Lampasas County, C.S.A.

About 15 percent of the 1,028 people counted in 1860 were enslaved. At the war's end more than half of the county's Black population left. During Reconstruction the provisional governor appointed the county officers, and in 1870 a contingent of federal cavalry was quartered in Lampasas. Home defense had begun before the war: the Lampasas Guards organized on July 1, 1859, and the miller Moses Hughes was elected a first lieutenant of its second scout. Comanche raids grew worse through the 1860s, with many men away and no federal troops on the frontier.

What the plaque says

Lampasas County, C.S.A. Organized 1856; had 1028 people in 1860; favored secession by 85 to 75 vote in 1861. Sent 2 units to serve in Texas State Troops, 2nd Frontier District; one unit to 17th Texas Infantry; 2 units to 27th Brigade, Texas Militia. Also had 48 Minute Men in 6 patrols to guard home front and property of men away at war. After a week of duty, each unit returned home to aid women and children tending cattle, crops. Helped supply frontier troops and miners in Longhorn Caverns. Indians still roamed here during Civil War, stealing horses, killing hunters and others. (1965)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hancock Springs Park — 0.8 mi
  Lampasas's city park on Sulphur Creek, with a spring-fed swimming pool that holds about 69 degrees all year, the walls of the old bathhouse and a golf course.
• Colorado Bend State Park — 18 mi
  Old ranch country on the Colorado above Lake Buchanan, where a spring-fed creek drops 70 feet over fern-covered travertine at Gorman Falls.
• Inks Lake State Park — 25 mi
  A state park on a constant-level lake of the Colorado, between Buchanan and Inks dams, with pink granite and gneiss at the water and CCC work along Park Road 4.
• Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery — 27 mi
  A free federal hatchery below Inks Dam on the Colorado, with thirty production ponds that draw birds and a look at how fish are raised from egg to harvest.

More markers nearby

• Hanna Springs — steps away
• Texas Bankers Association — steps away
• Lampasas County — steps away
• First State Meeting of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas — steps away