DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Camp Scurry, just outside Corpus Christi in Nueces County. Now, before there was ever a camp on that stretch of South Texas pasture, there was trouble — and plenty of it. Since 1848, smuggling, rustling, and armed incursions by people on both sides of the Rio Grande had been common.
That's not a rumor, that's just the lay of the land down on the border. Then the Mexican Revolution began, and fear of violent attacks escalated in ways that got the attention of folks all the way up the chain of command. And then came March 9, 1916 — Pancho Villa's raid in New Mexico — and suddenly the whole question of border security got a lot more urgent.
Brownsville, Harlingen, Llano Grande, and other locations started receiving national guardsmen. The drumbeat was getting louder. Now here's where Corpus Christi gets clever.
City officials saw an opportunity, and they lobbied hard to establish a camp right there in their town. Their argument wasn't purely patriotic — they were honest about it. They hoped the project would bolster the economy.
And to sweeten the deal, the city, Nueces County, and the Commercial Club offered to pay for all the required improvements needed to move troops from Brownsville to Corpus Christi. Every last improvement. At no cost to the army.
In August of 1916, General Frederick Funston gave the order. The 2nd and 3rd Texas Infantry, plus the Texas Brigade headquarters, were to move to Corpus Christi. The site chosen was a two-hundred-acre pasture that had been leased to a dairy farmer, more than a mile south of city hall.
They named it after General Thomas Scurry. Forty buildings went up — twenty-four mess halls and three warehouses among them. And the soldiers themselves stayed in approximately four hundred and fifty tents, each one sixteen square feet.
Not exactly the Menger Hotel, but it was a working camp, and it worked. The daily routine was strict. Training.
Guidelines. Discipline. But the men weren't all marching and drilling around the clock.
There were periodic sports and recreational activities both in the camp and around Corpus Christi. And if you want to talk about sports — well, the 2nd Infantry put together a football record that raised some eyebrows. They outscored other units four hundred and thirty-two to six.
Four thirty-two to six. Somebody on that team could play football. The bond between Camp Scurry and the community ran deep.
Large crowds of local residents turned out to watch football games, field day competitions, and evening drills. These weren't strangers camped on the edge of town — they were neighbors, in every practical sense of the word. Then came a strange interlude.
Guard units were ordered back to their home states, and the camp sat unmanned for a month. But it didn't stay quiet long. When the United States entered World War I, Camp Scurry was reactivated as a training site.
The work wasn't finished. When you add it all up, Camp Scurry did two things at once. It trained National Guard and U.S.
Army troops for the challenges ahead. And it helped grow Corpus Christi — its people, its economy, its sense of itself as a city that showed up when it mattered. That pasture south of city hall turned out to be worth a good deal more than the dairy farmer was charging for it.
What the marker says
Since 1848, smuggling, rustling and armed incursions by people on both sides of the Rio Grande were common. When the Mexican Revolution began, fear of violent attacks escalated. After Pancho Villa's raid in New Mexico on March 9, 1916, Brownsville, Harlingen, Llano Grande and other locations received national guardsmen. City officials lobbied to establish a camp in Corpus Christi, hoping the project would bolster the economy. The city, Nueces County and the Commercial Club offered to pay for all the required improvements needed to move troops from Brownsville to Corpus Christi. In August 1916, General Frederick Funston ordered the 2nd and 3rd Texas Infantry plus the Texas Brigade headquarters to move to Corpus Christi. The site for the camp, named after General Thomas Scurry, was a 200-acre pasture leased to a dairy farmer, more than a mile south of city hall. Forty buildings were erected, including 24 mess halls and three warehouses, all at no cost to the army. The soldiers stayed in approximately 450 16-square-foot tents, Soldiers daily routine consisted of strict training and guidelines, along with periodic sports and recreational activities in the camp and around Corpus Christi. The 2nd Infantry compiled an impressive football record, outscoring other units 432-6. Showing a strong connection between the camp and the community, large crowds of local residents watched football games, field day competitions and evening drills. The camp was unmanned for a month when guard units were ordered to return to their home states, but reactivated as a training site when the U.S. entered World War I. Camp Scurry not only provided training for National Guard and U.S. Army troops but also assisted in the growth of Corpus Christi and its economy. (2017)