Greg Foster Photography
Vickery Creek
Roswell King, a former slave taskmaster from the notorious Butler Plantation on the Georgia coast saw prosperity in the rushing waters of Vickery Creek. He moved in and invited friends like James Bulloch from coastal Georgia, and a community was formed. His son, Barrington King, founded a mill along Vickery Creek. By 1839, the Roswell Manufacturing Company was in full operation making cotton products and Roswell earned a name as one of the most important manufacturing towns in Georgia. Great homes, mill cottages, a church and school were built. Today's city of Roswell grew up around the mill.
As a Southern town, Roswell was not immune to the major issue of slavery. When Georgia seceded from the Union in January 1861, Roswell residents who could afford to do so packed up as many possessions as possible and headed to safer havens. Then the Civil War blazed a trail through town and left a mark on Roswell that is still visible today. In July 1864, Roswell was occupied by about 36,000 troops, yet the only structures destroyed were the mills along Vickery Creek. Soldiers were ordered to protect private property - the reason many of Roswell's original structures still stand.
Under the leadership of General William Tecumseh Sherman, the Union armies began moving south from Chattanooga to capture Atlanta. General Kenner Garrard's cavalry arrived in Roswell in July 1864. Retreating Confederates burned the covered bridge at the Chattahoochee River, hoping to slow Union advancement. But Union troops crossed the waist-deep waters at the Shallow Ford (near today's river park on Azalea Drive). It is said that this was the first time in history that a rifle was successfully fired under water during armed conflict.
The mill manager - a French citizen -- took desperate measures to save the Ivy Woolen Mill near the river. He flew a French flag over the mill in an attempt to claim neutrality. This worked for two days, until Sherman's army discovered the letters "CSA" on the cloth from the mill. Sherman ordered the mill burned and everyone connected with it to be charged with treason. Four hundred mill workers, mostly women and children, were sent north to prison in Louisville, Kentucky. They were never tried for the crime for which they were accused, and many never returned. Today, a monument honoring the 400 lost mill workers keeps their memory alive in Old Mill Park on Sloan Street.
Vickery Creek
Roswell King, a former slave taskmaster from the notorious Butler Plantation on the Georgia coast saw prosperity in the rushing waters of Vickery Creek. He moved in and invited friends like James Bulloch from coastal Georgia, and a community was formed. His son, Barrington King, founded a mill along Vickery Creek. By 1839, the Roswell Manufacturing Company was in full operation making cotton products and Roswell earned a name as one of the most important manufacturing towns in Georgia. Great homes, mill cottages, a church and school were built. Today's city of Roswell grew up around the mill.
As a Southern town, Roswell was not immune to the major issue of slavery. When Georgia seceded from the Union in January 1861, Roswell residents who could afford to do so packed up as many possessions as possible and headed to safer havens. Then the Civil War blazed a trail through town and left a mark on Roswell that is still visible today. In July 1864, Roswell was occupied by about 36,000 troops, yet the only structures destroyed were the mills along Vickery Creek. Soldiers were ordered to protect private property - the reason many of Roswell's original structures still stand.
Under the leadership of General William Tecumseh Sherman, the Union armies began moving south from Chattanooga to capture Atlanta. General Kenner Garrard's cavalry arrived in Roswell in July 1864. Retreating Confederates burned the covered bridge at the Chattahoochee River, hoping to slow Union advancement. But Union troops crossed the waist-deep waters at the Shallow Ford (near today's river park on Azalea Drive). It is said that this was the first time in history that a rifle was successfully fired under water during armed conflict.
The mill manager - a French citizen -- took desperate measures to save the Ivy Woolen Mill near the river. He flew a French flag over the mill in an attempt to claim neutrality. This worked for two days, until Sherman's army discovered the letters "CSA" on the cloth from the mill. Sherman ordered the mill burned and everyone connected with it to be charged with treason. Four hundred mill workers, mostly women and children, were sent north to prison in Louisville, Kentucky. They were never tried for the crime for which they were accused, and many never returned. Today, a monument honoring the 400 lost mill workers keeps their memory alive in Old Mill Park on Sloan Street.