Fort Mason-Camp Cooper Military Road
Cross Plains, Callahan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Route for U.S. 2nd Cavalry and supplies from San Antonio to Fort Mason (about 100 miles south of here) to Camp Cooper (about 65 miles north) in campaigns of 1851-1861 against Plains Indians. Great military men of American history traveled this road, including Robert E. Lee (later a commanding general, C.S.A.) and George T. Thomas, "Rock of Chickamauga." Callahan County Historical Survey Committee, 1967.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Between 1851 and 1861, the U.S. 2nd Cavalry and its supply trains moved along this route linking Fort Mason to Camp Cooper during the army's antebellum campaigns against the Plains Indians. Among the officers who traveled the road were men soon to become giants of the Civil War, including Robert E. Lee and George H. Thomas, the future 'Rock of Chickamauga.'
Why it matters
This frontier military road ties the Indian-fighting army of the 1850s to the great commanders of the Civil War, showing how the Texas frontier trained a generation of American soldiers.
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Related people
- · Robert E. Lee
- · George H. Thomas
Themes & tags
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