Camp Belknap, C.S.A.
Newcastle, Young County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Confederate frontier post Camp Belknap located this vicinity. Local soldiers, determined to guard edge of settlement against Indian raids, Union invasion from Indian Territory, joined frontier regiment of Texas Cavalry and Rangers. Chain of posts from Red River to Rio Grande patrolled. Regiment concentrated vicinity this camp, spring 1863. Fought Comanche attack near Elm Creek 1864. Constantly looking for marauders, short on food supplies and ammunition, these Confederates effectively protected setters and supply trains. (Erected by the State of Texas 1963.)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During the Civil War, Confederate frontier troops garrisoned Camp Belknap to hold the exposed edge of Texas settlement. Local men joined a frontier regiment of cavalry and rangers that patrolled a chain of posts from the Red River to the Rio Grande, guarding against both raids and a feared Union thrust from Indian Territory. Short on food and ammunition, they concentrated near here in 1863 and met a large Comanche force at Elm Creek the next year.
Why it matters
The camp shows how the Civil War played out on the far Texas frontier, where Confederate soldiers fought a war on two fronts at once.
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Related events
- · Battle of Dove Creek
- · Elm Creek Raid
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Colonel William C. Young
Newcastle, TX
William C. Young packed several frontier careers into a short life — Tennessee lawyer, U.S. marshal, Texas Ranger, delegate to the 1845 Annexation Convention, and a colonel in the war with Mexico. During the Civil War he raised and led the 11th Texas Cavalry, helping secure North Texas by capturing Forts Cobb, Washita, and Arbuckle and negotiating with the Comanches, Kiowas, and Chickasaws. He was murdered in 1862 in the Red River cane brakes by renegades in reprisal for his testimony tied to the Gainesville hangings.
Tonkawa Scouts, C.S.A.
Newcastle, TX
During the Civil War the Tonkawa people allied themselves with Texans, serving as scouts along the frontier defense line from the Red River to the Rio Grande and watching for both hostile raiders and Federal incursion. Commanders prized their skill so highly they sometimes fed the scouts at personal expense. The Tonkawa paid dearly for that loyalty: in October 1862 a devastating attack on their camp near present Anadarko killed 137 of about 300 people, and the survivors were later resettled near Fort Griffin before removal to Oklahoma in 1884.
Joseph Alfred Woolfolk
Newcastle, TX
Kentucky-born and Louisville-trained in law, Joseph Alfred Woolfolk came to frontier Belknap in 1858 to survey Peters Colony land grants and soon served as a Young County official. He joined a home-guard Ranger unit and then the Confederate army, was captured in West Virginia in 1863, and spent the rest of the war imprisoned in Ohio. Back in Texas, he gained notoriety in 1871 when the court appointed him to defend the Kiowa chiefs Satanta and Big Tree at their murder trial after the Salt Creek raid.
Camp Cooper, C.S.A.
Throckmorton, TX
Surrendered by federal forces at the outbreak of the Civil War, Camp Cooper became a Confederate outpost anchoring Texas's long frontier defense line from the Red River to the Rio Grande. Manned by Texas cavalry, mounted riflemen, and Rangers, its perpetually undersupplied troops patrolled against Comanche raids, Union incursion, and marauding deserters. Their constant scouting shielded supply trains and pioneer families clinging to the edge of settlement.