Camp Belknap, C.S.A.

The Handbook of Texas dates Camp Belknap to March 17, 1862, when James M. Norris established it as a Texas Ranger station for the Frontier Regiment. Men of Capt. J. J. (Jack) Cureton's company manned it and rode frontier patrol until March 1864, when the regiment was consolidated at Fort Belknap. The fort itself had been abandoned before the war, and state troops of the regiment under Norris occupied it from time to time. In the nearby town of Belknap, the few families who stayed mostly lived inside the fort for protection, and the post office closed in 1865.

What the plaque says

Confederate frontier post Camp Belknap located this vicinity. Local soldiers, determined to guard edge of settlement against Indian raids, Union invasion from Indian Territory, joined frontier regiment of Texas Cavalry and Rangers. Chain of posts from Red River to Rio Grande patrolled. Regiment concentrated vicinity this camp, spring 1863. Fought Comanche attack near Elm Creek 1864. Constantly looking for marauders, short on food supplies and ammunition, these Confederates effectively protected setters and supply trains. (Erected by the State of Texas 1963.) (1963)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Belknap — steps away
  The 1851 northern anchor of the first Texas frontier forts, on the Brazos below Newcastle, a Butterfield stop and the post beside the Brazos Reservation until its people were driven out in 1859.
• Old Post Office Museum and Art Center — 9.2 mi
  Graham's 1936 Art Moderne post office, with a New Deal mural by Alexandre Hogue inside, now the free museum of Young County in the town where the Texas cattle raisers first organized.

More markers nearby

• Major Robert S. Neighbors — steps away
• Colonel William C. Young — steps away
• Tonkawa Scouts, C.S.A. — steps away
• Major Robert Simpson Neighbors — 0.4 mi