The Deportation of the Roswell Mills
Workers.
On July 5, 1864, Union General
Garrards's Cavalry reached Roswell, Georgia and finding it undefended,
occupied the city. General Gerrard reported to General William T. Sherman
on July 6, 1864...."there were fine factories here. I had the building
burnt, all were burnt." The cotton factory was working up to the time of
it's destruction, some 400 women being employed.
Former Associate Dean of Emory University, Webb
Garrison wrote of the destruction of the Roswell Mills. He said,
"incidents of this sort occurred repeatedly throughout the War Between the
States. Had the usual attitudes prevailed, the destruction of the
industrial complex would have ended the matter. That it did not was the
temperament and inclination of one man (General William T. Sherman)."
What Sherman did next would shock the good people
of the North and create a mystery that has endured to this day. On July 7,
1864, Sherman reported to his superiors in Washington, D.C....." I have
ordered General Garrard to arrest for treason all owners and employees,
foreign and native (of the Roswell Mills) and send them under guard to
Marietta, whence I will send them North."
A Northern newspaper correspondent reported on
the deportation, "only think of it.Four Hundred weeping and terrified
Ellens, Susans, and Maggies transported in springless and seatless wagons
away from their loves and brothers of the sunny South, and all for the
offense of weaving tent cloth.
