Fort Ringgold

Historical marker location:

Lee Circle, Rio Grande City, Texas

( Rio Grande City C.I.S.D. campus off US 83)

Marker installed: 1936

Established October 26, 1848, at Davis Landing by Capt. J.H. La Motte, 1st U.S. Infantry, as Ringgold Barracks • • Named in honor of Brevet Major David Ringgold, 4th U.S. Artillery, who died of wounds received at Palo Alto, May 8, 1846 • Troops were withdrawn March 3, 1859 • Reoccupied December 29, 1859 • Abandoned in 1861 • Reoccupied by U.S. troops in June 1865 • General Robert E. Lee passed a few days here in 1856 and in 1860 Erected by the State of Texas, 1936.

forts Civil War military topics Mexican War

Texas has been a major oil-producing state for over a century. The first big oil discovery in Texas was the Spindletop field near Beaumont in 1901, which set off a massive oil boom that transformed the state's economy and made Texas one of the wealthiest states in the country.