John L. Camp came to Texas from Alabama in 1849 and practiced law and taught school in Gilmer. During the Civil War, he organized and was elected captain of Company E, 14th Texas Cavalry (dismounted), a unit in Gen. M. D. Ector's brigade. He fought in Tennessee and Georgia, was wounded twice, captured twice, and was in a prison camp at the war's end. Elected to Congress in 1866, he was denied his seat because of Confederate service. He later served as district judge and state senator and campaigned for adoption of the Constitution of 1876 to end Reconstruction in Texas.