09/12/2026
In 1844, Tallassee, Alabama’s first textile mill was established beside the river. Twenty years later, war transformed part of that mill into something very different.
A Confederate armory.
As Union forces threatened Richmond in 1864, Confederate ordnance officials transferred machinery and equipment for producing carbines from Virginia to Tallassee. The Tallassee operation was intended eventually to produce thousands of carbines annually. The war ended before that could happen.
Approximately 500 Tallassee carbines were manufactured in 1864 and 1865, and fewer than a dozen are known to survive today.
The armory escaped destruction. Union forces bypassed Tallassee in 1864 and 1865, failed to destroy it.
