DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. One mile from where you're sitting right now — or rolling, as the case may be — there are ruins. And ruins, friend, have stories.
Camp Verde, out here in Kerr County, was established as a frontier post by the United States Army on July 8, 1855. Now that alone would be enough for most historical markers. But Camp Verde was not most places.
Because the very next year — 1856 — it became the headquarters for forty camels. Forty. Camels.
In Texas. You heard me right. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis had sent them, with the intention of using them in a system of overland communication with the west.
On paper, I imagine it sounded perfectly sensible. On the ground, in the Texas hill country, with forty camels — well, the marker says it proved impracticable, and I suspect that word is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Then the war came.
In 1861, Camp Verde was surrendered to the Confederate government. By 1865, the United States Army had come back and reoccupied the post. And then, on April 1, 1869 — April Fool's Day, of all days — the Army walked away and abandoned it for good.
Now it sits one mile up the road, quietly crumbling, having hosted soldiers, camels, two governments, and more Texas weather than anyone ought to bear. Some places earn their ruins.
What the marker says
Established as a frontier post by the United States Army, July 8, 1855; headquarters in 1856 for 40 camels, sent by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, to be used in a system of overland communication with the west, which proved impracticable. Surrendered to the Confederate government in 1861; reoccupied in 1865 by the United States Army; abandoned April 1, 1869.