The historic marker for Fort MacGruder CSA was affixed to a pole in a landscaped pocket at the corner of South Congress Ave and W Ben White Boulevard.
The pole remains, and according to the Texas Historical Commission, the plate will be replaced soon.
From a South Congress history presentation to the City of Austin: (
visit link)
"On the eve of the Civil War in 1861, the road remained a largely undeveloped dirt highway through the rural countryside south of Austin. Traffic to and from San Antonio continued to flow along the road but there were few reasons to stop in South Austin other than to water the horses or stretch one's legs. With the outbreak of the Civil War, however, the road assumed strategic significance as the lifeline to the Texas capital.
Major General John Bankhead Magruder, one of the Confederacy's best strategists, feared a Union invasion into the Texas interior. His first goal was to fortify the coastlands and he successfully drove the Union Navy out of Galveston, forcing them to attack 300 miles south at Matamoros. Having secured the coast, Magruder set out to build forts at Gonzales, San Antonio and Austin, all major south-central cities.
In December 1863 he wrote:
Having good reasons to apprehend that Calvary raids will be attempted in the direction of San Antonio, and that a direct attempt will be made in force upon Austin, I have ordered both of these places to be strongly fortified, the first by Captain Schliecher the second by Major Kellersberg, and am now sending about 500 negroes to San Antonio and about 1000 to Austin for that purpose (Magruder 1863).
Magruder and Kellersburg built the fort on a hill overlooking the San Antonio Road, near the present northwest corner of South Congress Avenue and Ben White Boulevard.
The fortifications consisted of earthen embankments and trenches with storage for gunpowder. While Magruder's predictions proved wrong, his instincts were well-considered; the hilltop location was a strategic point that would have given the Confederates good advantage in defending Austin from advancing cavalry.