The obelisk-chimney is the sole remnant of the extensive powder works erected there under the auspices of the Confederate government. It was conserved by the Confederate Survivors Association of Augusta, with the consent of the City Council, in honor of the fallen Confederacy and inscribed to the memory of those who died in the Southern armies during the War Between the States. The powder works were erected and successfully operated under almost insuperable difficulties by George Washington Rains, U.S.M.A., Brigadier-General of Ordnance, C.S.A., Brevet-Major, U.S.A., and Captain, 4th Artillery, and served as a bulwark of the beleaguered Confederacy.