In 1849, Fort Inge was a collection of jacals which was established in a line of forts for protection of the San Antonio-El Paso Road (lower road) and from Indian raids from Mexico and never supported more than a company or less than 150 troops. Fort Inge was named for Lt. Zebulon M.P. Inge of the U.S. 2nd Dragoons who was killed at the battle of de la Palma in the Mexican-American War. It is located in Uvalde County Texas, midway between San Antonio and Fort Clark on the San Antonio - El Paso Wagon Road. The passenger and mail route was called "The Jackass Mail" which was first surveyed by Col. Jack Coffee Hays in command of a detachment of Texas Rangers and surveyors of the U.S. Army Topographical Engineers. The Hays Expedition nearly perished due to lack of water.

During the Civil War, it was occupied by a detail of Col. John S. Ford's 2nd Texas Cavalry, Confederate Cavalry of the West, C.S.A. They built a dry stacked stone wall around the fort structures. After the war, Fort Inge was briefly reoccupied by a company of the U.S. 2nd Texas Cavalry and was finally closed in 1867.