke, founded with a Paris, Texas banker's fortune, with star parties three nights a week under some of the darkest skies in the country.

More markers nearby

• Confederate President Jefferson Davis — steps away
• Hotel Limpia — steps away
• Jeff Davis County — steps away
• Pioneer Cemetery — 0.5 mi