Clear Creek Confederate War Camps
Hempstead, Waller County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Although no physical evidence has been found of the Confederate camp sites in this area, historical accounts have established that this part of Waller County was the location of several Civil War encampments. The close proximity of Clear Creek, the railroad, and the city of Hempstead made this area a logical site for training soldiers and for holding federal prisoners. Although Camp Groce and Camp Herbert were the most widely known, other camps were known to have been established as the need existed and were abandoned when no longer necessary.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During the Civil War, this stretch of Waller County near Clear Creek, the railroad, and Hempstead became a natural site for military encampments. Confederate forces trained soldiers here and held federal prisoners, at camps including the well-known Camp Groce and Camp Herbert as well as smaller sites set up and abandoned as needs changed. No physical trace of the camps survives, but the historical record confirms their presence.
Why it matters
These camps show how railroads and waterways shaped the Confederate war effort far behind the front lines, in Texas towns that fed and trained the armies.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Liendo Plantation
Hempstead, TX
Named for Justo Liendo, the original Spanish grantee, this 1853 estate became the model plantation of Leonard W. Groce, who ringed his mansion with its own industries. During the Civil War it served as Camp Groce, first a training camp and then a Confederate prison, and in 1865 it was occupied by Gen. George Custer, years before Little Bighorn. From 1873 to 1911 it belonged to the family of celebrated sculptor Elisabet Ney, who is commemorated on the grounds.
Plantation Home of Edwin Waller 1800--1883
Hempsted, TX
Edwin Waller lived on this Hempstead-area property, acquired during the Republic, from 1846 for many years. His public life bracketed the era's great turning points: a member of the 1835 Consultation and a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, he went on to serve as the first mayor of Austin. In 1861 he sat as a member of the Secession Convention, tying his long career to Texas's entry into the Civil War.
Hempstead, C.S.A.
Hempstead, TX
During the Civil War, Hempstead was one of Texas's busiest Confederate hubs, its railroad feeding troops, manufactured goods, and supplies toward Houston and the coast. Camps Groce and Hebert trained soldiers, and Camp Groce grew into the state's second-largest prisoner-of-war camp, taking its first Union captives in 1863; nearby mills and shops turned out textiles, wagons, and harness for the army. In the spring of 1865, troops gathered here learned of Lee's surrender at Appomattox, and Confederate generals bade their men farewell in one of the war's last scenes.
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During the Civil War, the rail junction near Hempstead anchored several Confederate facilities, including Camp Groce, a prisoner-of-war stockade on Leonard Waller Groce's plantation. Union prisoners who died in captivity — many during a devastating 1864 yellow fever epidemic — were buried on the neighboring McDade Plantation. Union prisoner Aaron T. Sutton recorded more than 100 fresh graves here before his escape and long journey on foot to Beaumont; by the 1940s, land-clearing erased all surface trace of the cemetery.