Cherokee County, Texas

CIVIL WAR HISTORICAL MARKERS

Cherokee County C.S.A.

Marker location:  Courthouse Square, corner of 6th and Main (1963)

Text: Civil War manufacturing, supply and military center. Field Transportation Bureau shop made and repaired wagons, saddles, harnesses. Gun factory produced "Mississippi rifles" and pistols. Two iron works cast plows, skillets, pots, irons. Salt works provided a scarce item. Confederate commissary stored sugar and military supplies. Texas conscript district office directed drafting activity. Additional military activities included Union prisoner confine and two camps, one a camp of instruction for raw recruits. C.S.A. Men and Units Two thousand men from Cherokee County were in the Confederate Service, including Brigadier General Joseph L. Hogg who died in Mississippi in 1862. Companies organized were: Co. A, 2nd Texas Cavalry Co. C, 3rd Texas Cavalry Co. K, 4th Texas Cavalry Co. F, 7th Texas Cavalry Co. I, 10th Texas Cavalry Co. B, 17th Texas Cavalry Cos. F and I, 35th Texas Cavalry Co. B, 28th Texas Cavalry, Dismounted Cos. A and D, Border's Cavalry Co. K, 1st Texas Partisan Rangers Co. E, 7th Texas Infantry Cos. A, C,K 18th Texas Infantry

Cherokee Furnace Co., C.S.A.

Marker location: about 6 miles south of Rusk via FM 52 then west on CR 2323 (1965)

 Text: Made crude kettles, plow tools on this site in 1864-65. Slaves fled from Louisiana's Red River Campaign battles were the workers. This county had 2 war plants working easily-mined, abundant local ore. Smelting fuel was charcoal made of timber growing nearby. A phase of manufacturing that made Texas "Storehouse of the Confederacy."

Civil War Iron Works, Texas

Marker location:  about 8 miles west of Jacksonville on US 79 (1965)

Text: To make farm and kitchen tools need in wartime, Chapel Hill Manufacturing Co. in 1863 set up plant on this site, processing native iron; used Cherokee limestone to purify the ore. Nearby hardwood supplied charcoal. Crew included 100 Louisiana slaves. Ore from hilltop fed through smokestack into furnaces on lower ground. Slag caught in furnace grates. Melted iron fell through and was cast into molds. Plant had associated sawmills, brickyards and commissary -- freighting goods form Mexico. By the 1880s, at least 16 iron works operated in East Texas.

Confederate Gun Factory

Marker location:  .25 miles west of courthouse on 6th (US 84) (1936)

Text: Built in 1862 by John L. Whitescarver, William H. Campbell and Benjamin F. Campbell. When unable to secure materials and tools for the manufacture of rifles, Colt-model pistols were made. A number of Negroes were employed.

Confederate Training Camp

Marker location: Old Crockett Road (1984)

Text: During the Civil War this area along the road from Rusk to Crockett served as a training camp for Confederate soldiers. Located in a bare field with an available water supply from the nearby Pryor Branch, Camp Rusk was used for training new recruits as well as for reorganizing and equipping veteran units. Several units that spent time here went on to serve with distinction in such battles as Mansfield and Glorietta Pass. The training camp was occupied by Union soldiers after the war ended and was abandoned once the occupation period was over.

Davis, Nicholas A. Davis, Chaplain, Church Founded by

Marker location:  Corner of Nacogdoches and S. Boulton

Text: Born in Alabama in 1824. Entered Presbyterian ministry. Moved to Texas in 1857. Farmed and preached. At start of Civil War joined the 4th Texas Infantry and went with troops to Virginia. As a Confederate chaplain had same pay and rations as a private, and no status privileges. Duties included religious services, lessons, counseling, funerals, baptisms, sick visits, removal of wounded and dead from battlefields. Handled mail, with special attention for men who could not read and write. Worked to get better troop living conditions. Established hospital wards. Because newspapers gave Virginians credit for Texas boys' victories, published 1863 in Richmond his "Campaign from Texas to Maryland." A Houston edition gave homefolk news few soldiers could tell. After war returned to farming, building churches and preaching over the state. For many years was a Trinity University trustee. Established the first commercial orchard in Jacksonville and started the development which makes the area foremost in Texas fruit growing. Pioneered use of insecticides, better farming methods and new machinery. Died in 1894 in San Antonio

