Camp Montel, C.S.A.

Charles DeMontel was born in Konigsberg, Prussia, in 1812 and studied at Heidelberg before coming to Texas. Henri Castro hired him as aide, guide and surveyor, and he was present at the founding of Castroville on September 3, 1844. In 1848 he commanded a Ranger company on Seco Creek, at the site that became Fort Lincoln. A lawyer, he represented Medina County at the 1861 secession convention, where he was listed as owning nine slaves. In 1863 Jefferson Davis commissioned him to command the steamer Texas. He died at Castroville on August 3, 1882.

What the plaque says

Camp Montel, C.S.A. Site 25 mi. West on Hy. 470, 1 mi. South. Established 1862 as part of Red River-Rio Grande defense line. Named for Captain Charles DeMontel, surveyor and colonizer of Bandera, leader of county defenses. Occupied by troops of Texas frontier regiment who furnished their own guns and mounts but often lacked food, clothing, supplies. In 1860 Bandera County's population was 399. Although all the men were needed to defend the county from Indians, many joined the Confederate and State troops. Some went to protect the Texas Coast from Union invasion. Many were assigned to defend the frontier in this region. Scouting parties and patrols managed to effectively curb Indian raids until war's end. Texas had 2,000 miles of coastline and frontier to defend from Union attack, Indian raids, marauders, bandits from Mexico. Defense lines were set to give maximum protection with the few men left in the state. One line stretched from El Paso to Brownsville. Another, including Camp Montel, had stations a day's horseback ride apart from Red River to Rio Grande. Former U.S. Forts used by scouting parties lay in a line between. Behind these lines and to the east organized militia, citizens' posses. 1964

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Frontier Times Museum — steps away
  A museum built of fossils, petrified wood and cave formations in Bandera, holding a printer-historian's collection of frontier relics and oddities.
• Treue der Union Monument — 19 mi
  An 1866 German-language monument in Comfort over the graves of Hill Country Unionists killed at the Nueces in 1862, its flag of thirty-six stars kept at half-staff.
• Schreiner Mansion — 22 mi
  The 1879 downtown home of Charles Schreiner, the Alsatian-born merchant, banker and rancher whose store and mohair trade built Kerrville.

More markers nearby

• Mormon Settlers in Bandera County — steps away
• Old Texas Ranger Trail — steps away
• Captain Jack Phillips — steps away
• Great Western Cattle Trail — steps away