DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now picture this. Bandera County, Texas, 1862.
The whole country is tearing itself apart, and this rugged stretch of Hill Country has problems coming at it from every direction at once. To the east, a war. To the coast, Union gunships.
And out here on the frontier — raiders, marauders, bandits riding up from Mexico, and the ever-present threat of Indian attacks on settlers who had nowhere to run. Bandera County's entire population in 1860 was three hundred and ninety-nine souls. Not three hundred and ninety-nine fighting men, mind you — three hundred and ninety-nine people, total.
And yet somehow, the men of that county were expected to be everywhere at once. Some went to fight for the Confederacy. Some headed south to protect the Texas coast from Union invasion.
Others were assigned to defend the frontier right here in this region. Texas had two thousand miles of coastline and frontier to cover — two thousand miles — and precious few men left in the state to do it. So the strategists drew their lines.
One defense line stretched from El Paso all the way down to Brownsville. Another ran from the Red River to the Rio Grande, with stations set a day's horseback ride apart from one another — just far enough that a rider could push through in a day, close enough that the chain never broke. Tucked in between those outer lines, the former U.S. forts were kept busy with scouting parties.
And behind everything, to the east, organized militia and citizens' posses held the rear. Right in the middle of that second line sat Camp Montel — established in 1862, named for Captain Charles DeMontel, surveyor and colonizer of Bandera and the leader of the county's defenses. The camp sat twenty-five miles west on Highway 470 and a mile south, out in country that doesn't give anything away easy.
The troops who occupied Camp Montel were part of the Texas frontier regiment. Now here's the part that ought to settle in your chest a little: these men furnished their own guns. They furnished their own horses and mounts.
What they often didn't have was food. Clothing. Supplies.
They were holding a line at the edge of civilization with whatever they'd managed to bring from home. And yet — the scouting parties and patrols out of camps like this one managed to effectively curb Indian raids all the way until the war's end. With a county of fewer than four hundred people, spread thin across two thousand miles of exposed territory, fighting a war on multiple fronts at once.
Camp Montel wasn't the loudest story to come out of the Civil War. But out here in Bandera County, it was one of the most essential ones — a single link in a chain that kept the frontier from unraveling entirely, manned by men who brought their own rifles and rode their own horses and somehow made it hold.
What the marker says
Site 25 mi. West on Hy. 470, 1 mi. South. Established 1862 as part of Red River-Rio Grande defense line. Named for Captain Charles DeMontel, surveyor and colonizer of Bandera, leader of county defenses. Occupied by troops of Texas frontier regiment who furnished their own guns and mounts but often lacked food, clothing, supplies. In 1860 Bandera County's population was 399. Although all the men were needed to defend the county from Indians, many joined the Confederate and State troops. Some went to protect the Texas Coast from Union invasion. Many were assigned to defend the frontier in this region. Scouting parties and patrols managed to effectively curb Indian raids until war's end. Texas had 2,000 miles of coastline and frontier to defend from Union attack, Indian raids, marauders, bandits from Mexico. Defense lines were set to give maximum protection with the few men left in the state. One line stretched from El Paso to Brownsville. Another, including Camp Montel, had stations a day's horseback ride apart from Red River to Rio Grande. Former U.S. Forts used by scouting parties lay in a line between. Behind these lines and to the east organized militia, citizens' posses. 1964