Many people of pioneer stock in Southwest Texas speak of “a string of
old Spanish forts” that extended from a fortification near Point Isabel
in Cameron County to another near what is now “Old” Pleasanton in
Atascosa. The names of these two extreme “forts” I cannot recall, but
southward toward Laredo from the Pleasanton location was Fort Ewell, on
the Nueces River, in La Salle County. Fifty miles to the east as the
crow flies, but double that distance as the river runs, was El Fortin,
otherwise known as Fort Merrill; next, not more than twelve miles to
the south, and some five or six miles off the river, came Fort Ramirez,
on the Ramireña Creek; sixteen miles southward, again on the Nueces,
was Casa Blanca; near it on the Bluntzer Ranch was Fort Planticlan;
next, due south, Petronita; then, Las Animas; last, the “fort” near
Point Isabel. In such a string the first three so-called forts made a
kind of crescent, and the remainder a long, almost straight, line, the
whole figure resembling an old-fashioned wagon axle-wrench, or gancho.
History, so far as I have read, has nothing to say about this fine
“string of old Spanish forts,” but its existence is often a premise to
legends connected with the several stations. Of the forts in the string
Casa Blanca and Ramirez seem to be the most fertile in legend. As best
I can gather from oral tradition, Fort Ewell and Fort Merrill were
built about 1840 and used by the early settlers and rangers for
protection against the Indians and Mexicans. Both places are mentioned
by the historian Brown, though he has nothing definite on the origin of
either. [59] Other not well identified ruins in Southwest Texas are
frequently pointed out as the sites of old Spanish missions or
presidios. [60]