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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) |
