Fort Mason and Camp Llano, C.S.A.

The First Regiment, Texas Mounted Riflemen, was the first Texas regiment mustered into Confederate service. Ben McCulloch was ordered on March 4, 1861, to raise it, but hoping for a command farther east, he passed the colonelcy to his brother Henry, who recruited companies from Bexar, Travis, Gonzales and other counties. By May its ten companies held a line of posts from Camp Jackson on the Red River to Fort Mason, patrolling 400 miles. The regiment mustered out at Fort Mason in mid-April 1862, and the state's Frontier Regiment took its place.

What the plaque says

Fort Mason and Camp Llano, C.S.A. Fort Mason, located 5 blocks south, was headquarters for the first regiment Texas Mounted Rifles 1861-62. These Confederate troops occupied the line of old U. S. forts to give protection against Indians. 215 prisoners-of-war were confined here. In spring 1862, the line of frontier defense was tightened and Camp Llano was established 9 miles east. Texas Frontier Regiment occupied this post, part of a line a day's ride apart on horseback from the Red River to the Rio Grande. Settlers then used Fort Mason for protection. Scouting parties and patrols of Confederate and state troops visited the post in aggressive warfare to keep Indians near their camps and away from settlements. Upon secession Mason County men joined regional, state and Confederate troops to protect the frontier. They usually had to supply their own guns, mounts and sustenance. Although large-scale raids had been checked, Indians roamed this area, stealing horses, attacking isolated farms, burning buildings, kidnapping women and children. However, an old Mason pioneer operated a one-mule stage route between Camp Colorado, Mason and Fredericksburg. Hiding from Indians at night, he and his mule made the trip every two weeks carrying the mail without mishap. (1964)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Mason — steps away
  A reconstructed officers' quarters on Post Oak Hill above Mason, standing where the army's stone fort was taken apart by the town that grew up below it.
• Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve — 14 mi
  A limestone cave on the James River where about four million Mexican free-tailed bats raise their young each summer, kept open to visitors by a family's gift.
• Enchanted Rock State Natural Area — 30 mi
  A dome of pink granite north of Fredericksburg that rises some 385 feet above Sandy Creek, creaks as it cools at night, and has drawn people for thousands of years.

More markers nearby

• Mason National Bank — steps away
• R. Grosse and Sons — steps away
• Hofmann Dry Goods Company — steps away
• The Commercial Bank — steps away