Jefferson C. S. A.

Black powder was part of the supply chain through Jefferson. Munitions from East Texas factories came in by wagon, were held in magazines the Confederates built at the town, and went by steamboat down Big Cypress Bayou to the Red River and the Mississippi, serving the Trans-Mississippi Department organized in 1863. One brick magazine survived, called in a 2016 Army release the last surviving stand-alone building of its kind built for the war in Texas. Its floor vents open into hollow wall spaces that kept the powder cool and dry. Marion County voters approved secession unanimously in 1861.

What the plaque says

Jefferson C. S. A. (Star and Wreath) Metropolis of commerce and culture for East Texas, Jefferson became important center for Confederate activity. Major quartermaster depot for northern Texas established 1862 supplied clothing and camp equipment. Cotton Bureau Station set up to buy cotton, "life blood of the Confederacy." Two iron works in county made plows, kettles, skillets and cannon balls. Thousands of cattle and sheep were driven to slaughter house for processing and shipment. Boot and shoe factory helped outfit army. Debarkation center for troops leaving Texas. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy. Erected by the state of Texas 1963.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Excelsior House Hotel — steps away
  A brick-and-timber hotel at 211 West Austin that began as a river captain's boarding house in 1858 and was revived by a garden club in 1959, and still takes guests with rosewood furniture.
• Jefferson Historical Museum — steps away
  A four-floor museum in Jefferson's 1888-90 federal post office and courthouse, with rooms for African-American history, Jewish heritage, the Caddo and Diamond Bessie, bought by the historical society in 1965 for $8,100.
• Caddo Lake State Park — 11 mi
  A Civilian Conservation Corps park on the Texas shore of Caddo Lake, where the Caddo told of a lake made by wind-driven water and visitors now paddle Big Cypress Bayou past moss-hung bald cypress.
• Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge — 12 mi
  Wetlands and woods on part of a former ammunition plant, now a refuge for wood ducks, prothonotary warblers and alligator snapping turtles, with four easy trails and a free visitor center on a Ramsar lake.

More markers nearby

• Captain William Perry — steps away
• Kahn Saloon — steps away
• Vernon Dalhart — steps away
• Texas Statesman Charles Allen Culberson — steps away