Camp Hudson, later Fort Hudson was located on the west bank of the Devils River, below the Second Crossing of Devils River by the San Antonio-El Paso Road, (now known as Bakers Crossing nearby to the north) and 19 miles south of

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods *Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007 Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno'' *Ju ...

and 21 miles north of Comstock in

Val Verde County, Texas Val Verde County is a county located on the southern Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population is 47,586. Its county seat is Del Rio. In 1936, Val Verde County received Recorded Texas Historic Landmark number 5625 to co ...

. It lay near the mouth of Hudson Canyon and near Huffstutler Springs.Gunnar M. Brune, Springs of Texas, Volume 1, Texas A&M University Press, 2002, p.451 Camp Hudson and Hudson Canyon were named for 2nd Lieutenant Walter W. Hudson, an American soldier who died in the area on 19 April 1850 in fighting with local Native Americans.

History

Camp Hudson was established June 7, 1857, to protect wagon traffic on the San Antonio-El Paso Road and the stagecoaches of the San Antonio-El Paso Mail and San Antonio-San Diego Mail Line between the Fort Clark and

Fort Lancaster Fort Lancaster is a former United States Army installation located near Sheffield, Texas. The fort was established in 1855 on the San Antonio–El Paso Road to protect migrants moving toward California through Texas. The US Army occupied Fort Lanc ...

. At that time it was in what was then

Kinney County Kinney County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 3,129. Its county seat is Brackettville. The county was created in 1850 and later organized in 1874. It is named for Henry Lawrence Kinney ...

. It was named for Lt. Walter W. Hudson, who died of injuries he received in a fight with hostile Indians in April 1850.Julia Cauble Smith, "CAMP HUDSON," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qbc16), accessed January 28, 2014. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. Abandoned by Federal troops March 17, 1861, just before the beginning of the American Civil War, it was occupied by the

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between ...

2nd Texas Cavalry as a frontier outpost from 1861 to 1862. It guarded the road to El Paso from hostile Indians, escorting supply trains for the forces of the New Mexico Campaign. It was abandoned along with the other forts in West Texas after the failure of the New Mexico Campaign. Federal troops returned to Camp Hudson in November 1867, following an attack on a stagecoach between Camp Hudson and

Fort Stockton Fort Stockton is a city in and the county seat of Pecos County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 10, future Interstate 14, U.S. Highways 67, 285, and 385, and the Santa Fe Railroad, northwest of San Antonio and southeast of ...

, where two military escorts were killed. Companies D and G of the U. S. Ninth Cavalry were ordered to Camp Hudson. From April 1868 it became a permanent post whose garrisons remained to fight the hostiles until January 1877 when Camp Hudson was permanently closed. The site of Camp Hudson was marked by the Texas Historical Commission placed a Texas Centennial Marker (#4744: Site of Camp Hudson) 19 miles south of

along

Texas State Highway 163 State Highway 163 (SH 163) is a state highway in the western part of Texas, United States. Route description SH 163 runs almost directly north from its originating junction with U.S. Highway 90 at Comstock near the Rio Grande, the southern b ...

in 1936.

References

External links

San Antonio-El Paso Road
{{coord, 29, 57, 31, N, 101, 8, 47, W, display=title Camp Hudson Devils River (Texas) Geography of Val Verde County, Texas Stagecoach stops in the United States Camp Hudson Camp Hudson 1857 establishments in Texas