CAMP FELDER. Camp Felder, a Confederate camp for Union prisoners, was located near Chappell Hill in Washington County. It was named for Gabriel Felder, owner of the Brazos River bottomland where the camp was set up. Previously the site had been a Methodist campground. In September 1864 Union prisoners of war who had been transferred from Camp Groce to a camp in the Bellville vicinity were moved to Camp Felder to avoid a fever epidemic. Col. Clayton C. Gillespie was commander. The camp was on low ground at the foot of the hill; a Confederate cavalry guard and its horses stayed in sheds on the hill above. Apparently prisoners suffered a high mortality rate at Camp Felder and were returned to Camp Groce.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mr. and Mrs. Nate Winfield, All Our Yesterdays: A Brief History of Chappell Hill (Waco: Texian Press, 1969).
