DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's a story worth tellin' right. By the time the Civil War was grindin' into its later years, the Confederate Army was scramblin'. Military stores were runnin' short, and the problem wasn't gettin' easier.
Then came 1863, and the fall of Vicksburg to Union forces — and just like that, the supply of ordnance from Richmond was cut off. For the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederacy, the part that included Texas, that was a serious blow. Now, the Confederacy had been runnin' arsenals and ordnance stores at four sites in Arkansas.
But by the summer of 1863, the strategic position in Arkansas had become precarious. You could feel the ground shiftin' under the whole operation. So they made a move.
The installation that had been workin' out of Arkadelphia was relocated — and at the end of August 1863, it landed in Marshall, Texas. What went up there was no small thing. Buildings were erected for the manufacture of small arms.
There were shops for smiths and carpenters. A magazine. And a powder mill.
Sometime between March and August of 1864, that powder mill was in full operation. By the time the war came to its end in May of 1865, the arsenal at Marshall had been completed — and in its time, it had produced gunpowder and repaired small arms for the Confederate Army. Then came the surrender.
Confederate forces laid down their arms, and the installation at Marshall was abandoned. Federal forces occupied the town and moved in to dismantle the machinery. And that's where the story takes its dark turn.
During that dismantling, an explosion occurred. Three soldiers were killed. Two others were wounded.
A powder mill, built through years of war and desperation, claimed its final toll not in battle — but in the quiet, careful work of taking it apart. That's the kind of ending history doesn't always warn you about.
What the marker says
Throughout the Civil War, the Confederate Army struggled with the problem of lack of military stores. Following the fall of Vicksburg to Union forces in 1863, the supply of ordnance from Richmond was cut off. The Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederacy of which Texas was a part, established arsenals and ordnance stores at four sites in Arkansas. By the summer of 1863 the strategic position in Arkansas had become precarious, and the operations were relocated. The installation formerly at Arkadelphia was moved to Marshall at the end of August 1863. Buildings were erected here for the manufacture of small arms, shops for smiths and carpenters, a magazine, and a powder mill. The powder mill was in full operation sometime between March and August of 1864. The arsenal, completed by the time of the war's end in May 1865, produced gunpowder and repaired small arms for the Confederate Army. Following the surrender of the Confederate forces, the installation at Marshall was abandoned. After Federal forces occupied the town and began to dismantle the machinery, an explosion occurred which killed three soldiers and wounded two others. (1988)