The Confederate Powder Works
Construction of the Confederate Powder Works at Augusta began on September
13, 1861. Eventually, this massive facility, the only permanent structure ever
erected by the Confederacy, stretched for almost two miles along the Augusta
Canal. From April 1862, when production started, to April 1865 the works, under
the watchful eye of Colonel George Washington Rains, superintendent, turned
out more than 3,000,000 pounds of the best quality gunpowder. Jefferson Davis
said Rains had built and operated “the best powder mill in the world.” After the
war, the works were allowed to fall into disrepair while the land on which they
stood was disposed of piecemeal. Finally, in 1872, the city of Augusta bought the
remaining acreage and buildings at public auction. The buildings were razed in
1875 to make room for enlarging the canal, leaving only the chimney, dubbed
“the tall grand obelisk.” The chimney still stands today, in front of Sibley Mill. A
historical marker erected by the Georgia Civil War Heritage Trails organization
was dedicated there in September 2003.
You can read more about the construction and eventual disposal of the powder
works in ARCHS member Dr. C.L. “Chip” Bragg’s two fine articles in our journal,
" The Architect of the Powder Works: C. Shaler Smith ," Vol. 33, No. 1 (Spring
2002), and “ The Tall Grand Obelisk Alone Remains: The Postwar Disposition of
the Confederate Powder Works and Other Properties, ” Vol. 34, No. 2 (Fall 2003).
Chip and another well-known ARCHS member, Gordon Blaker, are the authors
of the definitive history, Never for Want of Powder: The Confederate Powder
Works in Augusta, Georgia , due out from the University of South Carolina Press
in April 2007.

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