Robert E. Lee House
Rio Grande City, Starr County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Overlooked steamboat dock on Rio Grande, landscape of northern Mexico. Main rooms were walled with military maps of this locality. Used as field quarters by Col. Robert E. Lee, U.S. Army Commandant in Texas, 1860. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This house overlooking a Rio Grande steamboat dock served as field quarters for Colonel Robert E. Lee in 1860, when he commanded U.S. Army forces in Texas along the turbulent Mexican border. Its main rooms were lined with military maps of the surrounding country, reflecting the strategic concerns of the era. Within a year Lee would resign to lead Confederate armies, making his Texas posting one of the last chapters of his prewar career.
Why it matters
The site captures Robert E. Lee in the final months of his U.S. Army service on the eve of the Civil War, a pivotal moment before he became the Confederacy's most famous general.
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Nearby & related markers
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