Date of Marshall Texas production?

[Big Lefty]

Quick question.  My "Tyler Texas" book is packed away among my several hundred other CW books so I can't find the answer to my question easily.  Can anyone tell me when Marshall, TX started producing ammunition after the machinery was moved there from Arkadelphia, AR?  Were they producing small arms ammunition prior to January 1864?

[Jim T]

Quoted from Dean's "Round Ball to Rimfire -- Part 6":

"It did not take Hill long to get up and running once the tools and supplies arrived from Little Rock, and in the month of October 1863, the Laboratory fabricated 7,520 Buck & Ball cartridges."

[Big Lefty]

Thanks Jim.

[tom buckley]

Part 6?

Will Part 5 and Part 6 be available soon?
 

[Big Lefty]

I was under the impression that the "machinery" came from Arkadelphia, AR not Little Rock.  Records from the Arkadelphia facility currently housed in the Arkansas History Commission certainly give that impression.

[Jim T]

Thanks to Big Lefty who caught me being carless....

The quote I used above is from the Tyler section of Dean's book (that's the problem with Parts 5 & 6 adding up to 1,200 pages!).

Okay, let me try to straighten my own mess up here.

1st (to the original question): There is no definate date that small arms ammunition production was begun..."On November 30, 1863, Major Rhett complained that cartridges were only being fabricated in the T.M.D. at the Shreveport Arsenal, but he would “soon have two additional Laboratories at work at Tyler & Marshall.”   Interestingly, Tyler began production at the end of October in a rented facility, and we would think that Marshall was not that far behind."

Follow-up questions / comments:
Houston's machinery went to Anderson;
Arkadelphia's machinery went to Marshall;
Little Rock's machinery travelled through Arkadelphia to Tyler;
Shreveport made much of their own equipment but did get some stuff from New Iberia.

 

[Big Lefty]

Many thanks Jim.  Some of the smoke is now starting to clear.