Bird's Mill was built on West Chickamauga Creek during the 1840's by Philemon Bird of a prominent and wealthy Georgia family. It stood well away from the creek on a long mill race dug by hand to bring water to it. Bird owned many slaves and extensive property, built Glass's Mill in Walker County, and later purchased and rebuilt the old Brainerd Mission Mill and a 1,000 acre farm in Hamilton County, Tennessee, also called Bird's Mill. His wife Wicker, a free Negro woman said to be part Cherokee, bore several daughters and a son named Sam, and died a few years before the war. In 1860 Bird purchased a young enslaved African girl named Mary in Tennessee, and she became his second wife; they had one son. When the war began, fearing for the safety of his new wife and family, Bird left his mills in the care of resident millers and took his family farther south to avoid passing armies and possible battles. Nearby Worthens' Gap was a major passage through Pigeon Mountain and was used for troop movements during the Chickamauga Campaign. On the night of September 9, 1863, General Hindman led his men through Worthens' Gap to a staging area in preparation for the battle at Davis Crossroads. During the Chickamauga Campaign, Bird's Mill became a focal point for Federal troop movements, and significant skirmishing took place around it from September 16 to 18. T. J. Wright of the 8th Kentucky Infantry Regiment wrote that on the morning of the 18th his men formed behind a slight eminence near their bivouac fires while pickets skirmished for several hours and artillery from both sides exchanged shells. On September 18, Captain Alfred L. Hough, a Pennsylvania soldier on General Negley's staff, wrote from Bird's Mill that skirmishing continued along the line as troops moved into position and that sharp artillery fire to the left might be the beginning of a battle. The fighting then shifted farther north, and no further action occurred in the Bird's Mill area. After the war, Philemon Bird returned with Mary and their children, but after his death the mill went out of use and fell into disrepair. A county road and bridge were later built directly over the mill site, retaining walls were made from stones taken from the old mill house, and the mill race remains so large that many local residents think it is a natural stream.

Photo: Duane and Tracy Marsteller