HistoricSiteMarkers
Civil War

Lampasas County, C.S.A.

Lampasas, Lampasas County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Organized 1856; had 1028 people in 1860; favored secession by 85 to 75 vote in 1861. Sent 2 units to serve in Texas State Troops, 2nd Frontier District; one unit to 17th Texas Infantry; 2 units to 27th Brigade, Texas Militia. Also had 48 Minute Men in 6 patrols to guard home front and property of men away at war. After a week of duty, each unit returned home to aid women and children tending cattle, crops. Helped supply frontier troops and miners in Longhorn Caverns. Indians still roamed here during Civil War, stealing horses, killing hunters and others.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Organized in 1856 with barely a thousand residents, Lampasas County voted narrowly for secession in 1861 and sent its men into Confederate and Texas state units during the Civil War. Those who stayed behind mustered as Minute Men to guard the home front, then returned to help wives and children tend the cattle and crops. All the while this remained a raw frontier, where the war overlapped with raids as Indians took horses and killed hunters.

Why it matters

It shows the Civil War as it was lived on the Texas frontier — a two-front strain of supplying distant armies while still defending scattered homesteads against raids.

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Themes & tags

Civil WarNative American HistoryFrontier HistoryMonument

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