The Civil War

In 1861, as the civil war began, production of the mill was contracted to the confederate government. By aligning with the South, the mill became a military target. 

In July of 1864, General William T. Sherman, during the battle of Atlanta, ordered the destruction of the mills.

The Union army was closing in. Colonel Silas Adams arrived at the New Manchester mill on July 2 and ordered all production at the mill shut down. The troops went inside and pulled belts out of machinery and removed cloth and thread from the machines. But they did not burn down the factory. The workers were detained and placed under military guard. 

On July 9, Major Haviland Tompkins and a detail of eight men rode out to the Manchester Mill with orders to destroy the mill and to arrest all men, women and children employed at the mill. The workers were referred to as operatives. The soldiers poured flammable liquid on all five floors and set the building on fire. The New Manchester workers and the Roswell Mill workers were taken to Marietta, Georgia

The arrested workers were carried by train through Tennessee to Louisville, KY. They were sent across the Ohio River and were ordered to remain there for the duration of the war. Few were able to return to New Manchester only to find their homes and livelihoods destroyed.

Sweetwater Creek State Park

The state park was formed officially in 1972. The mill ruins remain and are protected by the Park, which was founded to protect the ruins and the pristine area around it. All that remains today are the brick walls and the millrace that leads to the factory’s water wheel. Wikipedia