On the eve of secession, U.S. Senator John Hemphill argued in the Senate in January 1861 that Texas had the right to secede and again become a sovereign nation. He was elected a delegate to the provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery, Alabama, where it drafted the new nation's constitution, mobilized manpower, established a financial structure, and elected political leaders. He died in Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital. During the Civil War from 1861 to 1865, Texas made an all-out effort for the Confederacy after a 3 to 1 popular vote for secession. Ninety thousand troops, known for daring and mobility, fought on every battlefront. A 2000 mile frontier and coastline was successfully defended from Union troops and savage Indians. State and private industry produced war goods. Cotton, the lifeblood of the South, was traded with Mexico for medicine and military supplies. Texas was the storehouse of the western Confederacy, and citizens made sacrifices to produce food and clothing for Texas fighting men.