Camp Site Of the Texas Army
Hempstead, Waller County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Five miles to the southeast to the camp site of the Texas Army March 31 to April 13, 1836 when it crossed the Brazos on the steamboat Yellow Stone and began its march toward Harrisburg.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the anxious spring of 1836, as Santa Anna's forces pressed eastward, the Texas Army camped near this point from March 31 to April 13. Here the troops crossed the rain-swollen Brazos River aboard the steamboat Yellow Stone before turning toward Harrisburg. Within weeks that march would end in the stunning victory at San Jacinto that secured Texas independence.
Why it matters
This quiet river crossing was a way station on the road to San Jacinto, marking one of the desperate movements that decided the fate of the Texas Revolution.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The spring of 1836 was the most desperate season of the Texas Revolution. Texian colonists had risen against the Mexican government of Antonio López de Santa Anna, and Santa Anna had marched north with a large army to put the rebellion down. The Alamo fell in early March, and soon after, hundreds of Texian prisoners were executed at Goliad.
As the Mexican forces advanced east, terrified settlers fled ahead of them in what became known as the Runaway Scrape. Families abandoned homes and crops and struggled along muddy roads and across flooded rivers, heading for safety toward the Louisiana border.
In the middle of all this, Sam Houston, commander of the Texian army, led his small force on a long retreat. The decision was controversial even then. Many of his men and political leaders wanted to stand and fight, while Houston bought time to gather, drill, and organize an army that was still raw and poorly equipped.
People & events
From March 31 to April 13, 1836, the Texas Army camped about five miles southeast of this marker, on the Brazos River. The camp is widely associated with the plantation of Jared Groce, a prominent early settler. For roughly two weeks the army rested, trained, and took in reinforcements, while the river ran high from spring rains.
Here the steamboat Yellow Stone came into the story. The army used it to cross the swollen Brazos, a crossing that would have been slow and dangerous with only small boats or rafts. A paddle-wheel steamer ferrying an army across a flooded river is one of the more remarkable images of the revolution.
Once across, the army began marching toward Harrisburg. That movement took Houston's force east and set up the confrontation that ended the war. Only days later, on April 21, 1836, the Texians surprised and defeated Santa Anna's army at San Jacinto, and Santa Anna himself was captured.
Its place in the American story
The Brazos camp was a hinge in the Texas Revolution. The weeks spent here gave Houston's army time to become more organized and disciplined, and the crossing put it on the road that ended at San Jacinto. That victory secured independence for the Republic of Texas.
Texas independence went on to change the whole map of North America. The Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845, and the dispute over Texas helped lead to the U.S.-Mexican War. That war ended with Mexico ceding vast territory in the Southwest to the United States.
So a quiet riverside camp and a steamboat crossing belong to a chain of events that reshaped the borders of two nations. They also show how much the outcome hung on timing, weather, rivers, and the hard choice to retreat before standing to fight.
If you visit
The marker stands in Hempstead and points you toward the camp site about five miles to the southeast. You won't find a battlefield. What you get is the chance to imagine the Brazos in flood, an anxious army waiting on its banks, and a steamboat churning across to carry the troops over.
If you can see the Brazos River nearby, it brings the scene to life. Picture spring rains, muddy roads, and frightened families passing through during the Runaway Scrape. Keep in mind that much of the surrounding land may be private, so enjoy the history from public places.
This stop is a natural chapter in a Texas Revolution road trip. Follow the army's path east toward the San Jacinto Battleground near Houston, where the campaign that passed through here reached its dramatic end.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related events
- · Texas Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Captain Alfred H. Wyly
Hempsted, TX
Alfred H. Wyly led a volunteer company at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, the eighteen-minute rout that secured Texas independence from Mexico. Volunteer captains like Wyly raised and commanded the citizen-soldiers who made up Sam Houston's army, ordinary settlers who left their farms to fight. Wyly lived on in the young republic and state until his death at Hempstead in 1867.
In This Vicinity_Plantation of Charles Donoho
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In the tense weeks after the fall of the Alamo and Goliad, Sam Houston's Texas Army was in full retreat across the Brazos country during the so-called 'Runaway Scrape.' On April 14–15, 1836, the army camped near here on Charles Donoho's plantation before marching toward Harrisburg — the final maneuver that would end days later in the decisive victory at San Jacinto. This unassuming farmland briefly held the fate of an independent Texas.
Gen. George and Libbie Custer Campsite
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In the uneasy months after the Civil War, the U.S. sent a large force into Texas to restore order and to counter French-backed forces in Mexico. From August to October 1865, George Armstrong Custer and his cavalry — with his wife Elizabeth, "Libbie" — camped on the Liendo plantation of Leonard Groce, heir to "Old 300" cotton baron Jared Groce. Custer's insistence that his troops respect Texans and their property helped keep relations with local families cordial.
Site of Groce's Ferry
Hempstead vicinity, TX
Jared E. Groce, one of Stephen F. Austin's earliest and wealthiest colonists, opened this ferry across the Brazos in 1822, giving travelers a crossing on a river that has since wandered from its old bed. In the spring of 1836, as Santa Anna's army pressed east, Sam Houston's Texas Army encamped near here from late March into April, resting and drilling before the campaign that ended at San Jacinto. The State of Texas marked the spot in its 1936 centennial.