Camp Hudson, C.S.A.
Del Rio, Val Verde County, Texas
Marker Inscription
When U. S. troops were surrendered at outbreak of Civil War, camp became Confederate frontier outpost 1861-1862 to guard military road, escort supply trains, curb hostile Indians. Manned by 2nd Texas Cavalry. Texas Confederate troops used as supply base en route to and from New Mexico campaign to stop flow of gold to north and gain access to Pacific. Routine camp life prompted camp newspaper written to amuse troops who fervently desired to fight for Dixie. Located center of county on south bank Devil's River. A Memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy. Erected by the State of Texas - 1963
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When U.S. troops surrendered their Texas posts at the outbreak of the Civil War, Camp Hudson on the Devil's River became a Confederate frontier outpost from 1861 to 1862, manned by the 2nd Texas Cavalry. Its soldiers guarded the military road, escorted supply trains, and served as a base for the Confederate New Mexico campaign aimed at reaching the Pacific and choking off gold to the North. To pass the tedium, troops eager to fight for the Confederacy even produced a camp newspaper.
Why it matters
Camp Hudson shows how the Civil War stretched to the far Texas frontier, where Confederate ambitions reached toward the Southwest and the Pacific.
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Related events
- · Confederate New Mexico campaign
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Val Verde County Courthouse Square
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Organized in 1885 from parts of three surrounding counties, Val Verde County took its name from a New Mexico Civil War battle involving Texas Confederate forces, and it chose the booming railroad town of Del Rio as its seat. A limestone jail went up first on the public square, followed in 1887 by the limestone courthouse designed by Austin architects A. O. Watson and Jacob Larmour, with classical detailing and octagonal corner turrets. The complex was repeatedly enlarged as the region grew, gaining a separate sheriff's facility in 1956.
Roy Bean C. S. A.
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Kentucky-born Roy Bean was mining in New Mexico when the Civil War broke out, and he joined Confederate forces under Gen. John R. Baylor as a spy and scout, later hauling cotton and smuggled war goods as a Confederate freighter. Decades afterward he followed railroad crews to the Rio Grande, set up a tent saloon, and had himself made justice of the peace—'Law West of the Pecos'—dispensing famously eccentric verdicts from Langtry. His obsession with British actress Lily Langtry, whom he never met, and his 1896 riverbank prizefight cemented his frontier legend.
Val Verde County
Del Rio, TX
Carved from Crockett, Kinney, and Pecos counties and organized in 1885, Val Verde County took its name from a Civil War battle fought in 1862 near Fort Craig, New Mexico. That fight was part of the Confederacy's ambitious campaign to seize the Southwest, and its memory carried west with the veterans who settled the region. Del Rio, on the Rio Grande, became the county seat.
Jesse Sumpter
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Jesse Sumpter came to the Texas frontier as an infantryman in the years after annexation, serving from 1848 to 1852 and standing among the first troops posted to Fort Duncan on the Rio Grande. He put down roots in the young border town of Eagle Pass, trying his hand at nearly every trade the frontier offered — saloon keeper, mustang hunter, rancher, and lawman. When Maverick County was finally organized in 1871, he pinned on the badge as its very first sheriff.