Published: May 13, 2008 01:40 am            

John Watson: Camp Ford — Civil War prisoner of war camp

On the northeast side of Tyler, as you leave on U.S. 271, the old Camp Ford site will be on the right.

In 1862 the Confederate government passed a Conscript Act to obtain the extra manpower they believed would be required to fight the Civil War. This, the first draft act ever passed in America, would require all able-bodied men between 18 and 35 to serve in southern armies. Colonel John S. “Rip” Ford was appointed superintendent of conscription in Texas.

Tyler was chosen as the location of a basic infantry training camp for newly inducted conscripts from northeast Texas. The camp was located four miles northeast of Tyler and named Camp Ford.

In the summer of 1863 the camp was converted to a prisoner of war camp consisting of about 5 acres surrounded by a 16 foot high stockade. In the spring 1864 the size of the enclosure was doubled to accommodate the large influx of prisoners from Confederate victories at Mansfield, La., and Mark’s Mills, Ark. During this time about 4,700 federal prisoners were confined here.

Included among the prisoners here were Union soldiers from nearly one hundred different regiments, plus sailors from gunboats and transports. Union sympathizers, spies and even Confederate deserters were imprisoned here.

The camp was very primitive, and the prisoners had to construct their own shelters ranging from log huts and burrows, or dug-outs, to brush arbors and tents made from blankets. Some of the log huts had a fireplace with a stick and mud chimney. These were primitive chimneys, but they worked very well.

Water for the camp came from a nearby spring. Rrations for the prisoners and their guards consisted mainly of beef and corn meal, supplemented with vegetables purchased from nearby farmers.

The camp served as a prison until the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department in May 1865 and was later destroyed by federal occupation troops.

This was the largest Confederate prisoner of war camp west of the Mississippi River. The site today is a public park operated by the Smith County Historical Society. At the entrance to the park is a small visitors welcome center, with articles posted telling the history of the camp.

The park has a walking trail with interpretive signs and picnic tables. There is also a reconstructed log hut similar to the ones made by the prisoners. The park is open daily from dawn to dusk with free admission.

Just a mile or so north of Camp Ford at the intersection of U.S. 271 and Texas 155, you will come to a monument marking the site of Camp Fannin, a World War II training camp.

Camp Fannin, just north of Tyler, was named in honor of Col. James Walker Fannin, who was killed at the Battle of Goliad in the Texas Revolution. Camp Fannin opened in March 1943 as a U.S. Army Infantry Replacement Training Center. An estimated 150,000 men trained there through December 1945. At the end of the war it served as a separation center and was deactivated in June 1946.

The main post was located on 2,000 acres of land purchased from local landowners, with an additional 13,000 acres leased from local landowners. The leased land was returned to the property owners after the war.

In April 1948 the government deeded 600 acres of the post land to the state, A 1,000 bed station hospital was located there for the express purpose of opening a tuberculosis sanatorium.

According to the Handbook of Texas, the sanatorium was renamed the East Texas Tuberculosis Hospital in 1951. The 62nd Texas Legislature renamed the institution the East Texas Chest Hospital in 1971 and designated it as a primary referral facility in Texas for the treatment of pulmonary and heart disease. In 1977 the institution joined the University of Texas System, becoming the University of Texas Health Center at Tyler.

A lot of remodeling has taken place, and new buildings have been added to the complex over the years to make it what it is today.

A veterans memorial is located near the hospital, the last remaining installation of the camp.

A nearby marker states: “The memorial is a permanent and visible remembrance in honor of all veterans from the five branches of service that were active during World War II. It is dedicated to all trainees of Camp Fannin and especially those who gave their lives in defense of our freedom.”



John Watson is a Cleburne resident who can be reached at texastraveler@sbcglobal.net.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.