DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the voice bringin' it down the road to you. Out here in Callahan County, twenty-one miles southeast of where you're sitting right now, there was once a place called Camp Pecan, C.S.A. A Civil War camp.
Not the kind of camp you picture when you think of the War Between the States — no grand battles, no famous generals riding in on white horses. This was the Texas frontier, and the work out here was a different kind of hard. Camp Pecan was established in 1862 as part of a line of posts — each one set a day's horseback ride apart.
Think about that for a second. A day's ride. That's how thin the line was.
That's how wide open this land was. The men holding it were few, the marker doesn't mince words about that, and trouble had a way of findin' them from every direction. From the west came Indian threats and raids.
From the east came plundering renegades and deserters. It wasn't just one enemy — it was enemies on both horizons, and these soldiers caught in the middle. And if that weren't enough, food was scarce.
Supplies were scarce. Clothing was scarce. Horses — the one thing you absolutely cannot do frontier duty without — constantly scarce.
You start to wonder how a man gets up in the morning under those conditions. But here's the thing the marker wants you to know, and it says it plainly: in spite of all those obstacles, these Confederates managed to effectively hold the frontier line of settlement. Effectively.
That word is doing a lot of weight-bearing in that sentence. The State of Texas thought so too — this memorial was erected by the State of Texas in 1963, in honor of the Texans who served the Confederacy out here where the land was wide and the odds were long. Camp Pecan doesn't get the headlines.
But the line held.
What the marker says
This Civil War camp of the Texas frontier regiment was located 21 miles southeast. Established in 1862 as one of a line of posts a day's horseback ride apart. The number of men guarding the frontier were few. Trouble came from all directions with Indian threats and raids from the west and plundering renegades and deserters from the east. Food, supplies, clothing and horses were constantly scarce. But in spite of all obstacles, these Confederates managed to effectively hold the frontier line of settlement. A Memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy, erected by the State of Texas 1963.