Lee and Gordon's Mill

Lee and Gordon's Mill was built by James Gordon shortly after he came to this region from Gwinnett County in 1836. He rebuilt the grist mill in 1857, adding a saw mill and the first general store in this section. At the outbreak of the War Between the States the mill was being operated by James Morgan Lee, who had married Gordon's daughter, Elizabeth Mahala. Union forces seized the mill in 1863, taking Lee prisoner and forcing him to operate the mill to supply Union troops. Later the mill served as headquarters for Bragg's Confederate troops from September 7 to 10, 1863, then for Crittenden's Corps of the Union Army from September 10 to 20. Both armies extended along Chickamauga Creek, the Confederates on the east bank and the Federals on the west bank, with this mill at the center. There was almost constant skirmishing around it. In 1867 the mill burned but was rebuilt by James Lee, Gordon having retired shortly before his death in 1863. Lee died in 1889 but the mill continued to operate, being idle only a few years before its purchase in 1929 by the Wallace Brothers, of Pond Spring.