History of Camp Llano: A Confederate Outpost in Texas
Revised by: William V. Scott
Published: 1952
Updated: November 25, 2024
Camp Llano, at the junction of Rock Creek and the Llano River in Mason County, nine miles east of Fort Mason, was established by James M. Norris on March 29, 1862, as a ranger station for the Frontier Regiment, and was one of eighteen Confederate outposts placed a day's ride apart, from the Red River to the Rio Grande, to prevent American Indian attacks and Federal invasion. The Texas Frontier Regiment under Colonel Norris occupied the camp. Meanwhile, local settlers used Fort Mason for protection. Numerous scouting parties and patrols of Texas State Troops visited the post in their effort to keep Indian groups near their camps and away from Hill Country settlements. After secession, Mason County men joined Confederate units or volunteered in regional and state troops to protect the frontier.
Camp Llano was manned by the 136-man ranger company (designated as a Company of Mounted Volunteers of the Frontier Regiment, Texas State Troops) under Capt. Henry T. Davis and engaged in scouting duty. Davis's Company F was organized on March 4, 1862, and tasked with maintaining Camp Davis in Gillespie County and Camp Llano. Davis’s company was mustered out on February 7, 1863. Camp Llano was probably used until the consolidation of the Frontier Regiment in March 1864, when the regiment was mustered into regular Confederate service. These men usually had to supply their own guns, mounts, and sustenance. Although large-scale American Indian raids had been checked, some acts of theft and arson as well as attacks against isolated farms continued. A granite historical marker sharing the history of Fort Mason and Camp Llano was erected on the southeast corner of the Mason County Courthouse square in 1964.
Bibliography:
Civil War Military Rolls, Texas Adjutant General's Department, Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Historical Marker Files, Texas Historical Commission, Austin (Fort Mason and Camp Llano, C.S.A.). William Curry Holden, Frontier Problems and Movements in West Texas, 1846–1900 (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, 1928). David Paul Smith, Frontier Defense in the Civil War: Texas' Rangers and Rebels (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1992).
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Revised by William V. Scott, “Camp Llano,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/camp-llano.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
TID:
QCC25
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- 1952
- November 25, 2024
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