View source for Atlanta Rolling Mill

{{Short description|Former rolling mill in Richmond, Virginia}}
[[Image:Atlanta-rolling-1871.JPG|thumb|right|250px|The [[Antebellum architecture|Antebellum]] Atlanta Rolling Mill]]
[[Image:RollingMill-destroyed.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Rolling mill from the west after its destruction]]
The '''Atlanta Rolling Mill''' (later the '''Confederate Rolling Mill''') was constructed in 1858 by Lewis Schofield and James Blake and soon after, Schofield and [[William Markham (mayor)|William Markham]] took it over and transformed it into the South's second most productive [[rolling mill]], after the [[Tredegar Iron Works]] in [[Richmond, Virginia]].<ref name=garrett>[https://books.google.com/books?id=UXSjh5f3EUsC Franklin Garrett, ''Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events, 1820s-1870s'', p.427]</ref>

Their specialty was re-rolling worn out railroad [[Rail tracks|rails]] but during the [[American Civil War]] it also rolled out cannon, iron rail, and {{convert|2|in|mm|adj=mid|-thick}} sheets of iron to clad the [[CSS Virginia|CSS ''Virginia'']] for the [[Confederate navy]].<ref name=garrett/>

It was bought out by [[Charleston, SC]] interests in 1863 and became known as the '''Confederate Rolling Mill''' when it produced the former products as well as cannon.<ref name=garrett/>

Shortly after midnight on September 1, 1864, cavalrymen under the command of the retreating [[J.B. Hood|Confederate General J.B. Hood]] set fire to 81 ammunition train cars parked outside the mill to prevent them from being acquired by [[William Tecumseh Sherman|General Sherman]]. The ensuing explosions destroyed the mill and destroyed or greatly damaged structures within 1/4 mile. The events were so loud that Sherman himself heard the explosions from approximately 23 miles away at [[Battle of Lovejoy's Station|Lovejoy's Station]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events, 1820s-1870s |last=Garrett |first=Franklin|pages= 633–638 |access-date=September 20, 2012 |url=http://www.artery.org/08_history/UpperArtery/CivilWar/FMGarrettsSurrender.html}}</ref>

Part of what is now [[Boulevard (Atlanta)|Boulevard]] was named Rolling Mill Street, when the street was extended north of the railroad in the late 1860s, thus commemorating the already destroyed mill. The name was changed to Boulevard around 1880.<ref name=garrett/>

It was located on the current site of the [[Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill]] (now residential lofts) in [[Cabbagetown (Atlanta)|Cabbagetown]] on the south side of the [[Georgia Railroad]] just east of [[Oakland Cemetery (Atlanta, Georgia)|Oakland Cemetery]].<ref name=garrett/>

==References==
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{{Atlanta landmarks}}
{{Atlanta history}}
{{Atlanta}}
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[[Category:Rolling mills]]
[[Category:Manufacturing plants in the United States]]
[[Category:History of Atlanta]]
[[Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Atlanta]]
[[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) in the American Civil War]]


{{Atlanta-stub}}
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Atlanta]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1858]]
[[Category:1858 establishments in the United States]]