From Camino Real to Civil War: San Augustine’s Roads of Trade and Troops

Mission Dolores invites you to join Site Manager Aaron Gates to explore how East Texas history and a Civil War battle in Arkansas were connected. This program links the famous El Camino Real de los Tejas—passing through the 18th-century Spanish mission site—to events a century later during the Civil War.

The presentation culminates in the Battle of Jenkins’ Ferry, fought April 30, 1864 on the Saline River in Arkansas, during the Red River Campaign—the final campaign that would determine whether the United States could gain a strong foothold in the interior of Confederate Texas.

Discover the local story:

• Regiments organized in San Augustine and Jefferson, such as the 19th Texas Infantry, marched to pivotal battles like Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, and ultimately Jenkins’ Ferry.
• Soldiers like Lt. Joseph Thorn Baker of San Augustine, who fell at Jenkins’ Ferry and whose grave is in San Augustine City Cemetery.
• Learn how the El Camino Real, once a colonial highway, became one of the lifelines for soldiers and supplies during the Red River Campaign.