Tannehill - Where the iron was made

October 20, 2009

Peaceful is a word you would now use to describe Tannehill. It is a quiet and peaceful place, split by a slow moving river running through the campgrounds. Peaceful is not a word you would have used to describe Tannehill in 1863 when the War Clerk, John B. Jones said from Richmond in 1863:

"Iron was wanted more then anything else but men"
- John B. Jones, War Clerk, Richmond.

For this was the height of the Civil War, and iron really was wanted more than anything else but men. For without iron, the soldiers would have no bullets for their weapons, the artillery no shot for their guns, the cooks no stoves, nor pots, nor pans, the armorers no weapons for their men, and so on. Iron was serious business.

The ironworks at Roupes Creek was producing 22 Tons of iron a day before the Eighth Iowa Cavalry laid waste to the ironworks in August 1865. Now by my calculations 22 tons is a lot of iron.

It's an interesting experience to wander in and out of such a place. A place where 500 men slaved over those huge hot furnaces toiling all day just to make iron.

We take it for granted now. We need iron and steel, and it's there. Most of us probably have never been inside a modern steel works nor a foundry where iron and steel are made. The ironworks have been largely rebuilt and restored recently since their destruction in 1865.

It's a majestic site, and one could only imagine what it was like back in the 1860s when it was all being worked in earnest.

The forest now is lovely, so we strolled through and just enjoyed our day there, taking it all in. This is Mom and Dad strolling and enjoying their day.

There's more to Tannehill than the furnaces and forest. There's more history - like this old gas pump and the Church.

It was a trip down memory lane for my wife who grew up camping at Tannehill. And I love trips down memory lane...