Site of the Union Stockade

The plaque says outlaws whipped and killed Black residents but names no one. In July 1868 a Unionist, Joe Easley, wrote from Sulphur Springs to M. L. Armstrong, a letter now filed with Freedmen's Bureau records. It names Charles Grimes, an old freedman on the Board of Registrars, murdered June 17; Minerva James, taken from a house and killed, he heard, for supposedly knowing who killed Grimes; and Jesse Starr's young son, shot as a burial party carried Flowers to the grave. Easley said freed people were disarmed and robbed, and that the soldiers promised had not come.

What the plaque says

Site of the Union Stockade The Reconstruction era which followed the Civil War (1861-65) was a time of unrest in texas. In this area a gang of outlaws whipped and killed blacks and harassed other citizens. On August 10, 1868, Capt. T. M. Tolman brought Federal troops here to restore order. Despite protests the army moved the county seat from Tarrant (4 mi. N) to Sulphur Springs. After the hotel where officers were staying was set afire, a stockade was built. Surrounded by a split log fence, it served as post quarters, hospital, jail, stable, and kitchen. It was abandoned in 1870 when Federal troops withdrew. (1979)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cooper Lake State Park — 15 mi
  Two units on Jim Chapman Lake, a Corps reservoir proposed in the late 1930s, stalled by a lawsuit until 1984 and dedicated in 1991, with a 10.5-mile equestrian trail and wildlife land around it.

More markers nearby

• First Christian Church — steps away
• Sulphur Springs Loan and Building Association — steps away
• City National Bank — steps away
• General W. H. King — steps away