Camp Elizabeth

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CAMP ELIZABETH. Camp Elizabeth was nine miles northwest of the site of present Sterling City in central Sterling County. It was first established as a camp for Texas Rangers about 1853. In 1874 it was taken over by Fort Concho and used mainly as an outpost hospital. Fort Concho was activated from 1867 to 1874, when an unusual number of Indian depredations were taking place in West Texas.

The camp had officers' quarters, a hospital, a farrier shop, and rock corrals, as remembered by early surveyor W. F. Kellis, who made a diagram of it. The soldiers slept in tents near the officers' quarters. Water was obtained from a nearby spring on the North Concho River. The parade ground between the camp and the river seems to have been used to teach horsemanship.

During the time the camp was in operation several black troopers were stationed at the post. Camp Elizabeth was abandoned intact in 1886. Later the buildings were razed by ranchers who objected to the unsavory characters frequenting the place. A commemorative monument was later erected by the state of Texas at the presumed site.