to
Charlotte, North Carolina, and then to Columbia, South Carolina. A
powder mill was put into operation at Richmond, Virginia, also, at
Raleigh, North Carolina, but the extent of their operations is unknown.
Two small stamping mills in the northwestern portion of South Carolina,
near the mountains, which were erected to make blasting powder for the
neighboring tunnel, were visited, but I found that they could be made
available only to a very limited extent.

The Confederate Powder Works were so constructed that the rough
materials were received at the building nearest the city; thence
successively passed up the canal from building to building in the
progressive stages of manufacture, until it arrived finished and ready
for shipping at the Magazine.

To facilitate the transportation, a short branch of railroad was
constructed connecting the canal basin with the Georgia Railroad. The
safe, economical, and ready means of transportation by the canal were
invaluable; no accident ever happened, notwithstanding the immense
amount of combustible material--over two thousand five hundred
tons--which had passed to and fro over it during the three years of
operations. From the canal bank to the entrance of each building, the
walks were covered with compressed sawdust, and rubber shoes were worn
by all operatives in the departments containing gunpowder.

It is an interesting fact that Augusta was the only city of note in the
South, which was not occupied at some time by the Federal forces during
the war; here the flag of the Confederacy floated undisturbed to the
end.

The extensive Sibley Cotton Factory has been erected on a portion of the
site of the Refinery, Laboratory and Incorporating Mills, and so
arranged that the Confederate obelisk stands conspicuously in front of
the centre; the battlemented and ornamental architecture of the Powder
Works was adopted in the construction of the Factory buildings, which
give them a fine and noble appearance.

Here was once heard the noise of the clanking wheels and muffled sounds
of the ponderous rollers of war, as they slowly concentrated into black
masses the enormous energies which were to shake the earth and air, with
the roar and deafening explosions of the battle field. Now the air is
again filled with the sounds of moving machinery, but it is the busy hum
of peaceful occupations which assist to clothe the world from the white
cotton fields of Georgia. The black material of wa