Near Site of C.S.A. Ordnance Plant

The works ended with an explosion. The Confederacy moved machinery and workers from Little Rock and Arkadelphia, Arkansas, to Tyler after Federal advances there, and manufacturing began in earnest in October 1863. At its peak the plant had seven buildings and more than 200 workers and turned out over 20,000 rounds of ammunition a day. After the fighting ended, Lt. Col. Gabriel H. Hill ordered the remaining ammunition and powder blown up to keep it from looters, destroying about 800,000 rounds, and the blast shattered windows in Tyler and the countryside.

What the plaque says

Near Site of C.S.A. Ordnance Plant 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)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tyler Rose Garden and Rose Museum — 1.5 mi
  More than 38,000 rose bushes of about 600 cultivars in a free city garden, beside a museum of the Texas Rose Festival, which began in 1933, and of the rose industry.
• Goodman-LeGrand House and Museum — 1.6 mi
  A Tyler house begun in 1859 as four rooms, enlarged by the Goodman family over 73 years, and left to the city in 1939 with its furnishings, in a garden that fills a city block.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 4.8 mi
  A free county park north of Tyler on the site of the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi, with a kiosk, an interpretive trail and a historical society museum downtown.
• Tyler State Park — 10 mi
  A 985-acre park eight miles north of Tyler, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1941 around a 64-acre spring-fed lake, with more than 13 miles of trails.

More markers nearby

• Rudolph Bergfeld — steps away
• Gary Elementary School — 0.6 mi
• Tyler Junior College — 1.1 mi
• Tyler Commercial College — 1.2 mi