Fort Ringgold
Rio Grande City, Starr County, Texas
Marker Inscription
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of Brevet Major David Ringgold, 4th U.S. Artillery, who died of wounds received at Palo Alto, May 8, 1846 • Troops were withdrawn March 3, 1859 • Reoccupied December 29, 1859 • Abandoned in 1861 • Reoccupied by U.S. troops in June 1865 • General Robert E. Lee passed a few days here in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
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Established in 1848 at Davis Landing on the Rio Grande, this post was named for Major David Ringgold, mortally wounded at the Battle of Palo Alto in 1846 during the Mexican-American War. Its garrison came and went through the mid-19th century—abandoned in 1861, reoccupied after the Civil War—and a young Robert E. Lee passed through in 1856 and 1860 while stationed in Texas. The State of Texas marked the site in 1936.
Why it matters
Fort Ringgold guarded the newly drawn Rio Grande border in the wake of the Mexican-American War, a frontier outpost whose visitors and garrisons touched some of the era's most consequential figures.
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Related people
- · David Ringgold
- · Robert E. Lee
Related events
- · Mexican-American War
- · Battle of Palo Alto
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Rancho Davis
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Fort Ringgold, C.S.A.
Rio Grande City, TX
Early in the Civil War, Confederate Texans under Col. John S. Ford occupied Fort Ringgold on the Rio Grande, a vital link in the chain of posts guarding Texas's vast frontier, coastline, and border. From here commanders like Ford, August Buchel, and Santos Benavides scouted the river, defended ranches, and protected the cotton wagons trading through neutral Mexico for war supplies. Union cavalry seized the fort in late 1863, but Ford retook it in May 1864 and used it as a springboard to recapture Brownsville.