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Settlers were drawn to the area after
Moses Hughes and his invalid wife, Hannah (Berry), moved near the site of what is now Lampasas in November 1853,
seeking to take advantage of the medicinal springs. Another early settler was John Burleson, who had received 1,280
acres, including the site of the future town of Lampasas, for his services during the Texas Revolution. In July
1855 his daughter Elizabeth and her husband, George W. Scott, laid out the town of Burleson in what was then Coryell
County. At this time the town consisted of about 500 to 600 people, most of them living in tents and wagons. Other
communities established in the 1850s include Adamsville, Gholson, Kempner, and McAnelly's Bend (now Bend, in San
Saba County).
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| On February 1, 1856, in response to a petition signed by 135 Lampasas County citizens,
the Sixth Texas Legislature formed Lampasas County, named after the Lampasas River, from parts of Travis, Bell,
and Coryell counties. Burleson, renamed Lampasas, was made the county seat, and the new county was organized on
March 10, 1856. Two years later the northeastern corner of Lampasas County became part of Hamilton County. |
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During the 1850s and 1860s settlers
in Lampasas County suffered from Comanche raids and outlawry. The Lampasas Guards were organized in Lampasas on
July 1, 1859, to ward off Indian attacks, but aside from this and an occasional Texas Ranger passing through, there
was little law and order until well after the Civil War. As white hunters began to kill off the buffalo for profit
and sport, the Indians began to resent encroachment on their hunting grounds and increased their raids on the settlements.
Herds were still plentiful through the 1860s, but had largely disappeared by 1875.
Cities and Towns
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Bend (unincorporated; partly in San Saba County)
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Copperas Cove (partly in Bell and Coryell Counties)
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Kempner
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Lampasas
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Lometa
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