DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker in Harrison County tells it, here's the story of Marshall, C.S.A. — and friend, that title alone ought to give you a sense of what you're in for. When people talk about the Confederate war effort west of the Mississippi, they tend to picture somewhere grander, somewhere more obvious. But East Texas had a secret, and that secret had a name: Marshall.
This town wasn't just a footnote in the western Confederacy — it was the engine room. Let's take stock of what was happening inside Marshall's city limits during the war. The Trans-Mississippi Department Medical Bureau was here.
The Postal Service headquarters for that same department, here. Two military hospitals, here. A commissary bureau, here.
And if that wasn't enough to keep a town busy, there was also an ordnance bureau, a depot, an arsenal, and a laboratory — all of them producing and distributing powder, pistols, saddles, harness, and clothing. Marshall wasn't watching the war from a distance. Marshall was the war, at least for everything west of the river.
Now here's where the story takes one of those turns that makes you set down your coffee. When Union forces occupied Missouri, the governor of that state and his fellow officials needed somewhere to operate. They chose Marshall.
From November of 1863 to June of 1865, this East Texas town became the wartime Confederate capitol of Missouri. Think on that. A state's government, in exile, running itself out of Texas.
And the meetings that happened here — three separate wartime conferences, governors and Confederate military officials from Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri, all gathering in Marshall to figure out how to hold things together. One of those conferences, in 1862, resulted in the establishment of a separate department for those four states. Then in 1863, military and civil authority was consolidated under General E.
Kirby Smith, who took command of the entire department. The names that came out of Marshall read like a Confederate roll of honor. Edward Clark and Pendleton Murrah, both wartime governors of Texas, called this place home.
Louis T. Wigfall, a states' rights leader in the United States Senate before secession, and then a member of the Confederate Senate — Marshall man. Dr.
James Harper Starr served as Trans-Mississippi postal agent. And four Brigadier-Generals: Matthew D. Ector, Elkanah Greer, Walter P.
Lane, and Horace Randal. Then there's Lucy Holcomb Pickens. The marker calls her the Sweetheart of the Confederacy, and notes she was the only woman whose portrait graced Confederate currency.
She was from Marshall. Now. May 15, 1865.
One month after Appomattox. The war in the east was already over, and yet here in Marshall, prominent Confederates gathered to discuss one final, agonizing question — continued resistance, or surrender. They talked.
And when the talking was done, they reached a stalemate. No answer. Just silence where a decision should have been.
For some, that silence was answer enough. Rather than surrender at the war's end, a number of high-ranking Confederate military and civil officials did something that no marker of triumph would ever record — they began an exodus from Marshall to Mexico. The engine room had gone quiet.
And the men who'd kept it running walked south toward a border and whatever was waiting on the other side.
What the marker says
As a center of activity for the Confederacy west of the Mississippi, this East Texas town played a major role in the Civil War. Headquarters of the Trans-Mississippi Department Medical Bureau and Postal Service were here plus two military hospitals and a commissary bureau. An ordnance bureau, depot, arsenal, and laboratory produced and distributed powder, pistols, saddles, harness and clothing. Following the occupation of Missouri by Union forces, the governor and other officials of that state made this the wartime Confederate capitol of Missouri from November, 1863 to June, 1865. Three wartime conferences of governors and Confederate military officials of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri met here. One in 1862, resulted in the establishment of a separate department for these states. In 1863 military and civil authority was consolidated under Gen. E. Kirby Smith, commander of the department. On May 15, 1865, one month after Appomattox, discussion of continued resistance or surrender resulted in a stalemate. Prominent Confederates from Marshall were Edward Clark and Pendleton Murrah, wartime governors of Texas; Louis T. Wigfall, a "state's rights" leader in the U. S. Senate prior to secession and member of Confederate Senate; Dr. James Harper Starr, Trans-Mississippi postal agent; and Brigadier-Generals Matthew D. Ector, Elkanah Greer, Walter P. Lane and Horace Randal. This was the home of Lucy Holcomb Pickens, "Sweetheart of the Confederacy," the only woman whose portrait graced Confederate currency. Rather than surrender at War's end, a number of high-ranking Confederate military and civil officials began an exodus from Marshall to Mexico. A Memorial To Texans Who Served The Confederacy