Matagorda County Historical Marker Narrative
 

GENERAL JOHN AUGUSTUS HULEN
1871 – 1957

Contributed by Mary Belle Ingram

General John Augustus Hulen made an indelible impression on the coastal town of Palacios, Texas, as Camp Hulen, situated on Tres Palacios Bay was named for him and Palacios was where he spent his final years in his summer home overlooking Palacios Bay and across the road from the site of Camp Hulen. Hulen’s home, now the headquarters of the Texas State Marine Education Center, touches many young people’s lives through its Aquiculture Educational program.

John Augustus Hulen, born in Centralia, Boone County, Missouri, on September 9, 1871, was the son of Harvey Hulen and Frances Mary Morter Hulen. By 1874 his family was living in Gainesville, Texas. John Hulen was educated in the public schools of Gainesville. He also attended Staunton Military Academy (1887-89) in Virginia and Marmaduke Military Academy (1889-1891) in Sweet Springs, Missouri.

On February 14, 1893, John Hulen married Frances “Frankie” L. Race. They became “Frankie and Johnny” to the family. John A. Hulen began his long and distinguished military career as a Private in the Gainesville Rifles in 1889. Commissioned in 1891, he served as a Lieutenant with Company G, 3rd Texas Volunteers Cavalry. An account of his military service was reported on the news of his death in the Houston Chronicle, September 14, 1957:

In 1893, because the horse troops were the troops used where trouble flared, he transferred to the cavalry, and was commissioned a captain of Troop D, First Texas Cavalry. He rose to major of the First, and went with the regiment when it was called for service as the “First Texas Cavalry, United States Volunteers,” in the Spanish-American War. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in command of the regiment, leading it into action in Cuba and mustering the regiment out in 1899.

 
That same year, he returned to his beloved infantry, as captain of the 33rd United States Volunteers. Aguinaldo, a fiery Filipino rebel, was leading an insurrection against American authority.

Captain Hulen and the 33rd were sent to the Philippines as part of the American forces. The young captain promptly won singular honor by engaging Aguinaldo’s right-hand commander, Tinio, in a spectacular running jungle battle.

For this he received a rare honor (rarer even that the award of the Congressional Medal of Honor.) He was cited by the Congress of the United States “for gallantry in action in Northern Luzon, Philippine Island, December 4-18, 1899.

John Hulen was mustered out of the service in 1901 and was appointed Adjutant General of Texas by Governor S. W. T. Lanham, with the rank of Brigadier General. He served in that capacity from June 1903, until November 1907. In 1907, he was appointed Passenger Agent of the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad Lines in Houston and in 1910 he worked for Trinity and Brazos Valley Railroad and became president of the company. After the line became the Burlington-Rock Island Railroad, he served as chairman of the board. As a founder of the National Bank of Commerce of Houston, he served that bank as vice president from 1914-1918. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank of the Southwest in Houston.

Recalled to active service to a command position of the Texas National Guard, John Hulen served on the Mexican-American border, and was released from active federal service in 1917. He participated in the mobilization of the Texas National Guard for service in World War I. He commanded a brigade in France during that War. As a commander of The Texas National Guard, he organized the guard into the 36th “T-Arrow” division and commanded the 72nd Infantry Brigade of the Division in 1919 and retired with the rank of Lieutenant General.

General Hulen was instrumental in locating Camp Palacios on the Texas Gulf Coast in 1925 and was in command of the Division until his retirement in 1935. Camp Palacios was the home of the division and in honor of the commander the name of the camp was changed to “Camp Hulen” September 11, 1930 by the War Department.

General Hulen considered the campsite near Palacios, an ideal spot for maneuvering troops because of its thinly populated countryside. Also, because Camp Mabry, near Austin was too costly to expand since the price of land near Austin was much higher to buy. The Camp Palacios site was selected largely because the citizens of the coastal town donated large tracts of land to get the camp at Palacios. As he unloaded his twenty train loads of troops and set up camp in the summer of 1925, he often remarked, “I do enjoy the cool Gulf Breeze.”

Hulen’s bravery in action won him The French Croix de Guerra twice, the Silver Star, the United States Distinguished Service Medal and was cited by Congress for heroism in action during his military career.

Major General John A. Hulen, retired September 19, 1935 from the command of the 36th Division Texas National Guard and reviewed his Division for the last time at Camp Hulen. People of the local area and the state, led by the Governor of Texas, James V. Allred and his staff, attended the review to pay tribute and a mark of appreciation of General Hulen’s distinguished service not only to the 36th Division, but also to the entire State of Texas. His retirement marked 45 years of service in the military forces of the United States.

Not only in service for his country but from 1931 through World War II, Hulen served on the home front as a director of Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) from 1931-1937, on the Texas Centennial Commission in 1935-36, and as president of the Railway Managers Association of Texas. Hulen was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1932, and in 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him regional salvage manager of War Production Board, a ceremonial post that he held throughout World War II.

In 1951, in celebration of Hulen’s 80th birthday, Don Hinga, a reporter for the Houston Chronicle interviewed the old general as he sat on the porch of his Palacios home and looked out at the Tres Palacios Bay.

Hinga asked, “General, this country is in one hell of a shape. We are confronted with all sorts of international problems and as an old warrior, what would you suggest?”

Lt. General John A. Hulen, retired who had answered his country’s call to arms since before the turn of the century pondered a bit. “Young man, he said, this country has been in a hell of a shape many times and has always come out of it. If I were you, I wouldn’t worry..”

