Stagecoach to the Rio Grande, C.S.A.
Rio Hondo, Cameron County, Texas
Marker Inscription
About 10 miles east of this site during the Civil War was Paso Real, ferry point on Arroyo Colorado. As early as 1846, stagecoaches had gone over Paso Real Ferry (the name probably meant "The King's Pass"). In the 1860's, the spot had international importance. It was a crossing for the cotton road, lifeline of the Confederacy. When Federal coastal blockades had cut off imports and exports for the entire South, this road moved cotton down to Matamoros so that it coud be exchanged for guns, ammunition, medicines, cloth, shoes, blankets and many other vital goods. Besides the prized cotton loads that went past Paso Real, the stagecoach connection there was of importance to Confederate and foreign businessmen, government agents, diplomats and Army personnel. This was an area of conflict and intrigue. Bandits and Army deserters watched the road for stages and cotton wagons to pilfer. Mysterious travelers went this way--sometimes with a pursuing Sheriff on the next stage. Of 31 stagelines in Confederate Texas (hauling mail, soldiers, civilians), no other was more vital nor more interesting to travel than this through Paso Real. (1965)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During the Civil War the ferry at Paso Real, on the Arroyo Colorado, sat astride the "cotton road"—the Confederacy's overland lifeline to neutral Matamoros, Mexico. With Union blockades sealing Southern ports, cotton wagons and stagecoaches funneled through here to trade for guns, medicine, cloth, and shoes, drawing diplomats, agents, bandits, and deserters into a corridor of wartime intrigue.
Why it matters
The Rio Grande crossing shows how the Confederacy skirted the Union blockade through Mexico, making this remote borderland briefly central to the South's war economy.
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Related events
- · Union blockade
- · American Civil War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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