Region: South Texas Plains
The first U.S. settlement at this site on the Rio Grande began during the
Mexican War with the establishment of temporary Camp Eagle Pass. In 1849,
permanent Fort Duncan was founded. After the Civil War, on July 4, 1865, the
site became a burial plot of the Confederacy when Gen. Joseph Orville Shelby
paused in the middle of the Rio Grande stream to bury the last Confederate flag
to fly over his men then continued on his way to Mexico to offer his troops'
service to Maximilian. Today, the city is an international gateway and tourist
center, the seat of Maverick County and a retail shipping center for a
40,000-acre irrigated winter-garden region. An international bridge to Piedras
Negras, just across the Rio Grande, connects U.S. 57 with Mexico 57, which leads
to Monclova, Saltillo, San Luis Potosi and Mexico City. Sportsmen enjoy fishing
for the famous (and huge) Rio Grande catfish and hunting for white-tailed deer
and upland game birds.
Eight miles south of the city is a 125-acre site developed as a federal
reservation for the Kickapoo, a tribe that had special border-crossing
permission for years.
Campuses for Southwest Texas Junior College and Sul Ross State University
also are here.
Annual events include the International Friendship Festival in late March or
early April.