Established in the Spring of 1862 as a camp of instruction for Confederate infantry recruits, Camp Groce was abandoned in early 1863 due to it's sickly location. In the June of 1863, the camp was re-opened to hold Union prisoners of war who were captured in the battles of Galveston (January 1, 1863) and Sabine Pass (January 21, 1863). After the second battle of Sabine Pass (September 8, 1863), th
e prisoner population swelled to over 427 officers, soldiers, sailors, and US citizens. 21 POWs died at Camp Groce and in Hempstead. In December 1863, almost all of the prisoners were sent to Shreveport for exchange except for the officers who were confined at Camp Ford near Tyler, Texas. In May 1864, the battle of Calcasieu Pass, La., was fought in southwest Louisiana. About 150 Union officers, soldiers, and sailors were brought to the reopened Camp Groce. In August of 1864, about 506 additional Union prisoners were transferred from Camp Ford to Camp Groce to reduce severe overcrowding in the Camp Ford stockade. Not long after their arrival, a large escape attempt of 40 POWs was made with the direct help of the guards who were secretly Union loyalists. Almost all of the escapees were returned to Camp Groce just in time for a serious yellow fever scare to strike within a mile of the stockade. The entire prison population was evacuated south to Camp Gillespie, 1.5 miles southeast of Bellville, Texas, in present-day Austin County. The prisoners were held there on open ground for 10 days. The water was deemed insufficient so the prisoners were removed to Camp Felder, about 6.5 miles northwest of Chappell Hill, Texas in Washington County. Camp Felder was a disaster. The prisoners were kept out in the open in a valley between two hills. It was the wettest winter in Texas history. The prisoners died at a rate 4-5 per day, and 6-7 when it rained. There were about 620 prisoners alive when they left Camp Groce in September, but returned to Camp Groce on November 1st with only about 550 still alive. Another massive escape of reportedly 100 POWs was again attempted in mid-November, and only 3 POWs are known to have successfully escaped. One was Acting Ensign Peter Howard of the USS Wave Tinclad Number 45, who stole a boat and slipped past the garrison at Sabine Pass to the US Navy blockading vessel across the bar. Howard was a US Congressional Medal of Honor recipient his actions on board the USS Mississippi before the guns at Port Hudson, LA., in 1863. The surviving 440 prisoners were paroled on December 5 and 12, 1864, and conveyed to Galveston Bay by rail. They were placed on Union ships under a flag of truce there and sent to New Orleans. In April of 1865, about 9,000 Confederate troops were massed at Hempstead to await the arrival of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in-order to make the Last Stand of the Confederacy. Davis was captured, and the last remaining regular Confederate force west of the Mississippi River vanished. In September of 1865, Maj. George Armstrong Custer arrived near Hempstead with 4 regiments of Union volunteer cavalry. Custer was accompanied by his wife, father and his 2-time congressional Medal of Honor recipient brother Thomas Ward Custer. George and Thomas were killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn 11 years later. In 1866, the 1st Battalion, 17th United States Infantry Regiment, began occupation duty in Hempstead. In the Fall of 1867, a horrendous yellow fever epidemic swept the area, resulting in the deaths of 30 soldiers in the battalion and many Hempstead residents. Today, there is little to commemorate the rich Civil War history of Camp Groce and Hempstead except for the Union Army P.O.W. Cemetery Park 3 miles west of Hempstead on the Austin Branch Road. In 1987, Waller County and the State of Texas officially recognized the site as one of the burial grounds of Union prisoners of war from Camp Groce who are buried there but is actually a joint US/CS burial ground for US POWs and CS Soldiers who died in the military hospitals in downtown Hempstead during the war. Recently, a Waller County Historical Marker was erected on the right side of FM 359 between old and new Highway 290. Entitled, Camp Groce Cemetery, the marker commemorates the US and CS dead of Camp Groce. In addition, a Texas State Historical Marker was recently erected 6 miles north of Chappell Hill Texas to commemorate Camp Felder CSA where the US POWs from Camps Groce and Gillepsie, respectively, were transferred from Camp Groce in the Fall of 1864 to escape an assumed Yellow Fever Epidemic.
