History of Camp Mosby: Fourth Texas Volunteer Infantry in San Antonio
By: Lewis F. Fisher
Published: January 30, 2024
Updated: April 29, 2025
In September 1898 the newly-formed Fourth Texas Volunteer Infantry was to arrive in San Antonio by train from Houston’s Camp Tom Ball and to bivouac at Riverside Park, south of downtown. Five days before its planned arrival, however, Riverside Park’s water supply was deemed inadequate for the approximately 1,282 soldiers. By late September the troops instead went to the unused racetrack and grounds leased from the San Antonio Jockey Club two miles north of downtown between River Avenue, now Broadway, and the San Antonio Water Works raceway canal, with the San Antonio River beyond.
Under command of Col. John C. Edmonds, the Fourth Texas arrived on schedule, pitched tents at the north end of the track, and began using the rest as a parade ground. According to a correspondent for the Houston Post, soldiers complained about the “absence of shade trees on the camp ground” which had been in abundance at Camp Tom Ball. Local citizenry provided lumber to build company mess sheds as well as flooring for the tents. Streets were laid out on the grounds, and a hydrant on each company street supplied artesian water. The camp also had a hospital and quartermaster department. A canteen under the grandstand served beer, and the officers club could be found in the racetrack clubhouse. Stables were converted into a commissary, quarters, and offices. At least six horses were also brought from Houston, and the racetrack conveniently afforded “giving the steeds needed exercise.” The complex was named Camp Mosby. A weekly newspaper, The Soldier, was edited by the camp chaplain Capt. W. D. Robinson .
Three months after the Fourth Texas arrived, the Spanish-American War formally ended with the Treaty of Paris. Rumors spread that the men might be sent to the Philippines or to the Mexican border to replace the Third Texas Volunteer Infantry there. Instead, the Fourth Texas was mustered out in March 1899, and Camp Mosby was closed. Four months later the site became Camp Capron for the U. S. Army’s Thirty-third Volunteer Infantry. The site is now part of the Brackenridge Park Golf Course.
Bibliography:
Lewis F. Fisher, Brackenridge: San Antonio’s Acclaimed Urban Park (San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2022). Houston Post, September 26, 27, 1898; October 1, 1898; December 13, 1898.
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Lewis F. Fisher, “Camp Mosby,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/camp-mosby.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
TID:
QCC63
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- January 30, 2024
- April 29, 2025
