Historical Marker
Site Of Landmark Campbell's Bayou
Historical marker location:
Gulf Freeway, Texas City, Texas
( Gulf Freeway (IH-45), east side access road near Virginia Point Road)
Marker installed: 1968
Settled 1821 by privateer James Campbell (1791-1856), U. S. Navy veteran, War of 1812, who after discharge was lieutenant and close friend of buccaneer Jean Lafitte, operating out of Galveston (then called Campeche).
In Karankawa Indian rituals about 1817, Mary Sabinal (1795-1884) became Campbell's bride. When Lafitte left Texas in 1821, Campbell pleased his wife by settling here as a rancher.
Community remained until its second destruction by hurricane, 1915. Graves of the Campbells and many other early Texans are in cemetery at Campbell's Bayou.