THETHE LOSTLOST MILLMILL WORKERSWORKERS OFOF ROSWELLROSWELL

JulyJuly,, 18641864

The Roswell Mills The Mill Workers Sherman sent General Kenner Garrard's Marietta. There they were joined by workers Roswell King, businessman and banker There was a readily available labor pool upriver to secure the from the similarly destroyed New from Darien, GA, came to North Georgia in among families who had been lured by the covered bridge at Roswell on July 5th. Manchester Mills. Put into railroad cars, 1832. He saw an abundance of wood and gold rush of the 1820's and scratched out a they were carried north, via Nashville, to potential water power on the banks of meager living on small farmsteads. Most of Destruction and Deportation Louisville, KY, from whence they were Vickery Creek, and knew it was the perfect those hired were poor white women and Union cavalry encountered Confederate dispersed into Indiana and surrounding place for cotton mills. Founding “The children who were trained to operate the troopers west of town and fought a brief areas, without jobs or means of support. Colony” with family and friends from the looms and paid lower wages than men. They coast, he built the first cotton mill with a endured noisy and dangerous factory floors, dam, millrace, sawmill, and brick kiln. The filled with moving machinery, in poor Roswell Manufacturing Company began lighting and ventilation. Working sunup to production in 1839. His son, Barrington sundown, their wages were paid in scrip to King, built a second mill upstream in 1854. be exchanged for goods in the company The Ivy Woolen Mill was established on the store. Some of their small frame houses and Chattahoochee River, at the mouth of apartments (“The Old Bricks”) stand today Vickery Creek, by Barrington's sons along Sloan Street. Thomas Edward King and James Roswell King. War and Invasion When war came in 1861, most of Roswell's men volunteered for state or Confederate service. The Roswell Mfg. Co. became a supplier to the Confederate THE DEPORTATION OF MILLWORKERS Government of cotton cloth, ARTIST: MARY JANE WARREN STONE rope, and yarn, and the Ivy Mill provided wool material for uniforms known as skirmish. Before they could capture the Fate “Roswell Grey”. The mills bridge, retreating Confederates burned it. Most of those exiled from Roswell never were kept running by the The Federals found the Ivy Woolen Mill returned. Although some came back to women and children, with flying the flag of France, its superintendent, Georgia, many remained in and s o m e o l d e r m e n a n d a Frenchman, claiming neutrality. The ruse Indiana. Lack of records has made tracing discharged veterans. Federal was short lived. On July 6th Ivy Mill and the them difficult, and only through family General William T. Sherman two cotton mills were burnt to the ground. stories do we know the fate of a few. The rest began his Upon learning that they were producing war have become “the lost mill workers of in May, 1864, and reached the materials, Sherman ordered all mill workers Roswell”. Chattahoochee in early July. arrested and charged with treason. About FUNDING FOR THIS SIGN PROVIDED Seeking a crossing to flank 400 women, men, and children were herded BY THE GEORGIA CIVIL WAR COMMISSION Confederate General Joseph at gunpoint into the town square. On July AND ROSWELL MILLS CAMP #1547 ROSWELL MILLS WOOD ETCHING 9th wagons began transporting them to SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS Image Courtesy of Roswell Historical Society E. Johnston's river line,