Titus County C. S. A.
Mt. Pleasant, Titus County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Created and organized in 1846. Named for pioneer resident Andrew Jackson Titus (1814-1855), who opened county's first road, to river port in Jefferson. Until after the Civil War, Titus County also included areas of present-day Franklin and Morris counties. Six mail routes going by horseback, had pack mules to follow lead horse. High waters in creeks and Sulphur River often halted travel. Record time to haul cotton to Jefferson was 5 days by ox wagon. In 1860 had 9,648 people. Voted 411 to 275 in favor of secession. Sent 10 military companies to Civil War. While home tables drew heavily on game foods (deer, wild turkeys, pigeons, bear), county furnished Confederate commissary with beef, butter, corn, rice, cotton, oats, sweet potatoes, flour, cornmeal, leather, lumber, pottery, tobacco, whiskey and wool. Wartime manufacturing plants included 9 sawmills, 8 gristmills, tanneries and a steam powered distillery. Mount Pleasant had a Confederate transportation depot employing blacksmiths, carpenters, harness makers, wheelwrights. It procured equipment and horses and mules, and made gear, harness and wagons for the purpose of moving men, army supplies and government owned cotton.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in 1846 and named for pioneer road-builder Andrew Jackson Titus, this Northeast Texas county threw itself into the Confederate cause, voting 411 to 275 for secession and sending ten military companies to war. Its farms and mills supplied the Confederate commissary with beef, corn, leather, and lumber, while a transportation depot at Mount Pleasant kept blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and harness makers busy outfitting wagons and teams. The county's home front fed both its own tables of wild game and the armies in the field.
Why it matters
Titus County shows how the Confederate war effort reached deep into rural life, turning ordinary farms, mills, and craftsmen into an engine of military supply.
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Related people
- · Andrew Jackson Titus
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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