DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker at Liendo Plantation tells it something like this — and it's quite a tale. Out here in Waller County, the land itself has a long memory. It goes all the way back to a Spanish land grant, and the man who held it first was Justo Leindo — and yes, the plantation took its name from his.
That's 1853 we're talking about, when this place first gets its name on the map. Now, the mansion that still stands here was built by Leonard W. Groce.
And Groce didn't just build a house — he surrounded it with what the marker calls model plantation industries. The man had a vision for the place, and he built it out. Then the Civil War arrived, the way it arrived everywhere in Texas — and Liendo became something else entirely.
The grounds were converted into Camp Groce, serving first as a camp of instruction, and then — and here's where the story turns heavier — as a prisoner of war center. Think on that for a moment. Where there had been a working plantation, there were now men held captive, waiting out a war.
And then 1865. The war winding down, and who rides onto this property but General George W. Custer himself.
He occupied Liendo in 1865. At the time, perhaps just another posting. But the marker notes — quietly, the way markers do — that Custer would later become a central figure in the Little Big Horn tragedy.
The land remembers the people who passed through it, even when those people didn't yet know their own destinies. The story doesn't stop there. From 1873 to 1911, Liendo was owned by the family of Elisabet Ney — a sculptress significant enough that she has her own separate marker right here on the grounds.
One piece of Texas land. A Spanish grantee, a plantation builder, a prisoner of war camp, a famous general before his famous end, and a sculptress. Liendo Plantation held all of them.
What the marker says
1853 - named for Spanish grantee Justo Leindo, first to own this land. Mansion built by Leonard W. Groce, who surrounded it with model plantation industries. In Civil War, site of Camp Groce, a camp of instruction and then P.O.W. center. Occupied in 1865 by Gen. Geo. W. Custer, later to be a central figure in the Little Big Horn tragedy. Owned, 1873-1911, by family of sculptress Elisabet Ney, commemorated with a marker on grounds. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964