The Tides oi War al
Troublesome Greek
Time* anil again the ancient iron¬
works sloo<l in (lie path of history.
By LI MILE Y S. IILTLEIl
On Sunday. August 13, 1972, more
than one hundred citizens of Rocking-
hum County and friends from around
the slate gathered at the Ironworks
crossroads to witness the rcdcdication
of a monument al Speedwell Furnace,
the colonial ironworks on Troublesome
Creek. The original bronze plaque
erected on an early millstone in 1933
by the George Reynolds Chapter,
DAR, of Eden had been stolen by van¬
dals several years ago. Through the
generosity of the present owner of the
Ironworks, Col. James G. W. Mac-
Lamroc of Greensboro, a new plaque
was provided for dedication.
Speedwell Furnace was important
for nearly one hundred and fifty years
as a crossroad store, polling place, and
grist mill. It was one of the few iron¬
works in North Carolina in the colonial
period, and in 1791 President George
Washington stopped at the ironworks
for breakfast. But the statewide histori-
/CQRNWAU IS PASSED HER*. EARLIER-
ON HIS RACE TO. THE OAN RIVER; '
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recent ploque, dedicated toil August
in ceremonies organized by Henry W. Anderson,
ol Eden, Choirmon ol the County American Rc»o-
lution Bicentennial Communon Featured od-
drenei -ere by Hector MocLcon, ot Lumbcrton,
ol the Stole Comminion, and Dr Lindlcy S.
Butler, ol Rockingham Community College.
cal significance of the ironworks on
Troublesome Creek is based on its im¬
portance as a bivouac during General
Nathanael Greene's Southern cam¬
paign which led to the final defeat of
the British at Yorktown and to Ameri¬
can independence.
A visitor to the site today is visibly
reminded of the stirring events of the
late eighteenth century by the massive
rock dam. the mill races, the brick and
stone mill ruins, the dilapidated mill¬
er’s house, the old mine excavation,
and the breastworks constructed by
Greene's army in March. 1781.
One can easily imagine the sights
and sounds of the construction of the
dam. the miners wrenching ore from
ihc hillside, the charcoal burners fell¬
ing trees, the ring of the smith’s ham¬
mer at the forge, the rendezvous of the
militia, the march to Guilford Court¬
house. and the return on a rainy March
night of the badly mauled, bloodied
survivors of one of the most important
battles of the Revolution.
Karly I reworks
Troublesome Creek became the lo¬
cation of Speedwell Furnace for two
reasons — water power and available
iron ore. The creek crosses the extreme
northern end of a belt of titaniferous
magnetite ore which runs from David¬
son County northeast about thirty
miles to southern Rockingham County.
Two leading iron mines in this area
have been the Tuscarora Mine near
Friendship. Guilford County, and the
Dannemora Mine near Midway, Rock¬
ingham County. Although charcoal
was probably used in the smelting
process. Speedwell Furnace was lo¬
cated just south of the Dan River Coal
Field which was mined as early as
1827.
In his report on Rockingham
Troublesome Creek ot the Ironworks locution.
Speedwell Furnoce wos located here because ot
aroiloblc Iron ore and the wafer power. — (Photo
by Fred Del Guercio.)
County in 1810, Alexander Sneed
wrote that
There arc some Iron mines,
particularly in the neighborhood
of the Troublesome old Iron
works, but they are disused at
present: — The works (which were
erected about the year 1770, and
perhaps the first in the State)
having gone to ruin.
It cannot be determined exactly
when Speedwell Furnace was estab¬
lished, but it is known that there were
ironworks in existence in Orange,
Rowan, and Guilford counties by
1771. (Rockingham County was
formed from Guilford County in
1785.) With the advent of the Ameri¬
can Revolution, there was a need for
an arms industry in the province, so
the Provincial Congress of April,
1776, authorized the purchase and re¬
pair of the iron works in Guilford
County for the making of weapons for
the Revolutionary army. Now the
smith at Speedwell Furnace would
forge swords and bayonets rather than
axes and scythe blades.
Then came the epic year of 1781.
’The War for American Independence
had begun its sixth weary year. To the
north Washington and Clinton faced
each other in stalemate in the Hudson
Valley of New York. In the South
there had been one disaster after an¬
other as Savannah and Georgia and
Charleston and South Carolina had
fallen. The commanders had suffered
the same fate. Robert Howe had been
relieved after his failure al Savannah;
Benjamin Lincoln had been captured
with his army at Charleston; and Ho-
TME STATE, DECEMBER 1. 1972