DUANE
Duane's take
The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of the C.S.A. Hat Factory in Upshur County, Texas. Right here, during the Civil War, Robert Potts Bros. — hatters by trade — were turning out headgear for the Confederate Army.
Now let that sink in for a moment. Six hundred hats. Three hundred pounds of wool.
Gone in a year's time, valued at seven thousand dollars. That's not a cottage industry, friend — that's a full-on operation humming along in the middle of a war. But here's what the marker wants you to understand: the hat factory was just one thread in a much larger cloth.
Texas wasn't sitting idle while armies marched. Overcoats, blankets, shoes, caps — all of it being made in Texas factories for the army. The whole state had turned itself into a supply line.
And it wasn't just the factories doing the heavy lifting. Step inside any farmhouse and you'd find housewives carding cotton and wool — the long, patient work of pulling fibers into something useful. Homes with spinning wheels and looms were churning out sheeting, linsey, and flannel.
Others had needles in hand, knitting socks, caps, slippers. Sewing drawers, shirts, pants. Every household a small manufactory, every woman a quartermaster in her own right.
And then there's this number — the one that stops you cold. The state penitentiary alone was producing a hundred and thirty thousand yards of cloth. Every single month.
Six hundred hats from Robert Potts Bros. Three hundred pounds of wool. And behind them, a whole state stitching itself together, yard by yard.
What the marker says
Hats for the Confederate Army were made here by Robert Potts Bros. hatters during Civil War. In a year's time, 300 pounds of wool was used for 600 hats valued at $7,000.00 Overcoats, blankets, shoes and caps were also made in Texas factories for the army. Housewives carded cotton and wool. Homes having spinning wheels and looms made sheeting, linsey and flannel. Others knitted socks, caps, slippers-- or sewed drawers, shirts, pants. Texas cloth output included 130,000 yards a month from the state penitentiary.