Camp Rio Frio, C.S.A.
McMullen County, McMullen County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A Civil War home guard post, acting as buffer to protect older settlements from Apaches and bandits. Scattered local men were members of the 29th Brigade, Texas Militia. Picket homes with dirt floors. Diet of prickly pear salad and fruit, Spanish dagger blooms, hominy, turkey, quail and deer meat. Homespun and linsey clothing dyed blue with Brazil root or gold with agarita. Such was local scene the home guard protected. Camp Rio Frio was later Dogtown, then became Tilden. It proved itself in a rugged era. (1964)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During the Civil War, Camp Rio Frio was a home-guard post buffering older settlements from Apache raids and bandits, manned by scattered local men of the 29th Brigade, Texas Militia. They lived in dirt-floored picket homes and made do with prickly-pear salad, Spanish dagger blooms, hominy, and wild game, wearing homespun dyed blue with Brazil root or gold with agarita. The camp later became Dogtown and finally the town of Tilden.
Why it matters
While great battles raged elsewhere, posts like this reveal the Confederacy's other war—an unglamorous frontier defense that let remote Texas settlements survive.
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Related events
- · American Civil War
Themes & tags
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