Camp Rio Frio was a Civil War home guard post that served as a buffer protecting older settlements from Apaches and bandits. Scattered local men belonged to the 29th Brigade, Texas Militia. The local scene they protected included picket homes with dirt floors, a diet of prickly pear salad and fruit, Spanish dagger blooms, hominy, turkey, quail, and deer meat, and homespun and linsey clothing dyed blue with Brazil root or gold with agarita. Camp Rio Frio later became Dogtown and then Tilden, proving itself in a rugged era.