Confederate Powderworks

George Washington Rains graduated from West Point with the class of 1842[2] and served as a chemistry teacher for the Military Academy.

[5] By comparison, Union gunpowder manufacture was distributed among many mills, with the larger Hazard Powder Company of Connecticut producing 40% of the annual production of 8.4 million pounds.

Although the massive works were seized and dismantled after the war ended, Rains asked in 1872 that the obelisk chimney be spared as he had designed it to "... remain a monument to the Confederacy should the Powderworks pass away".

The association repaired the square castellated base, protected the corners and in the face, looking towards the canal inserted a large tablet of Italian marble, bearing this inscription: "This Obelisk Chimney — sole remnant of the extensive Powder Works here erected under the auspices of the Confederate Government — is by the Confederate Survivors' Association of Augusta, with the consent of the City Council, conserved in Honor of a fallen Nation, and inscribed to the memory of those who died in the Southern Armies during the War Between the States".

The B/G E. Porter Alexander Camp #158, Sons of Confederate Veterans, spent eight years raising $192,000 to restore the chimney with its historical marker; work started on November 19, 2009, and was completed on March 12, 2010.