Camp Hudson, C.S.A.

Duane's take

The official marker for Camp Hudson, C.S.A. out in Val Verde County, and here's how I tell it. Deep in the heart of Val Verde County, on the south bank of the Devil's River, there sat a place that changed hands with the coming of a war. When U.S. troops were surrendered at the outbreak of the Civil War, this camp became something else entirely.

Just like that, it was a Confederate frontier outpost, and it would stay that way from 1861 to 1862. Now, the men who manned it were the 2nd Texas Cavalry, and they had themselves a serious job to do out there in the middle of nowhere. Guard the military road.

Escort supply trains. Curb hostile Indians. That's not a light assignment when you're sitting smack in the center of the county with the Devil's River running past your back door.

But here's where it gets bigger. Camp Hudson wasn't just holding the line on the frontier. Texas Confederate troops used it as a supply base, coming and going on the New Mexico campaign.

The goal of that campaign, as the marker tells it: stop the flow of gold to the north and gain access to the Pacific. That is an ambitious hand to play from a camp on the Devil's River, I'll tell you that much. And while all that grand strategy was being hauled back and forth along the military road, life at the camp itself was, well, routine.

So routine, in fact, that someone decided to do something about it. The men produced a camp newspaper, written specifically to amuse troops who, as the marker puts it, fervently desired to fight for Dixie. A newspaper.

On the frontier. On the Devil's River. Sometimes you fight boredom before you fight anything else.

The State of Texas erected this marker in 1963, calling it a memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy. Out there on the south bank of the Devil's River, where the road ran through and the supply trains rolled past and the 2nd Texas Cavalry kept their watch, that story still sits in the ground, waiting for anyone willing to stop and listen.

What the marker says

When U. S. troops were surrendered at outbreak of Civil War, camp became Confederate frontier outpost 1861-1862 to guard military road, escort supply trains, curb hostile Indians. Manned by 2nd Texas Cavalry. Texas Confederate troops used as supply base en route to and from New Mexico campaign to stop flow of gold to north and gain access to Pacific. Routine camp life prompted camp newspaper written to amuse troops who fervently desired to fight for Dixie. Located center of county on south bank Devil's River. A Memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy. Erected by the State of Texas - 1963