DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Near Site of the C.S.A. Ordnance Plant, out in Smith County. Now, 1862 is when this story gets its legs.
Three men put their names to something ambitious — J.C. Short and William S.N. Biscoe, both gunsmiths, and Colonel George Yarbrough.
What they built was a two-story brick building on a hundred and twenty-five acres, and they had a contract with the State of Texas to produce five thousand rifles for troops fighting in the Civil War. Five thousand. That's not a workshop.
That's a small city dedicated to one purpose. But ambition and reality have a way of negotiating with each other. Trouble came — trouble obtaining men, trouble obtaining material.
And so in October of 1863, the plant was sold to the Confederate government itself. Now, here's the part worth noting: Short and Biscoe, the gunsmiths who started it all, stayed in with the plant. They weren't walking away from their guns.
Under the new arrangement, the operation grew into something considerable. Machinery and men had been evacuated from areas under siege in Arkansas, and they brought that hard-won capability right here to East Texas. The plant operated under the command of Lieutenant Colonel G.H.
Hill, and by this point it wasn't just a gun factory anymore. There was a leather shop, a tin shop, a dry kiln, a carpenter shop. The workforce ran anywhere from a hundred and fifty to two hundred men — and those men came from all trades.
Gunsmiths, sure, but also guards, butchers, tanners, blacksmiths, draftsmen, carpenters, harness makers, coal burners. This was a whole industrial world humming along in the East Texas pines. And the guns they made — they were specific, deliberate things.
Point-fifty-four caliber. Long and short hill rifles, long and short Texas rifles. Austrian rifles, Enfield rifles, Tyler rifles.
Barrels ranging from twenty-seven to thirty-seven and a half inches long. Some of them carried steel-tipped bayonets, and those bayonets were invented by Short himself — the same man who'd been here from the founding. Then consider what they pulled off in just three months of 1864.
In that span, this plant turned out three hundred ninety-four thousand, one hundred and fifty-six cartridges. Four hundred and eleven rifles. Three thousand five hundred and thirty-one canteens.
And they repaired a hundred and sixty guns on top of it. Three months. Many of those Tyler rifles were sent to troops fighting north and east of the Red River, to prevent a Federal invasion of Texas.
The whole enterprise — the brick walls, the borrowed machinery, the two hundred tradesmen, the bayonets Short dreamed up — it was all pointed at keeping that line from breaking. Whether the line held is a question history answered. But what happened on this hundred and twenty-five acres in Smith County was no small thing.
They built guns in the middle of a war with borrowed men and scarce material, and they kept building them right up until they couldn't. That's the story the marker tells, and it's one worth stopping for.
What the marker says
Founded 1862 by J.C. Short and Wm. S.N. Biscoe (both gunsmiths) and Col. Geo. Yarbrough. In 2-story brick building, on 125-acre site, contracted to make for State of Texas 5,000 rifles for the arming of troops in the Civil War. After trouble obtaining men and material, plant was sold in October 1863 to the Confederate government. Short and Biscoe stayed in with the plant, to continue making guns. With machinery and men evacuated from areas under siege in Arkansas, operated under command of Lt. Col. G.H. Hill, plant included leather shop, tin shop, dry kiln, carpenter shop. The 150 to 200 man work force had (besides gunsmiths and guards) butchers, tanners, blacksmiths, draftsmen, carpenters, harness makers and coal burners; guns made were .54 caliber, long and short hill rifles; long and short Texas rifles; Austrian, Enfield and Tyler rifles. With barrels 27 to 37 1/2 inches long. Some were equipped with steel tipped bayonets invented by Short. During 3 months of 1864, products made were 394,156 cartridges, 411 rifles and 3,531 canteens; 160 guns were repaired. Many Tyler rifles were sent to troops fighting north and east of Red River, to prevent a Federal invasion of Texas. (1968)