Camp Victoria

Although the town of Victoria had been established in 1824, it was all but abandoned during the Texas Revolution in 1836, as settlers fled east during the Runaway Scrape. After the Revolution's successful close at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, the Texas Army followed the retreating Mexican troops, stopping in nearby Goliad to bury the hundreds of Texans who had been killed there. Led by Gen. Thomas J. Rusk, the 300 remaining Texas troops set up camp here in early June 1836, along Spring Creek at a site called Camp Victoria.

While encamped here, Rusk received a message from Henry Teal and Henry W. Karnes, both imprisoned in Matamoros. The message, hidden in the handle of a whip, became known as the "Whiphandle Dispatch." It warned of a potential attack by a reassembling Mexican army. Rusk requested help from Gen. E.P. Gaines of the U.S. Army, who sent troops from Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky to Rusk at Camp Victoria. By August, the Texan Army had swelled to more than 2,500 men, the largest gathering of Texan troops during the Revolution. Faced with a much larger army and new military objectives, Rusk complained to provisional Texas President David G. Burnet, who sent Mirabeau B. Lamar to take over command. The troops refused to recognize Lamar, and he returned to Texas government headquarters at Brazoria. Rusk resumed command over an increasingly restless army, with some troops talking of arresting Burnet and his cabinet. Brig. Gen. Felix Huston replaced Rusk and began preparations for an expedition against Matamoros. Troops and supplies were moved to El Cópano (50 mi. SE). The preparations proved unnecessary; neither the expedition nor the Mexican invasion took place. (2004).