Eagle Pass, city (2020 pop. 28,130), seat of Maverick co., W Tex., a port of entry on the Rio Grande opposite Piedras Negras, Mexico; inc. 1918. Linked by highway with Mexico City, it is a tourist center and a shipping and processing point for cattle, wheat, pecans, and oats. Mineral processing (especially oil and gas) and international trade are also important, but drug smuggling has been a problem in recent years. The site of a U.S. army camp during the Mexican War, it was on an important route to California during the gold rush. Fort Duncan (1849) was a base for actions against Mexicans and Native Americans, including the 1855 burning of Piedras Negras; it also housed U.S. troops during the Villa revolution in Mexico just before World War I.
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