Confederate Veterans and Old Settlers Reunion Grounds
Hillsboro, Hill County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Formed in 1901, the Confederate Veterans and Old Settlers Association of Hill County acquired 73 acres of wooded land as a site for its summer reunion. The 3-5 day encampment, held annually from 1902 to 1924, was an important social and recreational event in this locality. Many families traveled by wagon and camped at the site. Special trains from Hillsboro brought other visitors, and a gravel auto road was completed in 1909. The reunion usually attracted a crowd of several thousand persons. Activities included speeches, musical programs, baseball games, and, on one occasion, a carnival midway show. Located on the grounds were a spring-fed lake, large pavilion, and baseball park. Some families leased their camp lots and built summer cottages. The fraternal picnic association's July 4th picnic, 1908-14, and other meetings and social events were also held here. With the reopening (1916) of the Hill County Fair and a decrease in numbers of veterans and old settlers, reunion attendance dropped sharply at the end of World War I (1918). The association deeded its property to the state in 1924 to be developed as Jefferson Davis State Park, but those plans were never realized.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Formed in 1901, the Confederate Veterans and Old Settlers Association of Hill County bought 73 wooded acres for its summer reunion, held annually from 1902 to 1924. The three-to-five-day encampments drew several thousand people who arrived by wagon, special train, or auto, gathering around a spring-fed lake, pavilion, and ballpark for speeches, music, and baseball. As the ranks of veterans thinned after World War I, attendance fell, and the association deeded the grounds to the state in 1924 for a Jefferson Davis State Park that was never built.
Why it matters
These reunions show how the aging Civil War generation and the pioneers who followed them turned remembrance into a beloved communal ritual that bound rural Texas together for a generation.
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Related events
- · Confederate veterans reunions
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Hill County, C.S.A.
Hillsboro, TX
During the Civil War, Hill County turned itself into a Confederate supply center, sending infantry and cavalry companies into service while its workshops turned out flour, shoes, saddles, and machinery. The county's commissioners court equipped and clothed troops, supplied food and medicine to soldiers' families, and raised the money through bonds, scrip, and a special property tax.
John P. Cox
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John P. Cox, son of San Jacinto veteran Euclid M. Cox, joined Parsons' Brigade of the Confederate Army in 1861 and after the war spent 25 years as commander of Hillsboro's Confederate camp. A Methodist and a Mason, he served Hill County as sheriff for sixteen years and as county clerk for four, earning a reputation as a firm lawman with a particular concern for reforming young offenders.
Graham-Mason Cemetery
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When William and Sarah Graham came from North Carolina to settle here in 1856, they brought a household that included enslaved people, some of whom are believed to be buried in and around this ground. The oldest marked grave belongs to their six-year-old granddaughter, buried in 1866. The site is bound up with Abe Mason, a Tennessee-born Confederate veteran wounded at Shiloh who married into the family and became one of Hill County's largest landowners.
George Washington Savage
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