During the war, the Macon Iron Works were built near the Trenton spring after the company was chartered in Macon, Georgia in 1862 by investors including J. Cowles, Elam, Alexander, Asa Thompson, and A. M. Lockett to do large-scale work for the Confederate government. The facility was in the final stages of construction when the Federal Army of the Cumberland occupied Dade County in September 1863, and slag on the site shows that at least some iron had been made there. On September 4, 1863, General George Thomas reported that stores had been captured near the Macon Iron-works, and on September 5 Private Bliss Morse of the 105th Ohio Infantry Regiment recorded marching to Trenton and camping near a foundry being built, later writing that there was a new furnace whose owners had fled as Union forces approached. In November 1863, when General William T. Sherman moved to relieve the siege of Chattanooga, Hugh Ewing led a division into Dade County as a distraction and reported from Trenton on November 20 that he was destroying the iron works. Ewing ordered Captain Cassell to destroy the machinery and stacks of all iron works in Lookout Valley and gave similar instructions to General Course near the Empire Iron Works south of Trenton. Ewing later reported that the iron works had been destroyed by breaking the engines and machinery to pieces and leveling the stacks, but the damage was less than complete, and remains of both furnaces still survive.

Photo: Duane and Tracy Marsteller