Camp
Verde
FM 480 and Highway 173 just
North of Bandera Pass 6 miles from Center Point, 10 miles from Kerrville and 10
miles from Bandera.
Old Officer Quarters at Camp Verde
Courtesy: Kerr County
Historical Commission
Camp Verde was authorized by an act of Congress in 1855 at the
urging of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, to serve as a camel post and
provide frontier protection.
Old Officer Quarters at Camp Verde
Courtesy: Kerr County
Historical Commission
General Information
Camp
Verde was located on the Verde
Creek in Kerr County,
twelve miles south of Kerrville,
six miles west of Center Point, and two miles north of the famous Bandera Pass.
Governor Pease authorized the raising of Minute Companies
for frontier protection around 1855. The companies were to be raised by the
settlers themselves with officers chosen from their own ranks, and they were to
be paid only for the time they were actually, scouting and pursuing Indians.
At the urging of some of the settlers a company of infantry
was sent out in 1855 in order to provide better protection from the Indians in
the Guadalupe Valley.
The soldiers camped at the location where Camp
Verde was to be built, but because
an infantry force on the frontier was not very efficient against mounted
Indians, they were recalled in 1856 and replaced by a company of cavalry under
Captain I. N. Palmer, built Camp Verde
and made it a permanent station. Captain Palmer later rose to the rank of
general in the United States
army during the Civil War.
In 1857 the Williams Community Store was opened on the Verde
Creek about a mile southeast of the camp to accommodate the needs of the
soldiers, mostly for whisky because intoxicants were not permitted on the
military establishment. The store became the focal point of the Camp Verde Community.
In 1858, the store was acquired by Charles Schreiner, but it was only open on
army paydays. Schreiner and his brother-in-law, Caspar
Real, expanded the business through lucrative contracting with the federal
government to supply wood and beef for Camp
Verde.
The Camel Experiment
Secretary
of War Jefferson Davis was a strong advocate of utilizing camels rather than
horses in the arid southwest, because he thought that camels could cross the
desert country faster and easier than horses and could go longer without water.
Davis hoped that the camels would
be very effective for carrying dispatches and pursuing Indians. As a result of his efforts, Camp
Verde was authorized by an act of
Congress in 1855 to serve as a camel post and provide frontier protection.
Forty camels arrived at Indianola along with twelve Armenian
drivers and their families in 1856. They traveled overland to Camp
Verde, terrifying horses all along
the way. For some reasons the oxen pulling wagons were not disturbed by the
camels.
A sketch of a caravansary (camel enclosure) had been made in
the Middle East, and it was used to reproduce the
structure at Camp Verde.
The enclosure was built of "pise" work
(concrete and timber) and was approximately rectangular in shape, with sides
approximately 150 feet long and about sixteen feet high. In the front there was
an open court with a well resembling the old-style Egyptian wells.
Unfortunately, Camp
Verde was located in the rocky Hill
Country and the camels, with their soft spongy feet, were better suited for
sand. Except for the camels’ ability to travel without water, the tough Spanish
pony was better suited for the task, and the effort at Camp
Verde was not successful.
Camp Verde
was an outpost of Fort Mason,
and Captain I. N. Palmer was the first commander at this post. He was followed
by Major Bowman who died there. Lieutenant Wheaton, who later rose to the rank
of general, also commanded at Camp Verde.
Robert E. Lee and Albert Sidney Johnston were also at Camp
Verde, and it was from Camp
Verde that General Johnston started
on his expedition against the Mormons in 1867. The Johnston
fork of the Guadalupe was named after him.
The Civil War and the
Disposition of the Camels
Camp Verde
was surrendered to the Confederates in 1861, who occupied it until 1865, when
the United States
government took possession of it again.
Although the camels had been a failure in pursuing Indians,
they could carry incredible loads, up to and including two bales of cotton. By
1868 the number of camels had increased to 125, and they were sold to Bethel Coopwood for $12 to $14 each. Some of the camel breeding
stock was sold by Coopwood to a man in Texas,
who raised them for a circus. The remaining camels were sold to someone in California,
who raised them for their hair value.
Some of the camels escaped, and became wild on the plains of
Texas, New
Mexico, and Arizona,
where they were occasionally seen by cowboys. Others escaped from Camp
Verde and went into the surrounding
hills. A high price was offered to have them brought back because they had not
become wild, and could be easily managed when they were found. It is said that
a German boy living near Castroville caught one and took it to San
Antonio, where the authorities paid him a good price
for it.
