Leather Factories, C. S. A.
Gilmer, Upshur County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On this site during the Civil War, a shoe factory converted leather into footgear for the Confederate Army. A harness factory nearby made bridles and saddles and also leather lines and breechings that hitched horses and mules to gun carriages, wagons and ambulances, to move armies through campaigns and battles. Leather was obtained from a local tanyard that treated over 2,000 hides a year. East Texas plants furnished the South 900 sets of harness and 300 saddles monthly during the war.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During the Civil War this East Texas site hummed with the unglamorous but vital work of keeping an army moving. A shoe factory turned local leather into footgear for Confederate soldiers, while a nearby harness shop produced the bridles, saddles, and rigging that hitched horses and mules to gun carriages, wagons, and ambulances. Fed by a tanyard that processed over 2,000 hides a year, East Texas plants supplied the South hundreds of saddles and harness sets each month.
Why it matters
It's a rare window into the Confederacy's home-front logistics — the leatherwork and manufacturing far behind the lines that quite literally kept armies on the march.
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Related events
- · Civil War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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