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731

Camp Ford C. S. A., The Story of Union Prisoners in Texas

Currency:USD Category:Western Americana Start Price:40.00 USD Estimated At:100.00 - 200.00 USD
Camp Ford C. S. A., The Story of Union Prisoners in Texas
1964. By F. Lee Lawrence and Robert W. Glover. Excellent condition! A camp of instruction for newly inducted conscripts from northeast Texas was soon established four miles northeast of Tyler and named Camp Ford. It served as a basic infantry training camp. The camp was well supplied with an abundance of spring water and wood. Meanwhile, as small numbers of Union prisoners were captured in Texas and Louisiana. they and their escorts would stop over at Camp Ford in transit. However, the arrival of 461 Union prisoners in November 1863 posed a serious security problem at Camp Ford since the prisoners could only be guarded by a ring of Confederate soldiers posted around them. A rumor spread among Tylerites that the prisoners planned to overpower their guards and sack Tyler. Fearing for their lives and property, citizens turned out in large numbers and within ten days constructed a log wall within which to confine the dreaded Yankees. The log compound, roughly rectangular in shape, enclosed an area of from three to five acres. Thus, Camp Ford “prison” evolved.

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Date: 1964
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