Marshall Powder Mill
Marshall, Harrison County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Throughout the Civil War, the Confederate Army struggled with the problem of lack of military stores. Following the fall of Vicksburg to Union forces in 1863, the supply of ordnance from Richmond was cut off. The Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederacy of which Texas was a part, established arsenals and ordnance stores at four sites in Arkansas. By the summer of 1863 the strategic position in Arkansas had become precarious, and the operations were relocated. The installation formerly at Arkadelphia was moved to Marshall at the end of August 1863. Buildings were erected here for the manufacture of small arms, shops for smiths and carpenters, a magazine, and a powder mill. The powder mill was in full operation sometime between March and August of 1864. The arsenal, completed by the time of the war's end in May 1865, produced gunpowder and repaired small arms for the Confederate Army. Following the surrender of the Confederate forces, the installation at Marshall was abandoned. After Federal forces occupied the town and began to dismantle the machinery, an explosion occurred which killed three soldiers and wounded two others. (1988)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Vicksburg fell to Union forces in 1863, the Confederacy's Trans-Mississippi Department was cut off from the arsenals of Richmond and had to make its own war materiel. Late that summer the ordnance works from Arkadelphia, Arkansas, were relocated to Marshall, where crews built shops, a magazine, and a powder mill that ran at full tilt in 1864. After the surrender, occupying Federal troops began dismantling the machinery when an explosion killed three soldiers and wounded two more.
Why it matters
The mill is a vivid reminder that the Confederacy's Trans-Mississippi region had to become industrially self-sufficient once the war severed it from the East.
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Related events
- · Fall of Vicksburg
- · American Civil War
Themes & tags
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