Camp Collier, located thirteen miles southwest, was one of a chain of Texas frontier posts spaced a day's horseback ride apart from the Red River to the Rio Grande. It was occupied by the Texas Frontier Regiment, whose patrols and scouting parties frequently went out to keep Indian actions in check and round up draft evaders. Food, clothing, horses, and ammunition were always needed. These men shared few of the glories of the war, yet at the cost of the lives of not a few of them, these Confederate soldiers managed to bring a measure of protection to a vast frontier area. During the Civil War frontier defense of 1861 to 1865, Texas made an all-out effort for the Confederacy after voting more than three to one for secession. Ninety thousand troops, noted for mobility and heroic daring, fought on every battlefront. As an important source of supply and gateway to foreign trade through Mexico, Texas was the storehouse of the South. Camp Collier and other posts on this line were backed by patrols of State Rangers, organized militia, and citizens' posses scouting from nearby family forts. This formed part of a two thousand mile frontier and coastline successfully defended by Texans.