The first known settlement at this river crossing on the Mexican border was Camp Eagle Pass, a temporary observation post during the Mexican War. Fort Duncan was established by the First United States Infantry in 1849. The village that grew up around the fort earned the nickname “Camp California” when Forty-niners used it as a staging area on their way through Mazatlán to the gold fields. After the Civil War, an exiled Confederate force crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico at Eagle Pass, and the last flag to fly over Confederate troops was buried in the river by General Joseph Orville Shelby. The site came to be known as the “Grave of the Confederacy.” Learn More...