C. S. A. Hat Factory
Gilmer, Upshur County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Hats for the Confederate Army were made here by Robert Potts Bros. hatters during Civil War. In a year's time, 300 pounds of wool was used for 600 hats valued at $7,000.00 Overcoats, blankets, shoes and caps were also made in Texas factories for the army. Housewives carded cotton and wool. Homes having spinning wheels and looms made sheeting, linsey and flannel. Others knitted socks, caps, slippers-- or sewed drawers, shirts, pants. Texas cloth output included 130,000 yards a month from the state penitentiary.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Cut off from Northern and European factories by the Union blockade, the Confederacy had to clothe its armies from scratch — and here in Gilmer, the Potts brothers turned local wool into some 600 hats a year for Confederate soldiers. They were part of a vast improvised war economy: Texas factories turned out overcoats, blankets, shoes, and caps, while housewives carded wool, spun cloth, and knitted socks at home. Even the state penitentiary wove 130,000 yards of cloth a month.
Why it matters
The Confederate home front reveals how total war reached into ordinary workshops and parlors, making cloth-making and hat-making acts of wartime supply.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When the Civil War began in 1861, the Confederacy faced a severe problem: it had few factories. The Southern economy was built on agriculture, much of it on enslaved labor, and before the war most manufactured goods, including cloth, shoes and hats, came from Northern mills or from Europe.
The Union blockade of Southern ports made the problem much worse. As the Union Navy tightened its grip on the coast, imports became scarce and expensive. The Confederacy had to supply its armies from whatever it could produce at home, and that meant building a war economy almost from nothing.
Texas played a significant role in this effort. It was far from the main battlefields, so its workshops, homes and institutions could produce goods for soldiers fighting elsewhere. East Texas towns like Gilmer, set in wooded country with established farms and small towns, became part of this improvised supply network.
Inflation was another feature of wartime life. Confederate paper money lost value steadily as the war went on, so prices quoted in Confederate dollars can look surprisingly high. Keep that in mind when you see what these hats were worth.
People & events
Here in Gilmer, the Robert Potts Bros. hatters made hats for the Confederate Army. In a single year they worked through some 300 pounds of wool and turned out about 600 hats, valued at $7,000. That value was in Confederate currency, which wartime inflation made much less solid than it sounds.
Hat-making was skilled work. Wool had to be cleaned and processed, then shaped into felt and formed into hats that could stand up to the weather and to hard campaigning. For soldiers marching and camping in the open, a hat was practical gear, and it protected them from sun and rain.
The Potts brothers were one part of a much larger effort. Texas factories produced overcoats, blankets, shoes and caps for the army. In homes, women carded cotton and wool to prepare the fibers for spinning. Households with spinning wheels and looms wove sheeting, linsey and flannel, while others knitted socks, caps and slippers or sewed shirts, pants and underclothes.
Even the state penitentiary joined in, turning out about 130,000 yards of cloth a month, a huge contribution to the state's supply. Together, factory workers, prisoners, housewives and craftsmen like the Potts brothers made up an army of producers behind the army of soldiers.
Its place in the American story
The Civil War was one of the first American conflicts to demand the full effort of entire societies. Winning depended on factories, farms, railroads and households as much as on battles. The Confederacy's struggle to clothe and equip its troops is a key part of understanding why the war unfolded as it did.
The contrast with the North is telling. The Union had far more industrial capacity and could produce uniforms, shoes and equipment on a large scale. The Confederacy relied heavily on improvisation: small workshops like the Potts hatters, prison labor, and the hand work of women at home. That gap in industrial strength is one of the fundamental facts historians point to when explaining the war's outcome.
This marker also highlights the home front and the role of women in particular. With so many men away in the army, women took on enormous burdens, and spinning, weaving, knitting and sewing for soldiers became part of daily life. The story is a reminder that war reaches far beyond the battlefield.
It is worth remembering, too, what the Confederacy was fighting for: an independence founded on the preservation of slavery. Understanding how the Confederate war effort worked is part of understanding the full, difficult history of that conflict.
If you visit
Gilmer is a pleasant East Texas town, and this marker offers a window onto an often-overlooked side of the Civil War. There were no battles here. What happened here was the patient, practical work of supplying an army far away.
As you read the marker, try to picture a small hat-making shop full of wool, heat and steam, with workers shaping felt by hand. Then widen the picture to farmhouses across Texas where spinning wheels and looms were running and women were knitting socks for soldiers they might never see again.
This stop is a useful counterpoint to battlefield sites. If you are travelling through the South to learn about the Civil War, markers like this help show how the conflict shaped everyday life and work.
The piney woods of East Texas make for a scenic drive, and Gilmer fits easily into a road trip through the region. Take your time and look for other historic sites around Upshur County while you're here.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Themes & tags
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