As the Civil War loomed in the spring of 1861, Van Zandt County was among the Texas counties that voted for secession, and Texas troops began training for service to the Confederate States of America. Military officials selected Col. Matthew Flocke of Gilmer to command the Fifth Military District of Texas, which included Van Zandt County, and a recruitment and training camp near Goose Lake was named in Locke's honor. The camp initially served the Tenth Texas Cavalry, which later entered Confederate service in the Third Texas Cavalry. Ten companies of the unit, including Company H, the Van Zandt Warriors under Anderson Whetstone, trained there in the winter of 1861. The Tenth Texas Cavalry mustered into service at Taos, Texas, in October, moved into Arkansas in February 1862 to join Gen. Earl Van Dorn's army, and then went to Tennessee to support Gen. Sterling Price. Along the way it was ordered to dismount, a common wartime practice caused by Southern shortages of horses and supplies. Serving dismounted, the regiment fought with distinction at Murfreesboro and Franklin, Tennessee; Richmond, Kentucky; Atlanta, Georgia; and Mobile, Alabama. After taking part in 21 engagements, it surrendered with other Confederate forces at Citronelle, Alabama, on May 4, 1865, and the soldiers, including those from Van Zandt County, returned home to face the difficulties of Reconstruction.