"...the best powder mill in the world..."
When the conflict began in April 1861,leaders on both sides were unpreparedto wage a long war. The Confederacy'sindustrial capacity was especially lacking,and munitions of all types were scarce. Initial stores of gunpowder wereinadequate, and attempts to overcomethese deficiencies by existing powdermills or blockade runners provedcostly, unreliable and dangerous.Confederate President Jefferson Davis assigned Colonel George WashingtonRains the task of constructing andoperating a gun powder factory. Reachingfor two miles along the banks of the Augusta Canal, the Confederate States Powder Works produced much of thegunpowder for Confederate Armiesfrom April 1862 until the war's endthree years later.
(Picture included:Colonel George Washington Rains)
On July 20, 1861, Rains examined the old United States Arsenal site alongthe banks of the Augusta Canal, one half mile from the western city limit ofAugusta. According to Rains,
" Augustawas selected, for several reasons: for its central position; for its canaltransportation 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 experiencedpersonnel.
(Picture included: Complex viewfrom the north)
With the assistance from powder makerFrederick Wright, engineer andarchitect C. Shaler Smith, and mastermechanic William Pendleton, Rains oversaw construction, beginning onSeptember 13, 1861. The Powder Workscomplex was designed for manufacturingefficiency and safety. Thirteen majorbrick buildings and nearly twenty wooden structures were arrangedin order of manufacturing process.Raw materials entered at one end of the Powder Works and finishedgunpowder exited the other.Granite from Georgia's StoneMountain, five million locally producedbricks, and machinery fromthroughout the Confederacy wereassembled. Most visually remarkablewere the battlemented Refinery with its 153-foot-tall smokestackand the Laboratory with itsunfinished clock tower.
Gunpowder production commencedon April 10, 1862, and continued almost uninterrupted until April 29,1865. Working only during daylightand overcoming four explosionsplus shortages of raw materials andlabor, the facility produced somethree million pounds of the bestquality gunpowder. JeffersonDavis later noted,
"it is but a justtribute to say that, beginning withouteven instructed workmen, he [Colonel Rains] had before the closeof the war made what, in the opinion of competent judges, has beenpronounced to be the best powdermill in the world...."
The approach of Union MajorGeneral William T. Sherman's army inlate November 1864 prompted Rainsto consider moving at least some ofthe Powder Works machinery tosafety. But Sherman bypassed Augustawhile production continued to the endof the war. After the war the PowderWorks declined into ruin. The city ofAugusta acquired the tracts of land from the federal government in 1871and 1872. An enlargement of the canal,begun in 1872, compelled the razingof remaining Powder Works structures,with the exception of the Refinerysmokestack. At the request of Rains,it was left standing as a monument tothe fallen heroes of the Confederacy.
(Complex map included)
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