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Camp Independence https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/camp-independence

Camp Independence: The Main Camp of the Texas Army (1836-1837)

By: Stephen L. Hardin

Published: 1952

Updated: December 1, 1994

Camp Independence, established in December 1836, was the main camp of the Texas army until March 1837. It was on land belonging to Sylvanus Hatch, east of the Lavaca River and five miles from Texana in Jackson County. On February 4, 1837, Gen. Felix Huston commanded the Texas army at Camp Independence, where he was succeeded in command by Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, an action that precipitated the infamous Huston-Johnston duel. Although seriously wounded in the contest, Johnston kept his headquarters at Camp Independence until the army was transferred to Camp Preston, a move that seems to have occurred during the first week of March 1837. It was reported that on May 5, 1837, Capt. Henry Teal was assassinated near the camp as he lay asleep in his tent. In 1936 the Texas Centennial Committee placed a marker at a site, 4½ miles southwest of Edna.

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Bibliography:

Gerald S. Pierce, Texas Under Arms: The Camps, Posts, Forts, and Military Towns of the Republic of Texas (Austin: Encino, 1969). Harold Schoen, comp., Monuments Erected by the State of Texas to Commemorate the Centenary of Texas Independence (Austin: Commission of Control for Texas Centennial Celebrations, 1938). Ira T. Taylor, The Cavalcade of Jackson County (San Antonio: Naylor, 1938).

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.

Stephen L. Hardin, “Camp Independence,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed April 11, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/camp-independence.

TID: QCC20

Original Publication Date:
1952
Most Recent Revision Date:
December 1, 1994