Eagle Pass, Texas

Eagle Pass was the first U.S. settlement on the site of the Rio Grande and began during the Mexican War with the establishment of the temporary Camp Eagle Pass. In 1849, the permanent Fort Duncan was founded. After the Civil War, the site became the burial plot of the Confederacy when, on July 4, 1865, General Joseph Orville Shelby, on his way to Mexico to offer his troops' service to Maximilian, paused in the middle of the Rio Grande stream to bury the last Confederate flag to fly over his men.

Today Eagle Pass is an international gateway and tourist center and the seat of Maverick County. The city is the retail shipping center for the 40,000-acre, irrigated winter-garden region. The international bridge to Piedras Negras, just across the Rio Grande, connects U.S. 57 with the Mexico 57 that leads to Monclova, Saltillo, San Luis Potosí and Mexico City. Portions of the route go through scenic areas of the Sierra Madre. Sportsmen enjoy fishing for the famous (and huge) Rio Grande catfish, as well as hunting for white-tailed deer and upland game birds.

Eight miles south of Eagle Pass is a 125-acre site developed as the federal reservation for Kickapoo Indians, a tribe that for years had special border-crossing permission.

Campuses for Southwest Texas Junior College and Sul Ross State University are also here.

Stop by and visit Fort Duncan, which was established in 1849 and was home to three companies of the 1st U.S. Infantry Regiment as well as Confederate troops during the Civil War. There are also many old stone buildings at the center of the municipal park.

Annual events include the International Friendship Festival in late March or early April, which includes a carnival, a parade, baseball and golf tournaments and more.