Ex Turner Collection.   In the years prior to the Civil War, Gorgas was a political opponent of Republicans and abolitionists.[3] He also made requests for transfer to arsenals in the South on multiple occasions.[4] Ultimately the decision to participate in the secession, apparently motivated as much because of professional conflict with his commander as by political principle, he moved to Richmond and became chief of ordnance for the Confederacy with the rank of major.[2] Having served in nearly every arsenal in the nation he was the perfect choice for the position.[5] In this capacity, he worked to create an armaments industry almost from scratch. The South had no foundry except the Tredegar Iron Works. There were no rifle works except small arsenals in Richmond, and Fayetteville, North Carolina, plus the captured machines from the U.S. arsenal in Harpers Ferry.In the procurement of arms Gorgas also corresponded with Charles Prioleau, who headed Trenholm's Liverpool office, arranging for the shipping of arms and other supplies to the Confederacy. Most of the arms sent to the Confederacy departed from Liverpool. During the summer of 1861, Gorgas stockpiled supplies and prepared his first load of cargo while the Trenholm company procured a suitable ship for the voyage. A 1,200 ton iron-hulled steamer, the Bermuda, was chosen to make the voyage.[5]Gorgas established armories and foundries and created the Nitre Bureau to search for alternative sources of nitre. He implemented President Davis's wish and helped facilitate the commissioning of George Washington Rains, a North Carolina native and West Point graduate with extensive military service who was working as a Northern industrialist when the war broke out. Rains, a scientist of high order, established the Augusta Powder Works in Augusta, Georgia, which supplied almost all of the powder for the Confederacy. Thanks to his and Rains's efforts, the Southern armies never lacked weapons or gunpowder, though they were short on almost everything else. On November 10, 1864, Gorgas was promoted to brigadier general.[2]