The Confederate States Powder Works
"...the best powder mill in the world..."
When the conflict began in April 1861,
leaders on both sides were unprepared
to wage a long war. The Confederacy's
industrial capacity was especially lacking,
and munitions of all types were scarce.
Initial stores of gunpowder were
inadequate, and attempts to overcome
these deficiencies by existing powder
mills or blockade runners proved
costly, unreliable and dangerous.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis
assigned Colonel George Washington
Rains the task of constructing and
operating a gun powder factory. Reaching
for two miles along the banks of the
Augusta Canal, the Confederate States
Powder Works produced much of the
gunpowder for Confederate Armies
from April 1862 until the war's end
three years later.(Picture included:
Colonel George Washington Rains)
On July 20, 1861, Rains examined the
old United States Arsenal site along
the banks of the Augusta Canal, one
half mile from the western city limit of
Augusta. According to Rains," Augusta
was selected, for several reasons:
for its central position; for its canal
transportation and water power; for
its railroad facilities; and for its
security from attack- since the loss
of the works would have been
followed by disastrous consequences."
But at first he was hampered by a lack
of detailed plans or experienced
personnel.(Picture included: Complex view
from the north)
With the assistance from powder maker
Frederick Wright, engineer and
architect C. Shaler Smith, and master
mechanic William Pendleton, Rains
oversaw construction, beginning on
September 13, 1861. The Powder Works
complex was designed for manufacturing
efficiency and safety. Thirteen major
brick buildings and nearly twenty
wooden structures were arranged
in order of manufacturing process.
Raw materials entered at one end
of the Powder Works and finished
gunpowder exited the other.
Granite from Georgia's Stone
Mountain, five million locally produced
bricks, and machinery from
throughout the Confederacy were
assembled. Most visually remarkable
were the battlemented Refinery
with its 153-foot-tall smokestack
and the Laboratory with its
unfinished clock tower.
Gunpowder production commenced
on April 10, 1862, and continued
almost uninterrupted until April 29,
1865. Working only during daylight
and overcoming four explosions
plus shortages of raw materials and
labor, the facility produced some
three million pounds of the best
quality gunpowder. Jefferson
Davis later noted, "it is but a just
tribute to say that, beginning without
even instructed workmen, he
[Colonel Rains] had before the close
of the war made what, in the opinion
of competent judges, has been
pronounced to be the best powder
mill in the world...."
The approach of Union Major
General William T. Sherman's army in
late November 1864 prompted Rains
to consider moving at least some of
the Powder Works machinery to
safety. But Sherman bypassed Augusta
while production continued to the end
of the war. After the war the Powder
Works declined into ruin. The city of
Augusta acquired the tracts of land
from the federal government in 1871
and 1872. An enlargement of the canal,
begun in 1872, compelled the razing
of remaining Powder Works structures,
with the exception of the Refinery
smokestack. At the request of Rains,
it was left standing as a monument to
the fallen heroes of the Confederacy.
(Complex map included)
Marker is on Goodrich Street, on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
