Site of Confederate Arms Factory
Lancaster, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Site of Confederate Arms Factory Established by Joseph H. Sherrard, William L. Killem, Pleasant Taylor and John M. Crockett in 1862 to manufacture pistols for the State of Texas.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1862, with the Confederacy scrambling to arm itself, a partnership of Dallas-area men set up a small factory here to manufacture pistols for the State of Texas. Frontier Texas had little heavy industry, so improvised arms works like this one were vital to supplying troops far from the Southern manufacturing centers of the East.
Why it matters
It marks the South's desperate, homegrown effort to produce weapons under blockade, a reminder that the Civil War strained the Confederacy's industrial capacity as much as its armies.
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Related people
- · Joseph H. Sherrard
- · William L. Killem
- · Pleasant Taylor
- · John M. Crockett
Related events
- · American Civil War
Themes & tags
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