The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-11-08

held BY several owners became the
property OF the Tredegar Iron Com.
pany, organized in January, 1898
About seven years ago the old build.
ing, standing on tn site of that to
which this tablet is affixed. was pulled
down. and in the garnet, which had
not been visited for fifty years. per.
proceedings OF the board of directors
and of the stockholders of that com.
pany.
Many of those recorded as takine
ing men Of old Richmond--Francis 3.
Deane. Jr., the founder OF the WORKS, a
man of the most ardent public spirit:
/ Thomas Rutherford. Nichoias Mills.
DR.. Thomas Nelson, Samuel Alordecai.
George Woodbridge, Edward Cunning
ham, Jr., John X. TriDlctt. Bernard
Peyton and others. But the enterprise
was new. it encountered many diff
culties, and in partial .reorganiza-
I ton in March. 1s4l, 1t called into its
service as commercial agent Joseph
r. Anderson. of Botetourt county.
graduate of West Point, then twenty
, eight years old. who. after serving a
short time in the Engineer Corps OF
the army. had accepted an appoint
ment as assistant to the Chief Engi-
neer OF Virginia, Colonel Crozet. and
| in that capacity had constructed the
! Winchester. afterwards so famous in
the campaign of Stonewall Jackson.
Two years and half later he became
the lessee Of the works. and in 1S4s
, the sole owner.
THE old Tredegar Iron Company
was soon afterwards dissolved. ana
Its assets were distributed among its
shareholders.
The Test of the Guns.
AT an early period of his connection
dertaken the manufacture Of heavy
castiron guns for the army and navy
using for this purpose the charcoal pig
| iron made at the Cloverdale and Grace
furnaces, in Botetourt county, va. In
this he was eminently successful, and
the Tredegar Works became one OF
the four foundries employed by the
| United states government to make
heavy cannon. Army and navy Of
fcers Were always sent to supervise
their manufacture and to prove each
/ gun by firing a number of service
rounds. remember seeing such q
| trial take place in what is now Holly.
wood Cemetery, the shot being fired
| tendent's house at present stands. On
one occasion, not long before the war.
one of the departments determined to
! ties. a gun made at each Of the gov
firing it with a certain charge TIL
the gun burst The gun made at the
Tredegar Works stood this extreme
test for q greater number of rounds
the records at Washington no doubt
attest this fact.
Such was the preparation of these
works for the service they had to
render on the outbreak of the War Be-
The Cannon That Were Cast.
foundry in 90 operation in the SOUTH ,t,
which had cast a heavy gun, and
subsequent years of the war. with
some success, to esta blish other gun
foundries, do not understand that
their product was very considerable
!! An old foundry record kept here shows
cannon We're cast at the Tredegar Iron
Works during the years 1861-1s65
Many of these were field guns OF
bronze or iron. 1t was no easy mat
product here. One constant difficulty
was to get efficient labor when the
army was calling for every ablebodied
white man. Then every sort of raw
by the firm of ]. r. Anderson & Co.
|, operating the TredeEar Works, for
here were but few independent manu-
facturers who could supply the va
rious commodities needed.
"The ore had to be mined. the trees
! selled and converted into charcoal the
} pig iron smelted in primitive blast
furnaces with a capacity OF less than
1000 tons per annum. This product
had then to be transported in wagons
and thence in boats drawn by horses
two hundred C20O) miles to Richmond
and every one OF these operations had
to be conducted by the firm mentioned
by the purchase by them of mines near
Richmond, which they had to work
and, in the later years OF the war
the same proprietors had to acquire
j for their operatives and undertake
special arrangements to supply then
with food and clothing. There was
no cooperation of many Independent
manufacturers. as In highly-organizec
of the Tredegar Works. The ten-inct
Columbiad delivered here to the Con
federate government had at everA
stage Of its manufacture. from the
iron ore dug from the mountain side
Anderson & Co. operating the Trede
gar Works. Besides It's head, some
Of It's important members during tn,
4 war were John +. and William 2. Tan
L
Skill ms Master Workmen.
"But at every point they were sec
onded by the skill arA fidelity of TIL,
4 master workmen trained by long ser
vice here, who had become the prac
teal managers Of the different de
partments. have only time to men
ton one, taken from us by com
paratively early death many years ago
our master founder, Peter S. Derby
shire. who had a real genius for hi
technical business. and, besides that
nerve and presence of mind at tn
critical moment of a great cast, which
stamped him as leader OF men.
"Derbyshire was responsible 70
every gun cast In those eventfu
years.
I'm the brief Inscription on the tab
let It was necessary to omit many o
s the products Of these works, which
! were Of almost vital interest to TIL
n Southern States, cut off from the res
s lof the world, though II Is there re
corded that the wrought iron armo
Il Of the frigate Merrimac-Virginia wa
made here.
N artillery, bar iron for the blacksmith
A and the farmer, nails for the car
Ipenter, spikes, bridge bolts, axles an
s car wheels for the railroad, supple