The conventional black and silver sign also proclaims the fact that the 1890 park pavilion dominating the lot made history as the scene of an 1892 political debate between gubernatorial candidates, Gov. James S. Hogg and George Clark.
But, if the historical commission could magically turn back the clock to 167 years ago, before Cameron was founded, the 2.48-acre park site would be a vignette of frontier Texas, complete with raiding Comanches and indefatigable pioneers.
A July 1841 flood that forced the Little River out of its banks literally shaped the course of history for this simple, tree-shaded plot adjacent to Texas Highway 36 in Cameron.
In the fall of 1840, after spending several months at Nashville-on-the-Brazos, five families - Ross, Sullivan, Wortham, Thompson and Turnham - moved to the north bank of the Little River, built cabins and cleared acreage for crops. A flooded Little River drove all the settlers to higher ground and swept crops and houses to the bottom of the channel, according to the reminiscences of Cameron pioneer Susan Turnham McCown, who was 5 years old at the time.
Kentucky-born Shapley Prince Ross, an Indian agent and ranger, chose a site with high ground, a grove of shade trees and a flowing, natural spring to rebuild a home for his wife, Catherine Fulkerson Ross, daughters Mary and Margaret, and sons, Peter and Lawrence Sullivan. There the Ross family took the oath of allegiance and homesteaded on 640 acres at a site now occupied by the town of Cameron, according to the Fulkerson family Web site.
History records the Ross house as the first domicile built in the area that became Cameron. The Handbook of Texas on Line states that Cameron was established in 1846 on a 60-acre tract of Daniel Monroe’s headright on the Little River. The town honors Texas hero Ewen Cameron.
Soon the Wilson and Lamkin families moved in, Mrs. McCown stated in memoirs published in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly in 1947. Later, W.W. Oxsheer and his bride, Martha Kirk Oxsheer, settled beside the river.
Families lived off the land, established a school and watched for Indians, Mrs. McCown said in her memoirs titled “Early Days in Milam County.” When Comanches stole horses from Ross and Daniel Monroe, the men tracked them down, with Ross killing, then scalping Chief Big Foot. Weeks later, as Ross lay under a shade tree in his yard convalescing from an illness, a party of 25 Comanches rode up and demanded the family give them corn and watermelons.
The first religious service in Cameron was conducted by Methodist minister Mordecai Yell at the park site under an arbor of brush and leaves. Split logs serving as makeshift pews. Families moved into the community, where the nearest neighbors were in Port Sullivan and Nashville-on-the-Brazos.
Another first for Cameron was peddler Kattin Horn’s sale of whiskey from a barrel tapped by penniless customers who promised to pay later.
Among various accounts of Ross history, after a few years in Cameron, the Ross family traded their land for a two-horse wagon, and a yoke of oxen and headed west to look for something better. The family settled in Austin and in 1849 moved to Waco, where the Ross patriarch was credited with being one of the founding fathers.
Ross was an Indian agent, hotelkeeper and postmaster, but he is most recognized in history for being the father of Sul Ross, a Texas Ranger and Indian fighter, Confederate general, governor of Texas and president of Texas A&M.
The Texas State Library & Archives Commission’s Web site titled “Portraits of Texas Governors” records Sul Ross’ birth as Sept. 27, 1838, in Iowa, but he became a Texan before his first birthday when the family moved to Milam County.
In his book, “Texas in the War,” Col. Harold B. Simpson stated that Sul Ross attended Baylor University at Independence in 1856, but transferred to Wesleyan University at Florence, Ala., where he graduated in 1859.
Sul Ross gained “quite a reputation” as an Indian fighter on the Texas frontier during his summer “vacations” from his university studies. In 1859, Sam Houston commissioned Ross a captain in the Texas Rangers.
“He further enhanced his frontier fighting reputation by rescuing Cynthia Ann Parker, and killing Comanche Chief Peta Nocona in an Indian encounter on the Pease River just prior to the Civil War,” Simpson wrote.
Sul Ross joined the Confederate Army as a private in early 1861. He was promoted rapidly through the ranks, and was engaged in battles at Corinth, and was commended for covering Van Dorn’s retreat and for his work at Holly Springs. He was promoted to brigadier general, and his brigade consisted of the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 27th Texas Cavalry regiments. He fought in the Atlanta campaign and in Hood’s ill-fated Tennessee campaign before surrendering his brigade at Jackson, Miss., in the spring of 1865, Simpson wrote.
“Ross is reputed to have been a participant in 135 engagements and to have had five horses shot from beneath him.”
After the war, Sul Ross returned to Texas, and farmed in the Brazos River Valley near Waco before being elected McLennan County sheriff, and later to the Texas Senate and as Texas governor in 1887. Following his retirement from office in 1891, Ross became president of Texas A&M College and held this position until his death.
Dr. Lucile Estell, Milam County Historical Commission chairperson, said the Ross family heritage is one of many historical treasures in the county. Photos and brief histories celebrate the Ross father and son for their contribution to Milam County’s heritage.
Mary Belle Batte of Cameron applied for the Texas historical marker, which was dedicated June 6, 1969, said Texas Historical Commission spokesperson Debbi Head. W.S.G. and Lizzie Wilson donated 2.48 acres for City Park specifically so a pavilion could be build to accommodate the famous Hogg-Clark debate, which in 1892 drew 5,000 spectators, the state historical commission reported.
