Campbell's Bayou

Campbell's Bayou was across Galveston Bay from Galveston on an inlet now in southern Texas City, Galveston County. The site was chosen by the Karankawa Indians as a homesite for their friends, James and Mary (Chirino) Campbell. Campbell (1791–1856), who had served in the United States Navy during the War of 1812, had subsequently been an officer with privateer Jean Laffite until 1821, when the United States government demanded that Campeche, the privateer's settlement on Galveston Island, be evacuated. Though some sources say that the Campbells settled at Campbell's Bayou in 1821, it is more likely that they did not finally move there until 1837–39.

The land the Indians had shown the Campbells was situated near the smallest of three bayous and was named Campbell's Bayou. The stream has since been renamed Campbell Bayou. Fish, wild horses, wild pigs, and game were plentiful. The Campbells planted gardens and built an underground cistern and a log house with shuttered windows and a shell floor. They signaled passing schooners with a raised white flag and traded fresh meat for goods they could not grow. Other families soon moved to the site because it offered easy access to the protected waters of Galveston Bay. Thus goods made and grown on the mainland could be traded to passing ships or sent to Galveston to be sold. The small settlement was visited by travelers from the inland on their way to Galveston. As the White population increased, the Karankawas left. In 1856 Campbell's fence lines were repeatedly moved by a wealthy Judge Jones, who coveted Campbell's land.