Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas, continues to be the focus of a legal battle over the border between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Biden administration.
Abbott took over the city park and banned the U.S. Border Patrol from operating there. It was a direct challenge to federal authority over the border. Some on the far right have called the stand-off the start of a new civil war.
But in a strange twist, the park has a deep connection to the actual Civil War, specifically to a Confederate general who refused to concede defeat.
In February, the gate to Eagle Pass’ Shelby Park was secured by members of the Texas National Guard and an armored Humvee. Also camped out there was 68-year old Dan Chandler, who sat on the folded down seat of his walker.
“What I’m actually doing here is evangelizing,” he said.
Chandler sported a long gray beard and a sun-faded red ‘Trump’ cap. Attached to his walker were posters with slogans railing against people who are transgender, abortion and one denying climate change. Also attached to his walker was a Confederate battle flag. Chandler pointed out that the banner has a direct connection to Shelby Park.
“Gen. J.O. Shelby at the end was here in Texas. He actually wouldn’t surrender,” he explained.
Maj. Gen. Joseph Orville Shelby was a highly decorated Confederate cavalry officer and a fierce defender of slavery. He was a leader in the Bleeding Kansas terror, and when the Civil War broke out, he led raiding parties against Union supporters and outposts in Missouri and Arkansas.
But when the South lost its war to maintain enslavement, Shelby and his troops refused to surrender to Union forces. Instead, he and about 1,000 members of the Iron Brigade fled into Mexico. Chandler added that, according to legend, Shelby even refused to give up the Confederate flag.
“Shelby came here with his Confederates, and they crossed the Rio Grande. They even took the Confederate battle flag, wrapped it around a rock, and sunk it in the Rio Grande,” Chandler said.
That was on July 4,1865. Shelby and his thousand troops planned to join the French army in Mexico. During the U.S. Civil War, Napoleon III had invaded Mexico and established a puppet empire under Maximilian.
The story earned Shelby the moniker “The Undefeated,'' which was also the name of the 1969 movie very loosely based on his story starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson.
Shelby's story was regularly celebrated in Eagle Pass. There were reenactments, and a large painting depicting the solemn river burial of the Confederate flag once hung in city hall.
But Geraldo Quiroz, the Eagle Pass Museum coordinator, said the painting was divisive.
“You know, the culture has changed a bit. Now, back in 2020 there was a lot of controversy, and they went ahead and took it down and placed it here,” Quiroz said.
The painting is now at the old Fort Duncan Museum, where there is also display dedicated to Shelby, which provides a sympathetic telling of his story.
Now, local activists want to change the name of Shelby Park. “Because it should not be named after a coward and a traitor,” said Juanita Martinez, the Maverick County Democratic party chair.
She said Gov. Greg Abbott basically stole the city park for his anti-migrant Operation Lone Star. Eagle Pass residents are prevented from accessing the park and the Rio Grande boat ramp.
“We cannot get into the park but maybe we can change the name,” Martinez said.
“We should name the park after a Union general,” said Eagle Pass resident Jesse Fuentes. He said changing the park’s name could send a powerful message.
“My favorite general who comes to mind from the Union side of course is Ulysses Grant. So I would say name the park 'I’m A Grant Park.' [That] would mean 'Immigrant Park.' "
Fuentes admitted that name could be too much to ask but he and others are workshopping other names like “Peace Park” or “People’s Park.”
Back at the gate to Shelby Park, Chandler said he wants to leave the name alone. It’s history, he said, and it’s repeating itself.
“It’s 1861 right now. If you’re on the side of Gov. Abbott like 25 states — Georgia and Florida and Alaska and the Russians — we’re all Confederates,” he said.
He and others believed it’s no coincidence that Abbott is challenging the power of the federal government at the same place some call the Grave of the Confederacy.
