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Tredegar Ironworks,

Richmond Virginia

In the early 1830's the city of Richmond in Virginia U.S.A. had many small foundries which were constantly merging to form new companies. The city's dependence on these copious industries made it unique from the rest of the south. Also, it was unlike the north in that these industries made use of slave labour. By the middle of the century the city was to walk a fine line between these two world.

In 1833 an engineer from Tredegar, South Wales, was hired, along with a number of fellow workers, by a group of Richmond businessmen and industrialists. His name was Rhys Davies and his job was to construct the furnaces and rolling mills, which later became the Tredegar and Belle Isle works of Richmond. So great was the contribution to the construction of the ironworks, by Rhys Davies and his fellow workers, that the proprietors named the works "The Tredegar Ironworks".

Rhys Davies was born in Breconshire, and apprenticed, at the age of eleven, as a millwright and pattern-maker in the service of the Tredegar Company at the town of Tredegar South Wales. It was with the Tredegar Company that he was to acquire the mechanical knowledge and ironmaking skills that were to serve him well in later life. After serving a few years as an artificer with the Corps of Royal Military Engineers, he went to France in the 1820's. During his time in France he was employed in erecting various iron structures by the famed  French Marshal, Auguste-Frederic Marmont. He also gained further experience, while in France, at the French Besancon ironworks. He died in Richmond in September 1838, as a consequence of stab wounds received in a  fight with a workman, and buried on Belle Isle. 

Tredegar Ironworks 1865 from the banks of the James river, taken by Alexander Gardner. The new gun foundry, with its prominent furnace stack, stands in the centre.

Although the Tredegar works was chartered in 1836, the halt of the railway boom caused a panic in 1837 and a consequent drop in the price of iron. The rolling mills were merged with the Virginia Foundry Company, by Francis Dean and John and Edward Cunningham, in 1837 creating what would become the largest foundry in the South and third largest in the USA. The newly formed company, however, failed to come up to expectations and continued to loose money. This decline continued until 1841 when the owners hired a twenty eight year old ex-army officer, Joseph R. Anderson, to take charge of the company. The Tredegar works was eventually saved by funds from the Virginia bank and individual contributions. Soon the first cannon was being cast for the US navy.

Along with the government work that 'Tredegar' acquired, the commissioning of nine hundred miles of rail track in Virginia between 1846 to 1853 offered a market in locomotives and rail stock. Also, after taking out a lease in November 1843, Anderson built a shipyard at Rockets in the port of Richmond. In 1847 the forerunner of the Confederacy's ironclad navy, the Treasury cutter Palk, was launched. The ship had watertight bulkheads and constructed with half inch plate.

Although this was a prosperous time for 'Tredegar', competition from European and Northern  markets were a problem not only for the ironworks but also Richmond and the South. The raw pig iron, required for manufactured products, was cheaper and of better quality in the North, and in an effort to reduce his costs Anderson began to import the basic material.

Anderson was already using slave labourer at the plant. These were well paid and provided with clothing, housing and medical care. They were free to come and go virtually as they pleased and were able to earn extra money with overtime.The expansion of the foundry allowed many black workers to be promoted into important positions. His main problem was finding skilled and key workers, such as Puddlers and rollers, for his rolling mills and these did not come cheap. Their skills, acquired by long years of experience, were jealously guarded. By the 1840's six of the puddlers at the works were Welsh.

The situation came to an head in 1842, when during an economic depression Anderson contracted with his workers for five years "to instruct hired men, apprentices, or servants as may at any time be placed in the establishment". Any white workers who did not comply with the terms were fired. As the five years plan expired, Anderson began to move slaves into skilled positions at the furnace. It had the desired effect of reducing costs. Richmond, having no guidelines on the treatment of employed slaves, became the only industrialised city to utilise slaves successfully in factories. The precedent had been set by the head of the Tredegar Iron Works Joseph Anderson.

Fearful for their jobs, The puddlers, led by a twenty nine year old welsh puddler named Henry Thomas, went on strike on May 23 1847 demanding the removal of all black workers. Anderson responded by paying them off, stating that they had "discharged themselves" and would lose their company housing. The incidents are historic, in being the only open opposition to industrialised slavery, by white workers of the old South, up to that time.

As the economy began to recover, Anderson purchased the Tredegar works for $125,000 on April 4, 1848.

An explosion of a cannon, aboard the battleship Princetown, which killed the Secretary of State, spurred Congress to raise standards for guns to a degree that few foundries could meet. Guns manufactured at Tredegar came out better in tests than any other in America and the casting of cannon became one of its prime products. No Tredegar gun was ever known to have burst.

New government methods were introduced, in 1859, in respect of casting cannon. Anderson refused to adopt them and lost federal ordnance contracts. Angered by this, Anderson redirected his attention Southward. He believed that the political and economic future lay in an independent South, although he did not advocate war. The last cannon was cast for the United States on 29 August 1860 and the first for the State of Georgia on 27 December 1860.

One of the positive outcomes of John Brown and the incident at Harper's Ferry, from Tredegar's view, was that the raid caused the Virginia General Assembly to appropriate $500.000 to equip Richmond State Armoury. It was Tredegar that eventually got the bid for the work.

The importance of the facilities at Tredegar was one of the most compelling reasons for making Richmond the Capital of the Confederacy at the outset of war in 1861.

Although plagued by material and labour shortages, Tredegar operated day and night. Their efforts, however, could not stem the 'Northern tide' and when defeat was inevitable, Anderson asked that the iron works not be burnt. He positioned his "Tredegar Battalion" around the works, which drove off looters who were setting fire to unburned buildings. This act, by Anderson and his men, saved Tredegar, but the property was seized by Federal troops on entering Richmond.

In September 1865, Anderson secured a pardon for Tredegar from President Johnson and the works resumed production in November of that year. Anderson retained many the ironwork's former slaves workers, paying them the same wages as his white workers, along with the same opportunities for advancement. However, he adamantly refused to hire any Northern workers. Tredegar now went back to producing railway parts and iron fronts for new buildings, after the Federal Government forbid arms manufacture. Tredegar ironworks after bombardment, towards end of war

By 1873 the Tredegar works was employing 1,200 workers and was a profitable business when Anderson's died in 1892. Joseph Anderson was succeeded by his son Colonel Archer Anderson. The Tredegar ironworks continued to be a successful enterprise for another hundred years, producing munitions for two world wars and becoming the oldest surviving iron works south of the Potomac river. In 1957 the now Ethyl Corporation acquired the site for land and building and the 1868 rolling mill and furnace were relocated.

Note:I would be most grateful for any information about Rhys Davies and his fellow workers. You can contact me on the following e-mail address:

b.gardner@ukonline.co.uk