The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 52, July 1948 - April, 1949 Page: 349

nVotes and DocuCtats
I. . Freema's Report oH the eighth lditarq
Depart tmet
Edited by M. L. CRIMMINS
(Continued)
Leaving Ringgold Barracks, July 15th, I reached Redmond's
Ranche or Bellsvilla, where Company F of the Rifle regiment lay
encamped, July 17th. The distance is 63 miles and general course
nearly N. W. The first part of the road is uneven and sandy, and
portions of the last nine miles are so hilly and stony as to be almost
impracticable for loaded wagons. Only two or three ranches were
passed, and there is a scarcity of water on the route.
X.-CAMP AT REDMOND'S RANCHE- (Inspected July 18, 1853.)
This Ranche is a massive stone structure with parapet walls and
loop holes for musketry, and it is suitable also for the mounting of
field artillery. The building has a stout masonery enclosure of perhaps
too feet square, and in its lower story are the storerooms-the upper
story being used as a dormitory. It is admirably adapted for quarter-
ing a single company, and the position is quite important, being
nearly midway between Ringgold Barracks and Fort McIntosh, and
in a region of country often traversed by marauding Indian parties.
The Ranche is about 400 yards from the Rio Grande and opposite
the mouth of the Salado river. On this river stands the Mexican town
of Guerrero, distant 61/ miles due South, containing some 250 stone
houses and 3,000 inhabitants, and second in population only to
Matamoros.
Company F of the Rifle regiment, under Bvt. Capt. Granger," took
post here the 3d of March last. When I visited it, orders had been
received to break up the encampment and return to Fort Inge, and
l6Gordon Granger graduated from the Military Academy in 1845. He was breveted
first lieutenant on August 2o, 1847, for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco;
captain on September 13, 1847, for gallantry at Chapultepec; major on August io,
1861, for gallantry at Wilson Creek, Missouri; lieutenant colonel on November 24,
1863, for gallantry at Chattanooga; brigadier general on March 13, 1865, for gal-
lantry at Mobile; and major general on March 13, 1865, for gallantry at Fort
Gaines and Morgan, Alabama. Heitman, Historical Register of the United States
Army, I, 469.