Macon Civil War

Macon Georgia

During the American Civil War, Macon served as the official arsenal of the Confederacy and Macon City Hall, which would serve as the temporary state capitol in 1864, was converted to use as a hospital for the wounded. However, Macon was spared by General William Tecumseh Sherman on his march to the sea. The nearby state capital of Milledgeville had been sacked and Maconites prepared for an attack. But General Sherman feared that Confederate forces were preparing a unified attack of their own and therefore bypassed Macon. Throughout the era of Reconstruction and into the twentieth century, Macon grew into a prospering town in Middle Georgia, and began to serve as a transportation hub for the entire state.

Confederate Arsenal.

Confederate States Central Laboratory State Historical MarkerLocated at 3051 Vineville Ave. at Vista Circle, Approximately 100 yards south of this point stood the Confederate States Central Laboratory. Erected between 1862 and 1865, this laboratory-factory complex was a permanent facility and center of Confederate States Ordnance testing and production. Its main building was a two storied brick and granite structure 600 feet long. Superintendent of all C.S. laboratories Lt. Col. John W. Mallet selected this site and had his headquarters here. Machinery and equipment for the facility were fabricated in Macon, Atlanta, Richmond and Leeds, England. After contributing much to the southern war effort, the site was surrendered on April 20, 1865, to Union Gen. James H. Wilson. A law suit followed over title of the property which was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in Titus v. U.S. (1864), a decision which recognized the existence of the Confederate States.

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