DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Somewhere out in Throckmorton County, there's a patch of Texas ground that's seen more history than most states manage in a lifetime. This is the site of Camp Cooper, and the story starts on January 3, 1856.
That's when Major W. J. Hardee, of the 2nd U.S.
Cavalry, rode out and planted the flag — establishing this post for the purpose of defending the frontier against the Comanche Indians. January in West Texas. Not exactly a soft assignment.
The name they gave the place was an honor — named for Samuel Cooper, Adjutant General of the U.S. Army. Cooper never had to sleep out there in the wind, but his name stuck to the land just the same.
Now here's where the story takes a turn that'll make you sit up a little straighter. Among the officers who called Camp Cooper home was a man named Robert E. Lee.
He lived here for nineteen months — 1856 to 1857. General Robert E. Lee.
Right here, in what most people today would charitably call the middle of nowhere. West Texas has a way of being the proving ground for people who later become enormous, and Camp Cooper was no exception. The post kept going, kept watching the frontier, and on October 1, 1859, the Cimarron Expedition set out from right here.
Whatever that expedition carried with it — and it carried plenty — it rode out from this ground. Then came February 21, 1861. That's the day Camp Cooper was abandoned.
Not with a fight, not with fanfare — just gone, the way frontier posts sometimes go. The State of Texas erected this marker in 1936, making sure the ground remembers what happened here, even when nobody's looking.
What the marker says
Established by Major W. J. Hardee, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, on January 3, 1856 for the purpose of defending the frontier against the Comanche Indians. Named in honor of Samuel Cooper, Adjutant General, U.S. Army. Home of General Robert E. Lee for nineteen months, 1856-1857. From this post the Cimarron Expedition set out, October 1, 1859. Abandoned February 21, 1861. Erected by the State of Texas 1936