After the Civil War
At
the conclusion of the Civil War, the U. S. Army took possession of Camp
Verde again and operated it as a
cavalry and camel post for several years. However, Indian depredations had
subsided somewhat and the camel experiment was deemed a failure, mostly because
the camels “spooked” horses that they met on the roads and trails. Also, while
the camels had great endurance and could carry enormous loads, they were not
fast enough to pursue Indian raiders.
Camp Verde
was totally abandoned by the U. S. Army in 1869, but a Company of Texas Rangers
used the remains of the camp as a campground for some time. Captain John
Sansom, the famous Texas Ranger from Curry Creek in Kendall
County, was asked by Governor E. J.
Davis to protect the Texas
frontier against aggression from Indians and Anglo and Mexican bandits. He
commanded Company C, Frontier Forces at Camp
Verde in 1870 and 1871, and he said
that these were the most exciting years of his life.
The Attempted Rescue of
the Smith Boys
On February 1, 1871
a band of Comanche Indians began raiding about twenty miles north of Camp
Verde, and then continued to raid
east and south throughout the month of February, attacking in Bandera, Kendall
County and within twenty miles of New
Braunfels. On February
27, 1871, the Indians captured John Sansom’s
nephews, Clinton Smith (age 11) and Jeff Smith (age 9) in broad daylight at
their home in eastern Kendall County.
Sansom assembled a band of 16 rangers and one civilian to pursue the Indians.
The group chased the Indians relentlessly to a point well north of the Llano
River but did not catch them
because a rain storm eliminated all signs of the Indians’ trail. On March 5,
the group had to turn back toward Camp
Verde, empty-handed.
In 1875 Mr. J. A. Bonnell purchased the property and it remained in his
family for some time.
The Camp Verde Cemetery
The beautiful Camp Verde
Cemetery is located on the north bank of Verde Creek about one-half mile
east of the entrance to Old Camp Verde.
More to come
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REFERENCES
·
A. C. McLaughllm,
Early Settlers and Indian Fighters of Southwest Texas,
(Austin, Texas: Ben C. Jones & Co., Printers, 1900 ),
711-713. http://www.archive.org/stream/earlysettelesan00sowegoog/earlysettelesan00sowegoog_djvu.txt
(accessed August 13, 2009).
·
A. C. McLaughllm,
Early Settlers and Indian Fighters of Southwest Texas,
(Austin, Texas: Ben C. Jones & Co., Printers, 1900 ),
640. http://www.archive.org/stream/earlysettelesan00sowegoog/earlysettelesan00sowegoog_djvu.txt
(accessed August 13, 2009).
·
Texas
Escapes. 2007" Camp Verde, Texas,"
http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasHillCountryTowns/CampVerdeTexas/CampVerdeTx.htm (accessed August 19, 2007).
·
Kemm Knopp, "The Camels of Camp Verde," http://www.texfiles.com/ERAjune02/camel.htm (accessed August 19, 2007).
·
Fort Tour Systems, Inc., "Camp
Verde," http://www.forttours.com/pages/campverde.asp (accessed August 19, 2007).
·
Kerr County Historical Commission, Historic Camp
Verde General Store & Post Office Established 1857, http://www.co.kerr.tx.us/historical/camp_verde.htm
(accessed August 13, 2009).
·
Guido E. Ransleben,
“Comfort and the Camel Experiment” in A
Hundred Years of Comfort in Texas
– A Centennial History (San Antonio: The Naylor Company, 1954, 1974),
31-50.
·
Kerr County Historical Commission, HISTORY OF
THE AREA OF KERR COUNTY, TEXAS, http://www.co.kerr.tx.us/historical/HISTORY.htm
(accessed September 2, 2009).
·
Kerr County Historical Commission, HISTORIC CAMP
VERDE GENERAL STORE & POST OFFICE ESTABLISHED 1857, http://www.co.kerr.tx.us/historical/camp_verde.htm
(accessed September 2, 2009).
·
Frankie Davis Glenn, Capt'n
John - Story of a Texas Ranger, (Austin, Texas: Nortex
Press, 1991).
Compiled from various sources by
Joe Cooper
Kendall County,
Texas
Created: October 19, 2009
Updated: August 22, 2010