About 10 miles east of this site during the Civil War was Paso Real, a ferry point on Arroyo Colorado. As early as 1846, stagecoaches had gone over Paso Real Ferry, a name that probably meant "The King's Pass." In the 1860's, the spot had international importance as a crossing for the cotton road, a lifeline of the Confederacy when Federal coastal blockades had cut off imports and exports for the entire South. This road moved cotton down to Matamoros so that it could be exchanged for guns, ammunition, medicines, cloth, shoes, blankets, and many other vital goods. Besides the prized cotton loads that went past Paso Real, the stagecoach connection there was important to Confederate and foreign businessmen, government agents, diplomats, and army personnel. The area was one of conflict and intrigue, where bandits and army deserters watched the road for stages and cotton wagons to pilfer, and mysterious travelers sometimes passed with a pursuing sheriff on the next stage. Of 31 stagelines in Confederate Texas hauling mail, soldiers, and civilians, none was more vital or more interesting to travel than this route through Paso Real.