DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the source here, and I'm gonna tell you what it says — my way. Now, north of Victoria, Texas, there's a spot that used to go by the name Nuner's Mott. Quiet enough name for a quiet enough piece of land.
But in 1861, that ground was about to get a whole lot louder. It was Confederate Colonel Henry McCullouch who suggested the place. At his suggestion, that area near Nuner's Mott was selected for the establishment of a military training camp.
And so Camp Henry E. McCullouch was born right there — or near enough to right there that the marker's standing close by to tell you about it. That September, the men started coming in.
From Bell County, Bexar, Calhoun, DeWitt, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Matagorda, Travis, and Victoria — nine counties sending their sons to that one patch of ground north of Victoria. Colonel Robert Garland of Virginia was appointed regimental commander, and together they shaped those men into something that would carry a name into the history books: the Sixth Texas Infantry. They trained at Camp McCullouch through the winter and into the spring, and in May of 1862, the regiment moved out.
Now — here's where the story gets heavy. In 1863, the Sixth Texas Infantry was captured at Arkansas Post. That's not a small thing.
An entire regiment, taken. But the story didn't end there. It kept goin', and it kept costin'.
After their capture, those men fought at Missionary Ridge. They fought at Atlanta. They fought at Franklin and at Nashville.
Battle after battle, mile after mile, further and further from that quiet mott north of Victoria. And in the end, the Sixth Texas Infantry surrendered with the Army of Tennessee — not in Texas, not even close. They laid down in North Carolina.
Nine counties sent their men to Nuner's Mott in the fall of 1861. The road that followed stretched all the way to the Carolina hills. That's what the ground near this site remembers.
What the marker says
At the suggestion of Confederate Col. Henry McCullouch, an area near this site north of Victoria, known as Nuner's Mott, was selected for the establishment of a military training camp in 1861. Troops from Bell, Bexar, Calhoun, DeWitt, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Matagorda, Travis, and Victoria counties began arriving that September. Col. Robert Garland of Virginia was appointed regimental commander. The entire regiment, now known as the Sixth Texas Infantry, trained at Camp McCullouch until May 1862. Captured at Arkansas Post in 1863, the regiment later fought in the Battles of Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, Franklin, and Nashville before finally surrendering with the Army of Tennessee in North Carolina. (1998)