Lee & Gordon's Mills

Lee and Gordon's Mills stood along West Chickamauga Creek on the vital State Road between Chattanooga and La Fayette and became a familiar landmark for Federal and Confederate soldiers before and during the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863. The original mill was built in 1836 by James Gordon, who later built his home near Crawfish Spring and, after retiring, left the mill's operation to James Lee. On September 8, 1863, Confederate General Braxton Bragg withdrew his army south from Chattanooga and for two nights made his headquarters near the mill, with the Confederate rear positioned there and its line extending south to La Fayette. After Confederate headquarters moved to La Fayette on the 10th, the Federal 21st Corps under Major General Thomas L. Crittenden followed to the mill and vicinity, and active skirmishing occurred on the 12th and 13th against Confederate Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk's corps. As the Battle of Chickamauga raged less than two miles north of the mill on September 19, Union Brigadier General William H. Lytle's brigade defeated a detachment of Confederate Major General John C. Breckinridge's division that was attempting to capture the nearby ford. About 3:00 pm on the 20th, more than 6,000 Confederate cavalrymen under Major General Joseph Wheeler crossed the creek at the mill, and in two hours of combat against one Federal infantry and two cavalry brigades led by Union Brigadier General Robert B. Mitchell, Wheeler's men fought their way from the mill to Federal field hospitals near Crawfish Spring. Mitchell's defense enabled most wounded Federal soldiers to be moved to safety, but Wheeler's cavalrymen captured more than 1,000 wounded and able-bodied men. In early May 1864, about 24,000 soldiers in Union Major General James B. McPherson's Army of the Tennessee began their part of the Atlanta Campaign by massing at and near the mill, then marching through Snake Creek Gap southwest of Dalton and forcing Confederates to abandon that city, leading to the Battle of Resaca. The original mill burned shortly after the war, another was constructed on the same site with some modifications, it operated until 1967, and in 1993 a new owner began restoring it to working order with artifacts and equipment from its early years.

Chickamauga, Georgia · United States