Sope Creek was one of the first water ways that Union troops would need to cross in order to reach Atlanta during the Civil War. General John M. Schofield had to cross Sope Creek at its mouth in order to complete flanking orders given to him by General William Sherman.

We can trace the early life of the mill through the life of Jefferson Howard Land and the first hand accounts of his wife published in The Atlanta Journal in 1933, which considered him one of the “pioneer paper makers of the south.” Mrs. Land recalled Jefferson’s humble beginnings as an apprentice at the paper mill, earning $4 a week at the age of 12. Mills like Sope Creek produced “letter paper for the Virginia Army and cartridge paper for the western Army.” During the war, Andrew S. Edmonston ran the mill at Sope Creek.

Edmonston struggled along with co-owner Saxon A. Anderson as their workers left to join the Confederate Army.  In September 1863, Edmonston wrote to one of his clients, the Daily Intelligencer, ”We applied for the detail of the hands which has not been done, though the Government has been urgent for paper, and we have strained every nerve to supply.” While Edmonston was angered by the situation and the Confederacy’s demand for paper, he was not fully aware of the dwindling resources and manpower shortages in the South.

As Sherman advanced towards the Chattahoochee, he was unsure of how to cross the river and maneuver around the Confederate army led by Joseph Johnston. Schofield was the first to find an access point at the mouth of Sope Creek, a tributary of the Chattahoochee, where the Army of Ohio planned to cross. This allowed the Union to flank Johnston's army from the North and then continue to Atlanta, burning the mill sometime between July 6th and July 8th.

Later, Jefferson Land returned to the mill at Sope Creek, and crudely rebuilt it with what he could find, attempting to revitalize the Atlanta paper industry. Later, the paper mill returned to ruin after being burned by suspected arson in 1870, so the primary attractions at the Sope Creek historic site are the foundations of the 1870 reconstructed mill.  Sope Creek became a Local Historic Site in 1973 and it serves as a representation of southern industry and the impacts of war on everyday American life.

Credits and Sources:

Researched and written by John Kibler, Joseph Rodriguez, and T Watson, students at the Westminster Schools.

 

Atlanta History Center. “Paper Mill Workers.” Atlanta History Center. Last modified 2011. Accessed January 22, 2016. http://collectionsdev.atlantahistorycenter.com:2011/cdm/singleitem/collection/ath pc/id/1259/rec/1.

 

Chapman, Ashton. “Making Paper on Soap Creek.” In The Atlanta Journal, 10.

 

Edmonston, A. S., ed. “The Marietta Paper Mills.” Daily Intelligencer. Accessed January 19, 2016. http://www.uttyler.edu/vbetts/daily_intelligencer.htm.

 

Edmonston, Andrew S. “The Marietta Paper Mills.” In The Daily Intelligencer, 2. Vol. IX. Atlanta, GA: Jared I. Whitaker, 1863.

 

Gerdes, Marti, and Scott Messer. “Historic Resource Study.” National Park Services. Last modified February 2007. Accessed January 15, 2016. http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/chat/hrs_2007.pdf.

 

Kibler, John. Photograph. January 5, 2016. JPEG.

 

Kurtz, Wilbur G. Ruins of the Paper Mills: Soap [sic] Creek, Cobb County, Ga.

Photograph. April 28, 1930.

 

Kurtz, Wilbur G. Map of Section of Cobb County. Ga. Showing Military Operations June 22 - July 17: 1864, medium, 1930, Atlanta. 

 

Kurtz, Wilbur G. “The 23d Corps at Sope Creek.” In Civil War Days in Georgia, 8-9. Atlanta, GA: The Constitution Magazine, 1930.

 

Mitchell, William R. “Sope Creek Ruins - Marietta Paper Mills.” In National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form, edited by Mary Gregory Jewitt, 1- 5. Atlanta, GA: United States Department of the Interior National Park Service, 1973.

 

Rodriguez, Joseph. Photograph. January 5, 2016. JPEG.

 

“The Picturesque Passage of the Chattahoochee River, by the Federal Army of the Ohio.” In The Atlanta Journal, 13. Atlanta, GA: n.p., 1933.