The general spent most of Friday and Saturday answering the telephone and opening telegrams from over the country such as Jesse H. Jones, Mayor Oscar Holcome of Houston, and Randolph Bryan, president of Houston’s National Bank.

Some of the old general’s comrades-at-arms are coming down Sunday to celebrate his eightieth birthday. They are going to sit out on the broad front porch of the home that he bought near Camp Hulen, which is now an inactive army camp now but which during World War II taught thousands of soldiers how to fight in the traditional Hulen manner.

The general said, “there is no story down here about me. I am just an old war horse spending my last years where I had so much fun training Texans how to fight.”
 

The general turned around and said, “would you like to have a drink?’

I said, “Naturally.”

The general called “Rudolpho”  Rudolpho turns out to be Rudolpho Fernandez, whom the general met when Rudolpho was a ten year old boy in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War, when the general then only a captain was diligently chasing Aquinaldo.

The general took a liking to Rudolpho and brought him back to the states. The general put Rudolpho through Rice Institute with a degree. After 52 years, Rudolpho has been the general’s orderly and now shares his retirement.

The home overlooking Palacios Bay and across the road from the former site of Camp Hulen was General Hulen’s home for the last years of his life. Deed Records show that John A. Hulen purchased the 13.57 acres from Opal D. Price, June 26, 1940. The CTC Development News dated March/April 1996 notes that “Hulen stayed near military life building a home in Palacios near Camp Hulen following the death of this wife, Frankie, in 1941.”

The property was sold after Hulen’s death in 1959 to Lester Settegast who sold the property to Navigation District #1, Matagorda County in 1982. In 1986, the Palacios Independent

School District leased the property from the Navigation District and under the guidance of Superintendent Bill Reeves and Vocational Director Leon Bullock expanded to include a history making Marine Educational Program. The restored home of General John A. Hulen was converted into offices and a meeting room for the Marine Center. The 36th Division Association furnished a room in the Marine Center (General Hulen’s home) with artifacts of the Division depicting the history of the Division, its commander and accomplishments, with pictures of the Division during the 1920s and 1930s, battle flags, battle streamers, uniform changes, battle engagements, weapons (including Enfield, Springfield & Garand Rifles) are on display. A large photograph of General Hulen in Battle Dress of WWI graces the wall above the fireplace in the reception room of the center. The formal opening of the Center and General Hulen’s home as the Marine Center was held on Monday March 19, 1990.

Hulen served under General Charles MacArthur and his son, General Douglas MacArthur. He was a trusted General under “Black Jack” Pershing. He was one solder who saw the U. S. Army switch from muzzle-loading muskets to Garands and bazookas, from horse cavalry to mechanized cavalry, from Pancho Villa raising a ruckus along the border to the Korean War from his Tres Palacios Bay home “across the road” from the site of Camp Hulen. Hulen died at his home on Palacios Bay on September 14, 1957, and was buried in Forest Park Cemetery in Houston.

A Texas Historical Commission Marker, dedicated March 8, 2003, reads as follows:

Lt. Gen. John A. Hulen, organizer of the famed 36th "T-Arrow" Division Texas National Guards and for whom Camp Hulen was named, died at his home adjacent to the camp early Saturday morning.

Gen. Hulen was born in Centralia, Mo., Sept 9, 1871. His family moved to Texas in 1873.

The "Grand Old Warrior" as he was known began his army career as a private in the Gainesville Rifles in 1889. He had risen to colonel when the Spanish-American War erupted, and led a regiment of cavalry into action. He commanded a group of volunteers in the Philippine Insurrection, and a brigade during the troubles on the Mexican-American border.

In World War I, as commander of the Texas National Guard, he organized the guard into the 36th Division, and commanded the 72d Infantry Brigade of the division. He was made commander of the division in 1919, and retired with the rank of lieutenant-general in 1935.

Gen Hulen won the Silver Star, the French Croix de Guerre twice, the United States Distinguished Service Medal and was cited by Congress for heroism in action.

Gen. Hulen was instrumental in locating Camp Palacios on the Texas Gulf Coast, for as Commander of the Division in 1926 after seeing 20 trains of Texas troops disembark remarked that he was well pleased with the progress of the camp and "I do enjoy the cool Gulf breeze."

The camp was later renamed in his honor.

Among civilian duties performed by the General were Chairman of the board of the Burlington-Rock Island R.R.; one of the founders of the National Bank of Commerce of Houston and vice president of the bank from 1914 until 1918, and member of the board of the Bank of the Southwest in Houston.

He is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Ben Wilson of Houston and Mrs. Virginia McDonald of Los Angeles, and two brothers, Brig. Gen. Harry Hulen of Palacios and Frank Hulen of Los Angeles.

Funeral services were held Monday in the chapel of George H. Lewis & Sons in Houston with Rev. Arthur S. Knapp and Rev. Ralph C. Miller of the Trinity Episcopal Church officiating.

Burial was in Forest Park Cemetery with former officers of the 36th division, who served under the general in World War I acting as pallbearers. They were Calvin B. Garwood, L. Randolph Bryan, Jr., R. Wright Armstrong, J. F. Lehane, Jr., O. H. Schmidt, Ernest O. Thompson, P. A. Weathered, and M. E. Walter.

Transcribed by Mary Frances Flournoy from the Palacios Beacon (a newspaper published in Matagorda County, Texas) Front Page, dated Thursday, the 19th of September of 1957
 

Camp Hulen Marker Narrative

Camp Hulen Photos

Camp Hulen Christmas 1942
 

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