Hempstead, Texas City of Hempstead, Texas Location in the state of Texas Location in the state of Texas Hempstead is a town/city in Waller County, Texas, United States, part of the Houston The Woodlands Sugar Land urbane area.
Highway 290, Texas State Highway 6, and Texas State Highway 159, is around 50 miles northwest of downtown Houston. The populace was 5,770 at the 2010 census. Mc - Dade organized the Hempstead Town Company to sell lots in the newly established improve of Hempstead, which was positioned at the projected end of Houston and Texas Central Railway.
On June 29, 1858, the Houston and Texas Central Railway was extended to Hempstead, causing the improve to turn into a distribution center between the Gulf Coast and the interior of Texas.
The Washington County Railroad, which ran from Hempstead to Brenham, enhanced the town/city upon its culmination. The Confederate Military Post of Hempstead was established in the Spring 1861.
Numerous camps of instruction were established east of town along Clear Creek.
Camp Hebert was the earliest camp in the area, and served as the command posts of the Post of Hempstead early in the war.
Camp Groce CSA was established in the Spring of 1862 on Liendo Plantation on the easterly bank of Clear Creek as a Camp of Instruction for Confederate Infantry Recruits.
Originally named, "Camp Liendo", the name was changed to honor Leonard Waller Groce, the owner of Liendo Plantation, and the owner of over 100 slaves.
A contract to construct the barracks at Camps Groce and Hebert was let in February 1862.
Numerous Confederate infantry regiments were organized, trained, and equipped at Camps Groce and Hebert.
Camp Groce was reused as a military camp until the Spring of 1863, but was again abandoned.
From 1861 to 1863, nearly 200 Confederate Soldiers fell sick at Camps Groce and Hebert and died.
In June 1863, Camp Groce was re-opened as a prison camp for Union prisoners captured in the Battles of Galveston (January 1, 1863)and Sabine Pass I (January 21, 1863).
The Union prisoners of war taken at the Battle of Sabine Pass II (September 8, 1863) were also sent to Camp Groce.
427 Union prisoners were held at Camp Groce in 1863 and 21 died.
Camp Groce was re-opened in May 1864 for 148 Union prisoners captured at the battle of Calcasieu Pass, La.
About 40 Soldiers from the 1st Texas US Cavalry were sent to Camp Groce in June 1864, and 506 more Union Prisoners were transferred to Camp Groce from Camp Ford in August 1864.
They were moved to Camp Gillespie near Bellville in late September 1864 and then to Camp Felder, 6.5 miles north northwest of Chappell Hill, Texas.
221 prisoners died or are missing from Camps Groce, Gillespie, and Felder in 1864.
About 8,000 Confederate Soldiers were ordered to Hempstead in the Spring of 1865.
All Confederate forces in Hempstead and all other CS posts in Texas simply went home.
The first US forces that appeared in Hempstead after the war was the 29th Illinois Volunteer Infantry.
The division camped in and around Liendo Plantation for about 2 months before moving to Austin or were mustered out of the service at Hempstead in 1865-66.
The command posts of US Post of Hempstead was positioned in town and not at Liendo Plantation.
In the Fall of 1867, a terrible Yellow Fever epidemic devastated the civilian populace of Hempstead, and nearly 40 Soldiers of the 17th US Infantry perished as well.
They are buried in 3 major locations in and around Camp Groce and west of town on the old Mc - Dade Plantation Cemetery on Austin Branch Road near Sorsby Road.
There is a Texas State Historical Marker there entitled, "Union Army POW Cemetery," but there are also various US Navy POWs buried there along with various Confederate Soldiers who died in the hospitals in downtown Hempstead.
It is worth noting that 99 US Navy POWs died while held at Camp Sumpter, Andersonville, Ga., and 75 died while held at Camps Groce, Felder, Hempstead, and Houston.
Hempstead is famous for its watermelon crop, and until the 1940s, the town was the top shipper of watermelons in the United States.
Both resided in Hempstead, Texas.
Colmenares, another famous resident, is presently teaching at Seven Lakes High School in Katy, Texas after retiring from the United States Air Force and conducting research on soil erosion for Princeton University in Papua New Guinea.
Hempstead is positioned at 30 5 29 N 96 4 53 W (30.091427, -96.081252). According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town/city has a total region of 5.0 square miles (12.9 km ), of which, 5.0 square miles (12.9 km ) of it is territory and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km ) of it (0.40%) is veiled by water.
Hempstead is the governmental center of county of Waller County.
The United States Postal Service Hempstead Post Office is positioned at 901 12th Street. The City of Hempstead is served by the Hempstead Independent School District.
According to the Koppen climate classification system, Hempstead has a humid subtropical climate, Cfa on climate maps. a b Hempstead, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online "Population and Housing Unit Counts, 2010 Enumeration of Population and Housing" (PDF).
Hempstead, TX: Chamber of Commerce.
Climate Summary for Hempstead, Texas Learn more about Camp Groce CSA by accessing the following resources: The Last Prison:The Untold Story of Camp Groce CSA, by Danial Francis Lisarelli,1999.
City of Hempstead Camp Groce CSA Hempstead, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online Municipalities and communities of Waller County, Texas, United States
Categories:
Cities in Waller County, Texas - Cities in Texas - County seats in Texas - Greater Houston - 1858 establishments in Texas
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