The desolate and dusty brush country of south Texas guards a rugged history, where early Spanish-Colonial ranchos, presidios, and missions on the Rio Grande were the first European outposts in what historically had been Indian domain. Later U.S. military posts such as Fort Clark at Bracketville, Fort Inge at Uvalde, and Fort Duncan at Eagle Pass were staging points for military expeditions throughout the nineteenth century. Recurrent Indian raids across the Rio Grande and other hostilities along the border kept Fort Clark in operation for almost 100 years. Under the leadership of legendary officers such as John L. Bullis and William "Pecos Bill" Shafter, soldiers posted there helped guard the "lower road" from San Antonio to El Paso, protected farmsteads and ranchos along the "Nueces Strip," and pursued Apaches and Kickapoos into the mountains of Mexico. To begin your historic journey through the Rio Grande frontier, click on any of the headings above.