Camp Ben McCulloch

Was there ever a place where history and camaraderie intertwined as seamlessly as at Camp Ben McCulloch? Here, on the banks of Onion Creek, just twenty miles southwest of downtown Austin, stands a testament to the enduring spirit of the Confederacy. Camp Ben McCulloch, established in the summer of 1896 near Driftwood, Texas, started as a small gathering of seventeen Confederate veterans. Their initial meetings took place at the “Martin Spring” on Joe Rogers’ property, a fellow veteran. The timing of these reunions was dictated by the full moon, falling neatly between cotton chopping and harvesting time. As the years passed, Camp Ben McCulloch grew to become a beacon for Confederate veterans across the South. By 1930, it boasted the largest membership of any United Confederate Veterans Camp. The annual reunions, held on the camp’s forty-acre site, became legendary. These weren’t mere gatherings; they were three-day celebrations, drawing crowds of up to six thousand. The camp itself evolved, adding electricity, running water, and a natural swimming pool amidst its majestic oak trees. Camp Ben McCulloch was named for Gen. Ben McCulloch, a pivotal figure in Texas history. He fell during the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas in 1862 while serving the Confederacy. Before the Civil War, he fought in the Texas Revolution at the Battle of San Jacinto. He also served in the Texas Rangers and the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War. Both Ben and his brother, Henry Eustace McCulloch, achieved the rank of general in the Confederate Army, a distinction no other sibling pair held during that conflict. Today, General Ben McCulloch rests in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. Thomas Fletcher Harwell, Camp Ben McCulloch’s adjutant for over twenty-five years, documented the camp’s vibrant history in his book, “Eighty Years Under the Stars and Bars.” He details how the camp’s founders, a group of Confederate soldiers, their families, and friends from Hays County’s “Hill Country,” sought to create a place of remembrance and fellowship. The camp’s first commander was Capt. Martin Luther Reed, a Mississippian. He, along with other founding members like Jacob Quick, W.M. Weaver, W.W. Davis, W.T. Chapman, Dr. J.M. Pound, and Santa Anna Cruze, laid the foundation for a tradition that continues to this day.