Confederate Gun Factory
Rusk, Cherokee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built in 1862 by John L. Whitescarver, William H. Campbell and Benjamin F. Campbell. When unable to secure materials and tools for the manufacture of rifles, Colt-model pistols were made. A number of Negroes were employed.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
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.
Why it matters
Small improvised arms works like this reveal the Confederacy's chronic industrial shortages and the reliance of the wartime South's economy on Black labor.
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Related people
- · John L. Whitescarver
- · William H. Campbell
- · Benjamin F. Campbell
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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.
Cherokee County C.S.A.
Rusk, TX
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.
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.