Frazier, I. K., Dr., Home

Marker location:  704 E. 5th Street in Rusk (1969)

Text: Typical Texas house of the 1850s, when it was built. Deeded 1873 to Dr. Frazer, who in Civil War had been in 3rd Texas Cavalry and Brigade of Gen. Joseph Hogg. For over 40 years, until his death in 1908, Dr. Frazer was a leading physician of Rusk. RTHL 1969

Gregg Family Home

Marker location: East 4th Street about .5 mile form Main St. in Rusk (1967)

Text: One of the oldest houses in Rusk; Built 1847-48; Dog-trot styling, pine construction. Modernized in 1919 and 1935. Three former owners were Confederate captains; Daniel Egbert, E. C. Williams, Elbert L. Gregg. Owned by Gregg family since 1876; Community leaders. RTHL 1967

Prisoner of War Compound C.S.A.

Marker location: 2 miles south of Rusk on FM 241

Text: Prisoner of War Compound at this site housed some of the more than 3,000 Federals captured at Mansfield, LA., on April 8, 1864, in Red River campaign to prevent Federal invasion of Texas. Camp Ford, at Tyler, was largest P.O.W. camp west of the Mississippi. Texas had two others, at Hempstead, Waller County, and Camp Verde, Kerr County. (1965

Smith, Jackson

Marker location: city cemetery in Jacksonville

Text: A blacksmith by trade, Kentuckian Jackson Smith came to Texas in the 1830s and participated in the War for Independence. He later visited this area as a Republic of Texas scout. In the 1840s, he settled southwest of here in the Gum Creek community. Near there he platted a townsite he called Jacksonville. Smith served as a Confederate officer in the Civil War. In 1972, Jacksonville was moved to its present site along the new railroad.

Templeton, David Greene

Marker location: Jacksonville City Cemetery

Text: (Aug. 5, 1815 - June 29, 1871) Cherokee County pioneer David Greene Templeton arrived in the county shortly after the legislature organized it in 1846. Settling in the Gum Creek Community (later Old Jacksonville), the North Carolina native became a prominent landowner and civic leader. In 1850, Templeton was appointed one of nine original trustees to the Presbyterian College at Larissa (later Larissa College). Active in his local Masonic lodge, he was part of the Confederate home guard during the Civil War. His descendants served prominently in the early development of Jacksonville. Recorded - 2001

Union Grove Cemetery

Marker location: FM 2138 5 miles south of Jacksonville

Text: Established in 1868 with burial of Mary Ann Patton, the first wife of John F. Patton (1829-1900). He was Jacksonville postmaster, Confederate Army officer during Civil War (1861-1865). In 1871 he deeded this land to the Union School and Church. Kept up by gifts, cemetery is still in use. (1971)

Union Hotel/ Bracken House / Acme Hotel

Marker location: northwest corner of Main and 6th (US 84) in Rusk

Text: The first hotel to occupy this site was the Union Hotel, a wood frame building erected in 1849. Renamed Bracken House for a subsequent owner, it continued to serve the city until 1889. Civil War General Joseph L. Hogg, father of future Governor James Stephen Hogg, gave a rousing patriotic speech from the front steps in 1861, and infamous outlaw John Welsey Hardin was held for two weeks in the hotel by the local sheriff in 1872. Architect Theodore Miller razed the wooden structure and built the 65-room brick Acme Hotel in its place in 1889. It was destroyed by fire in 1905. (1996)

This  information comes from The Texas Historical Commission Markers.