Confederate Iron Age

When my wife and I first started dating, we wanted to go on a trip together. Believing that we had more money than we actually did, we intended to travel to Poland. Upon looking at our finances, we realized that was not feasible and agreed on a trip to Tennessee. We stopped at the Fort Donelson Battlefield and drove through the national park. We got lost along the way, coming across a vast stone structure made of brick. It was dilapidated and was in the middle of a forest. My wife and I pulled off to the side of the road to learn about this giant structure.

On February 6, 1862, General Ulysses Grant and Admiral Andrew Foote coordinated an attack against a rebel-held position at Fort Henry. It was a water-borne fortress located on the Tennessee River. Grant and Foote’s primary objective was to capture Fort Henry and Heiman to open up the Tennessee River to the Union army and Navy. It was a gateway into the south. Grant was to support Foote’s seven gunboats with what would become the nucleus of the Army of the Tennessee. C.F. Smith would attack Fort Heiman, while John McClernand would attack Fort Henry. However, Foote’s gunboats inflicted severe shelling on Fort Henry, causing them to quickly surrender while the rest of the Confederate army fled to Fort Donelson to the east.

The U.S. Navy quickly took advantage of this open waterway. Three gunboats fired upon numerous iron works up and down the Tennessee River. This area was known as the Iron District of the Tennessee River. There were 8-10,000 enslaved people working in these iron mills. One particular furnace laid to waste was the Cedar Grove Iron Furnace, built in 1834. This furnace required over 100 enslaved workers and produced 1800 tons of pig metal. During the war, they hauled this iron two miles west to Cedar Creek Landing, where they could ship it throughout the south. The destruction of these facilities caused huge setbacks to the Confederate war effort with their already limited supplies.

One furnace that was already shut down at the time of the Union bombardment was the Great Western Furnace. It was built in 1854 and produced pig iron; however, it was shut down after only two years of use. It is unclear exactly how many enslaved people worked the furnace, but in 1856, a slave rebellion occurred among the furnace crew. They caused irreparable damage to the furnace. As a result, it sits idle to this day.

Tennessee State Sign, 3C31, “Great Western Furnace.”

Tennessee River Valley, “Cedar Grove Iron Furnace,” https://tennesseerivervalleygeotourism.org/entries/cedar-grove-iron-furnace/54e0b87d-78b0-4372-bc94-9192f2d6bebf

“Cedar Grove Iron Furnace.” American Battlefield Trust, https://www.battlefields.org/visit/heritage-sites/cedar-grove-iron-furnace.