88R11182 BPG-D
By: Guillen H.R. No. 204
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Residents of Rio Grande City are celebrating the
175th anniversary of the founding of Fort Ringgold in 2023; and
WHEREAS, Following the Mexican War, U.S. Army engineers
established a post on a high vantage point above the Rio Grande, on
land initially leased from Rio Grande City's founder, Henry Clay
Davis; Camp Ringgold, later Ringgold Barracks, was named in honor
of Major Samuel Ringgold, an officer mortally wounded in the Battle
of Palo Alto; and
WHEREAS, The army used salvaged wood for the garrison's first
building, a two-room, central-hall residence with a wraparound
porch; during the Civil War, it was twice seized by Confederate
troops; the U.S. Army later reclaimed the site, sending a
detachment of the 29th Regiment U.S. Colored Troops; a more
substantial brick headquarters with arched galleries was built,
along with new barracks, officers' quarters, and a hospital, all
flanking a palm-lined parade ground; the present-day name was
adopted in 1878, when the government purchased the land from the
Davis family for $20,000; and
WHEREAS, The U.S. Colored Troops and their successors, the
"Buffalo Soldiers," were assigned to the fort to safeguard against
attacks and border unrest; although Rio Grande City residents
welcomed the protection and economic benefits of the federal
presence, Black troops were subject to racial harassment and
restrictions, even after they returned victorious from the Battle
of San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War; tensions erupted in
1899 between townspeople and Troop D of the Ninth U.S. Cavalry, and
following a gunfire incident, the troop was deployed elsewhere; and
WHEREAS, During World War II, the 124th Cavalry was sent from
Fort Ringgold to Burma, and the army closed the post in 1944; five
years later, the Rio Grande Consolidated Independent School
District bought the property, which today serves as the district's
administrative campus; the oldest building, once the commandant's
quarters, is occupied by the Robert E. Lee House Museum, which
acknowledges the fort's most famous visitor, the future Confederate
general, who had business there while a lieutenant colonel in the
U.S. Army; and
WHEREAS, Fort Ringgold protected Rio Grande City for nearly a
century, and the preservation of this important site facilitates a
deeper understanding of the turbulent early history of the
borderlands; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 88th Texas
Legislature hereby commemorate the 175th anniversary of the
establishment of Fort Ringgold in Starr County.