Hi, My daughter and I took a day trip to Richmond, VA and visited the Tredegar Iron Works. This iron works has existed since before the Civil War. During the Civil War, Tredegar Iron was one of, if not THE most important iron works in the Confederacy. It produced about 1200 cannon for the Confederate Army and nearly all of the small arms and cannon ammunition for the Army of Northern Virginia. It also provided all of the iron plates for the iron clad ships that fought in the James River, Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic. During the Civil War era it also had a woolen mill and storage facility that ran off the same water source, the Richmond Canal. It survived the war and continued in operation until the early 1950s. The Lathans who fought in the Battles of Manassas, Antietam and such surely saw this iron works. Most likely they were very impressed by its size. But the south had a problem, this one plant furnished most of the iron products the army used. There were other plants but they were smaller and to far away from the fighting to be of much use. Here is a thumbnail page that tells about this plant today: http://www.wclathan.com/Tredegar/Tredegar-Iron-Works.html NOTE: The photos may take a little extra time to download when you click them. I kept the resolution of the images larger than normal because I liked the details that were visible that way. Bill Lathan ******************************** William C. Lathan, Jr. Triangle, VA USA "What Is Past Is Prologue" http://www.wclathan.com/ [email protected]