Site of Camp Del Rio

Buffalo Soldiers of Troops D, F and I of the Ninth Cavalry first held the springs as a temporary outpost from November 1875 to January 1876. Beyond the 407 donated acres, the army leased 2,391 acres of grazing land from San Antonio businessman John Twohig and his partner, Augustine Toutant de Beauregard. Over the years the garrison came from the Eighth and Tenth Cavalry and from the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-second, Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry. The post was reoccupied in 1907, and on June 30, 1908, Capt. Casper H. Conrad reestablished it with Troop A, Third Cavalry.

What the plaque says

Site of Camp Del Rio A United State Army post was established in this area on September 6, 1876. Originally known as Camp San Felipe, it was an outpost of Fort Clark (28 mile E), one of a chain of military fortifications constructed to defend isolated settlements of the Southwest Texas frontier. General E. O. C. Ord, Commander of the department of Texas, created the camp to protect the border area from raiding parties of Indians in Mexico who entered Texas to secure horses along the Pecos and Devil's Rivers. In 1880 the San Felipe Agricultural, Manufacturing and Irrigation Company donated land at this site to the United State Government for use as a military reservation. Since the original shareholders of the firm had founded the town of Del Rio, the camp name was changed. The grounds here included officers' quarters, a hospital, bakery, quartermaster's storehouse, and barracks. Later, when it was discovered some of the structures had been built on private property, additional land was leased from the owners. Indians raids in the area had ended by 1890 and the troops were moved to other posts. Camp Del Rio was officially abandoned the next year and the land was later transferred back to the original owners. (1980)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Felipe Creek — 0.2 mi
  The spring-fed creek that made Del Rio, rising from the third largest springs in Texas and running past swimming holes and a hike-and-bike trail through town.
• Whitehead Memorial Museum — 1.1 mi
  A village of old Del Rio buildings set along a working irrigation canal, from an 1870 store to a 1925 doctor's office, with Judge Roy Bean buried on the grounds.
• Val Verde Winery — 1.4 mi
  The family winery an Italian immigrant founded on Del Rio's irrigated land in 1883, which outlasted Prohibition by selling table grapes and kept Texas wine alive into the 1970s.
• Amistad National Recreation Area — 9.3 mi
  The American side of the reservoir the United States and Mexico finished in 1969 where three rivers meet, with painted shelters still reachable by boat when the water allows.

More markers nearby

• Langston School — steps away
• Cal Rodgers and the Vin Fiz — steps away
• Camp Michie — 0.2 mi
• Val Verde County — 0.3 mi