By 1860 the city was the fifth largest city in Texas, the "first metropolis of East Texas with a population of about 2,000", according to Randoph B. Campbell author of Gone to Texas, and the seat of the richest county. The county had more slaves than any other in the state, making it a hotbed of anti-Union sentiment. In the 1850s there were so many skilled slaves in Marshall, that white mechanics organized to protest that work was being taken away from "free" workers. When Gov. Sam Houston refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, Marshall's Edward Clark was sworn in as governor. Marshall would also produce Texas' third Confederate governor, Pendleton Murrah. Marshall became a major Confederate city, becoming the capital of Missouri's Confederate government-in-exile, producing gunpowder and other supplies for the Confederate Army, and hosting three conferences of Trans-Mississippi and Indian Territory leaders.
