In June 1863, Confederate General Richard Taylor began a campaign in south Louisiana that led to the capture of Union troops in the Morgan City area. The enlisted men were paroled, but the officers were detained and sent to Shreveport. In late July, these men, including three white officers of black regiments, were sent to Tyler. At first they were held in the federal courthouse in town, then moved in August to Camp Ford. There was no stockade, and the officers were allowed to range several miles from the camp on their promise not to escape. No surviving communications give the exact reasons Taylor chose Tyler as a prisoner-of-war depot, but it is probable he intended to use the Sabine River as a legalism to avoid the requirement of making no distinction as to corps. By keeping prisoners in Texas, he could selectively remove prisoners from Tyler to Shreveport and state that any white officers of black troops were in Texas and not under his control. In late September, Taylor captured an entire brigade of Federals at Bayou Fordoche. The 650 prisoners were marched to Tyler, beginning the facility's role as a full-scale prison camp. Their arrival on October 30, 1863, caused panic in Tyler because there were fewer than 40 guards and no stockade. A plot involving local unionists George and John Whitmore and George Rosenbaum was discovered, and the conspirators were arrested. Confederate authorities then called on Smith County planters to bring their slaves to Tyler to build a stockade. In 10 days, a wall of 16-foot logs was completed, enclosing about 3.5 acres, and a prisoner diarist wrote that the people of Tyler were relieved of their fears. At about the same time, prisoner-exchange negotiations were underway. Camp Groce was ordered closed and its prisoners moved to Tyler, with officers detained there and enlisted men sent on to Shreveport. The Camp Groce prisoners arrived on December 24, 1863, and all of the enlisted men marched on to Shreveport the next day. The exchange did not occur, and these men remained at Shreveport for the winter.