Historical Marker
Site of Confederate Prison Compound
Historical marker location:
150 Girard Street, Houston, Texas
( University of Houston-Downtown, west side of Jesse H. Jones Student Life Center)
Marker installed: 1965
Before 1861, site of warehouse serving Buffalo Bayou shipping. At times during 1861-65, the building here housed prisoners of war. In Jan. 1863 it held 350 Federals captured by Houston-based Confederate army of Gen. John B. Magruder. The city also had two other compounds where prisoners of war were held.
Among many Houston enterprises vital to the Confederacy were troop training fields, military hospitals, an ammunition depot, two foundries, five railroads.
City was headquarters for the Military District of Texas, which included Arizona and New Mexico.