Marker Inscription
Camp Ford, stockade prison of federal soldiers during the Civil War
Historical Marker
Camp Ford (1936)
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About this site
Camp Ford is a historical marker in Tyler, Smith County, dedicated in 1936. It is one of 90 historical markers documented in Smith County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 272 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 32.3970, -95.2678 near Tyler. The nearest cataloged historic site is Camp Ford (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Starr-Hawkins, Pine Springs Baptist Church, and Pine Springs Cemetery.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5507016090. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
History
Camp Ford, established near Tyler in 1862 as a Confederate conscript-training camp named for Colonel John S. 'Rip' Ford, became in 1863 the largest Confederate prisoner-of-war camp west of the Mississippi River. Around 6,000 Union prisoners passed through its stockade over two years; conditions grew desperate in 1864 when overcrowding tripled the population, and 286 men died before the camp closed in 1865. The original site is now a public historic park owned by Smith County and managed by the Smith County Historical Society.
Sources: tshaonline.orgen.wikipedia.org
Also at or near Tyler, Smith County
“Camp Ford” names 2 distinct records in Smith County. This page is the historical marker dedicated in 1936 in Tyler. The others:
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Nearby in Smith County
Historical Marker
Camp Ford
Tyler · 1962
Historical Marker
Pine Springs Baptist Church
Tyler · 1981
Cemetery
Pine Springs Cemetery
Smith County
Cemetery
Starr-Hawkins
Smith County
Historical Marker
Shamburger Cemetery
Tyler · 1990
Cemetery
Burns Cemetery
Smith County
Cemetery
Armstrong Grave
Tyler
Historical Marker
Douglas, Major James P.
Tyler · 1963