Camp Resolution, Texan Santa Fe Expedition

In the summer of eighteen forty-one, the Republic of Texas launched one of its most disastrous ventures: the Santa Fe Expedition. President Mirabeau Lamar sent roughly three hundred men on a grueling overland march from Austin toward Santa Fe, hoping to assert Texan authority over the upper Rio Grande trade routes and capture the lucrative commerce flowing through New Mexico. The expedition camped right here, between Quitaque Creek and Los Lingos Creek, in what became known as Camp Resolution, a name that reflects the men's determination to press on despite desperate conditions.

Plagued by heat, drought, Kiowa raids, and dwindling supplies, the survivors were eventually captured by Mexican forces and marched to Mexico City under brutal conditions. The failed expedition became a symbol of early Texas ambition outrunning its means, and two markers here, one from the Texas Historical Commission and one from the Freemasons, honor the site.