DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, here's what went down in Cherokee County, Texas. Back in 1862, three men set about doing something that not everybody could pull off even in peacetime — they built themselves a gun factory. John L.
Whitescarver, William H. Campbell, and Benjamin F. Campbell were the names behind the venture, and in the middle of a war, they raised up a Confederate gun factory right here in these East Texas piney woods.
Now, the original plan was rifles. That was the goal. But plans have a way of running into the hard wall of reality, and these men found they couldn't secure the materials and tools needed to manufacture rifles.
Most outfits would've folded up and gone home. Not these three. They pivoted — and what they turned to was the Colt-model pistol.
Same determination, different barrel length. A number of Black workers were employed at the factory, their labor part of the machinery that kept the whole operation running. It's a short story as markers go, but there's something in it worth sittin' with — three men, a shortage of materials, a change of plans, and a factory that kept producin' anyway.
Cherokee County, 1862.
What the marker says
Built in 1862 by John L. Whitescarver, William H. Campbell and Benjamin F. Campbell. When unable to secure materials and tools for the manufacture of rifles, Colt-model pistols were made. A number of Negroes were employed.