Dixie Settlement took its name from Camp Dixie, a Texas Ranger post near Military Road to Fort Inge, 42 miles southeast. The first civilian settler was Jerusha Sanchez, a midwife for the Nueces Canyon area whose husband was killed by Indians in the 1870s. She was followed by Elizabeth Hill, whose eldest son Jim served as a military scout. Lewis Barksdale, a veteran of the wars of the Republic of Texas, opened a ranch on his 1876 land grant. The J. R. (Bob) Sweeten family established a store that became the center of the growing community. When a post office was created in 1882 and named for Lewis Barksdale, the name Dixie passed out of use.