Skip to Main Content

Augusta Photographs: RL00085

This is a pilot digital archive project, containing photographs from the Special Collections Department of Reese Library, Augusta University. The collection includes photographic images from the 19th and 20th century covering a host of subjects.

RL00085

NAVIGATION: Thumbnails Previous Record | Next Record RL Number sort Sorted by title
Thumbnail: The Confederate Powder Works (Augusta, GA)
Larger Size: rL00085.jpg (7.66MB)
Full Size: For Full Sized images suitable for publication, please contact Special Collections (archives@augusta.edu) for permissions to publish and copyright advisement
Title: The Confederate Powder Works (Augusta, GA)
Creator: Unknown
Subject: Augusta (GA) Buildings
History (Augusta, GA) 
Description: Built in 1862, the confederate powder works was built to supply the Confederate States of America (CSA) Army with the powder it needed to prosecute the war. The CSA government commissioned Col George Washington Rains to construct a powder works and he chose Augusta because of the availability of the canal and several rail transportation options. The facility operated until 1865 when it was shut down after the last of the major CSA armies surrendered. The facility stood on this site until 1872 when it was demolished to make room for Sibley Mill. The smoke stack was preserved as a monument to the confederacy. The machines of the works were sold to Sycamore Manufacturing of Cheatham County, Tennessee in 1868 to form the basis of an improved powder works built there. The date of this picture is probably from some time between 1865 and 1868, as the building seems to be intact, but no signs of production are evident, though a very similar picture in the book Never for Want of Powder: The Confederate Powder Works in Augusta, Georgia, is dated as “around 1870”.
17 X 14.5 cm
B&W Copy  
Publisher: Unknown
Contributor: Augusta University, Reese Library
Date: CA 1865-1867  
Type: Image; Still Image 
Format: B&W Original
Tiff document size is 14.7 MB
Identifier: rL00085 
Source: Augusta University Collection
Language: English 
Relation is Based On: Not Applicable 
Coverage: Geographical: North and South America, United States, Georgia, Richmond County, Augusta
Temporal: CA 1865-1867 
Rights: Augusta University Contact Reese Library Special Collections (archives@augusta.edu) for rights information