Fort Inge
Fort Inge (1849-1869) - On March 13, 1849, Capt. Seth Eastman and fifty-six soldiers of companies D and I, 1st U.S. Infantry, established Camp Leona on the Leona River, four miles above Woll's Crossing. In December 1849 the post was renamed Fort Inge in honor of Lt. Zebulon M. P. Inge, 2nd U.S. Dragoons, a West Point officer killed in the Mexican War.
Fort Inge was built in 1849 as a part of the first federal line of five frontier forts in Texas. The missions of the soldiers included security patrols for the construction of the San Antonio-El Paso military road, escorts for supply trains and mail, protection for frontier settlements from bandits and Indian raiders, and guarding the international boundary with Mexico. The fort was a typical one-company, fifty-man post for most of its history. For a brief period in 1854 it was the regimental headquarters for the United States Mounted Rifle Regiment with a garrison of 200.
The dozen buildings of the fort were arranged around the rectangular parade ground with an enclosed stable at the south end of the post. The most substantial building was constructed of cut limestone and was used as a hospital and later as a storehouse. Most structures were of jacal construction-upright log pickets plastered with mud and whitewashed. A low, dry-stacked stone wall was built around the fort during or after the U.S. Civil War.
Fort Inge was closed on March 19, 1869, and the garrison sent to Fort McKavett. In 1871 troops recovered the timber and stone to be used in construction at Fort Clark. The site was used as a camp by the Texas Rangers until 1884. In 1961 it became Fort Inge Historical Site County Park.
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Location: on the east bank of the Leona River a mile south of Uvalde in Uvalde County, Texas. Maps & Images Lat: 29.1775 Long: -99.76417 |
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