Texas State University

Camp Swift, located on 55,906 acres in Bastrop County Texas, was built in 1942 and named after Eben Swift, a commander during World War I. Initially designed to accommodate 44,000 troops, during World War II the camp housed 90,000 troops. At one point it served as housing for 3,865 German prisoners of war. Upon the conclusion of the war much of the camp’s land was returned to its prior owners, but the government set aside 11,700 acres to be used as a military reservation. That land over time was home to a University of Texas cancer research center, a federal prison, and parts of the Texas National Guard. The Texas Historical Commission bestowed a Texas Historical Marker upon the camp in 1996. By the 2000s the camp was primarily a training site for the Texas Army National Guard.

Sources : Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. Camp Swift, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/CC/qbc27.html (accessed June 29, 2010).

Center for Archaeological Studies, Department of Anthropology, Texas State University. Archaeological Studies Reports. http://www.txstate.edu/anthropology/cas/publications/archrpts.html (accessed June 29, 2010).

From the guide to the Camp Swift Oral History Project Records 2007-119., 2004-2006, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)