Camp Ford

Duane's take

The marker for Camp Ford in Smith County tells this story, and here's how I tell it. Now, if you think you know what the biggest prisoner of war compound west of the Mississippi River looked like during the Civil War, let me paint you a picture — because it wasn't some grand fortress. It started right here, on this ground, as something altogether different.

Colonel John S. Ford — they called him 'Rip' — established a training camp on this site in 1862. His name stayed on it.

But in the summer of 1863, Camp Ford stopped training soldiers and started holding them. Four to five acres, enclosed by a stockade sixteen feet high. That's the beginning.

But the story doesn't stay small. In the spring of 1864, Confederate victories at Mansfield, Louisiana and Mark's Mills, Arkansas sent a flood of Union prisoners straight to this patch of East Texas earth. The enclosure doubled.

Approximately forty-seven hundred Federal soldiers were confined here during this period — soldiers from nearly a hundred different regiments, sailors pulled from gunboats and transports, Union sympathizers, spies, and even Confederate deserters swept into the same walls. Forty-seven hundred people. On ground that started as four to five acres.

Now, when the government isn't providing much, men get creative. The prisoners built their own shelters — log huts, burrows they called shebangs, brush arbors, tents fashioned from blankets. Whatever they could manage.

Their rations were meager, about the same as what their guards received: beef and cornmeal, occasionally supplemented by vegetables purchased from nearby farms. About a hundred yards southwest of this spot, a spring furnished a good supply of water — and in a place like that, a reliable spring is no small mercy. Escape attempts were frequent.

Successful ones were not. The long distance to Union lines and the Confederate guards' tracking hounds made sure of that. A series of prisoner exchanges between North and South relieved some of the overcrowding over time, but Camp Ford kept serving as a prison all the way until the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department in May of 1865.

And when the Federal occupation troops arrived afterward? They destroyed it. What started as a training camp, became the largest Union prisoner of war compound west of the Mississippi, and ended as rubble.

The ground remembers what the walls no longer can.

What the marker says

On this site during the Civil War was located Camp Ford, the largest prisoner of war compound for Union troops west of the Mississippi River. Named in honor of Col. John S. "Rip" Ford who originally established a training camp here in 1862. It was converted in the summer of 1863 to a prison camp. It first consisted of four to five acres enclosed by a stockade sixteen feet high. In the spring of 1864 following the Confederate victories at Mansfield, Louisiana and Mark's Mills, Arkansas, the enclosure was doubled to accommodate the large influx of prisoners. Approximately 4700 Federals were confined here during this period. This overcrowded condition was somewhat relieved through a series of prisoner of war exchanges between the North and the South. Union soldiers representing nearly one hundred different regiments plus sailors from gunboats and transports were confined here. In addition there were imprisoned Union sympathizers, spies and even Confederate deserters. The prisoners constructed their own shelters ranging from log huts and burrows called "shebangs" to brush arbors and tents made of blankets. A spring, located about 100 yards southwest of this marker, furnished an ample supply of good water. Their meager rations, essentially the same as that of their guards, usually consisted of beef and corn meal and were sometimes supplemented by vegetables purchased from nearby farms. Although escape attempts were frequent, very few were successful due to the long distance to Union lines and the difficulty in eluding the tracking hounds used by the Confederate guards. Even though conditions were primitive it compared favorably with the other Civil War prison camps. Camp Ford continued to serve as a prison until the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department in May, 1865. It was later destroyed by Federal occupation troops.