Existing comment:
Georgia:
As Union armies invaded Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi, increasingly Georgia seemed to be the best place to consolidate Confederate arms production. The Augusta Powder Works became the largest gunpowder maker in North America. The Confederate States Central Laboratory for ammunition was established at Macon. Three of the four cannon foundries operated by the Confederate government were placed in Georgia -- at Augusta, Macon, and Columbus.
An important figure in Georgia's arms production was Colonel George Washington H Rains, an engineer with a background in chemistry and geology. He chose to place the powder works at Augusta, and while he supervised the Augusta Arsenal a reporter wrote, "Col. Rains seems to have been successful in security, from the apparently limited number of artisans in the South, men in every department equal to the duties required." |