Cherokee County C.S.A.
Rusk, Cherokee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Civil War manufacturing, supply and military center. Field Transportation Bureau shop made and repaired wagons, saddles, harnesses. Gun factory produced "Mississippi rifles" and pistols. Two iron works cast plows, skillets, pots, irons. Salt works provided a scarce item. Confederate commissary stored sugar and military supplies. Texas conscript district office directed drafting activity. Additional military activities included Union prisoner confine and two camps, one a camp of instruction for raw recruits. C.S.A. Men and Units Two thousand men from Cherokee County were in the Confederate Service, including Brigadier General Joseph L. Hogg who died in Mississippi in 1862. Companies organized were: Co. A, 2nd Texas Cavalry Co. C, 3rd Texas Cavalry Co. K, 4th Texas Cavalry Co. F, 7th Texas Cavalry Co. I, 10th Texas Cavalry Co. B, 17th Texas Cavalry Cos. F and I, 35th Texas Cavalry Co. B, 28th Texas Cavalry, Dismounted Cos. A and D, Border's Cavalry Co. K, 1st Texas Partisan Rangers Co. E, 7th Texas Infantry Cos. A, C,K 18th Texas Infantry
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During the Civil War, Cherokee County became a busy Confederate manufacturing and supply hub, with shops making wagons and harnesses, a gun factory turning out rifles and pistols, iron works casting tools, and salt and commissary works feeding the war effort. It also held Union prisoners and drilled raw recruits at a camp of instruction. Some two thousand county men served the Confederacy, among them Brigadier General Joseph L. Hogg, who died in Mississippi in 1862.
Why it matters
The site illustrates how the Confederate home front was itself a war machine, with rural Texas counties improvising the arms, wagons, and supplies that kept armies in the field.
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Related people
- · Joseph L. Hogg
Related events
- · Civil War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Confederate Gun Factory
Rusk, TX
Built in 1862 by John L. Whitescarver and William H. and Benjamin F. Campbell, this East Texas works was meant to manufacture rifles for the Confederacy. Unable to obtain the materials and tooling for rifles, the operators instead produced Colt-model pistols. The inscription notes that a number of enslaved or free Black workers were employed at the factory.
Rusk
Rusk, TX
Founded in 1846 and named for Republic of Texas statesman Thomas J. Rusk, this Cherokee County seat became an industrial center and Confederate supply depot during the Civil War. It later claimed the distinction of birthing two Texas governors, James S. Hogg and Thomas M. Campbell. The town and county remain dotted with historical sites open to visitors.
Cherokee Furnace Co., C.S.A.
Alto, TX
In 1864 and 1865 this site produced crude kettles and plow tools from abundant, easily mined local iron ore, smelted with charcoal made from nearby timber. The workers were enslaved people who had fled the fighting of Louisiana's Red River Campaign. It was one of two war plants in a county whose ironmaking helped earn Texas the name "Storehouse of the Confederacy."
Texas Civil War Iron Works
Jacksonville, TX
In 1863 the Chapel Hill Manufacturing Co. built an ironworks on this site to make farm and kitchen tools the Confederacy badly needed, smelting native East Texas iron ore with Cherokee limestone and charcoal from nearby hardwoods. A crew that included 100 enslaved workers from Louisiana fed ore down the hillside into the furnaces, where molten iron was cast into molds. By the 1880s at least sixteen ironworks operated across East Texas.