Near Hempstead in Waller County, Texas — The American South (West South Central)
Union Army P.O.W. Cemetery
Photographed by James Hulse, August 2, 2020
1. Union Army P.O.W. Cemetery Marker
Several Confederate military facilities were positioned near Hempsted (2.5 mi. W), an important railroad junction, during the Civil War. Camp Groce (then about 6 mi. E) was a prisoner-of-war stockade established on the plantation of Leonard Waller Groce (1806-1873).
Union Army prisoners who died at various camps were buried near this site on the McDade Plantation, adjacent to the McDade family cemetery (about 25 yds. NE). The cemeteries were near a narrow gauge spur off the "Austin Branch" of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, built from Houston in 1858.
A yellow fever epidemic in 1864 resulted in many deaths at Camp Groce and other camps, chronicled by Aaron T. Sutton (1841-1927). A Union prisoner in Company B, 83rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Sutton noted in his journal the presence of more than 100 fresh graves here soon after his arrival at Camp Groce in 1864. Sutton later escaped from the stockade and made his way to Beaumont (115 mi. E) on foot.
Crude crosses made of cedar limbs marked the prisoners' graves through the early 1900s, according to local residents. But the stream-fed woodland was cleared in the 1940s for pasture land, and all surface evidence of the cemetery was lost.
Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986
(incise) Memorial Park donated by John Tilford Jones
this page online
Erected 1986 by Texas Historical Commission. (Marker Number 8123.)
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Railroads & Streetcars • War, US Civil. A significant historical year for this entry is 1858.
Location. 30° 6.625′ N, 96° 7.848′ W. Marker is near Hempstead, Texas, in Waller County. It is at the intersection of Austin Branch Road and Sorsby Road, on the left when traveling west on Austin Branch Road. The marker is located at the back of the small memorial park for the cemetery. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Hempstead TX 77445, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Houston Metropolitan Area. It is also in the American South and on the Gulf Coast. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain, the Republic of Texas, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 4 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Madison "Matt" Kilpatrick (approx. 2.1 miles away); Ahrenbeck-Urban Home (approx. 3.1 miles away); Hempstead High School (approx. 3.2 miles away); Former Waller County Post Offices (approx. 3.3 miles away); The Old Courthouse Clock and Bell (approx. 3.3 miles away); Hempstead, C.S.A. (approx. 3.3 miles away); Waller County (approx. 3.3 miles away); The Camp Site of the Texas Army (approx. 3½ miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Hempstead.
Also see . . .
1. Camp Groce. Camp Groce held approximately 1,100 Union soldiers
Photographed by James Hulse, August 2, 2020
2. Union Army P.O.W. Cemetery Marker
2. Yellow Fever. During the Civil War Union officers feared yellow fever more than Rebel bullets. Two years after the war in 1867, while Texas remained under Union control, the state endured the deadliest yellow fever season in its history. In Galveston, 1,000 died out of a population of 22,000. Source: The Handbook of Texas (Submitted on January 3, 2021, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas.)
Photographed by James Hulse, August 2, 2020
3. The view behind the Union Army P.O.W. Cemetery Marker
There is no evidence of the cemetery behind the marker.
Credits. This page was last revised on December 3, 2024. It was originally submitted on January 3, 2021, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas. This page has been viewed 1,883 times since then and 130 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on January 4, 2021, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.
