Introduction

It was at the end of Sope Creek that General William Tecumseh Sherman crossed the last natural boundary between his men and Atlanta, the Chattahoochee River. The rugged creek drops sharply in its last half-mile in a gorge formed along the Brevard Fault Line.

Name

Sope Creek is named in honor of Chief Sope, a Cherokee Indian who lived near the Chattahoochee River between Roswell and Marietta. He was popular with early settlers because he would teach the kids arts like flintnapping. When the Georgia Guard came to Marietta to round up nearby Indians for the Trail of Tears in 1838, the local citizens

Paper Mill History

Work on the Marietta Paper Mill, located on Sope Creek about a half-mile above the Chattahoochee River, began in 1853 and the mill began production in 1855. On December_19, 1859 the Marietta Paper Mill was incorporated, but quickly entered receivership under M. W. Sessions. On July 4, 1860, Sessions sold the mill to C. C. Whitmire of Toledo, Ohio for $80,000. In late 1863 the mill began limited production, mostly because of problems getting wood pulp. In March, 1864 the mill, largest in the state, was designated a primary target of the Atlanta Campaign because it manufactured the cartridge paper for Rebel guns.

When Sherman's cavalry captured the mill on July_6, 1864 (occasionally reported as July 5) they burned it to the ground, but the structure was rebuilt. An accidental fire in November 1870 destroyed the main building but did not reach the powerhouse. Three days after the mill burned the first time, a few men from Major General John Schofield's Army of the Ohio crossed the Chattahoochee on a Cherokee fishing dam, established a landing and began moving men across the river at an alarming rate. The following morning Lieutenant General Joseph E. Johnston withdrew from his Chattahoochee River Line.

The date of last production is normally given as 1902, however, a story appeared in the Athens Banner in 1907 reporting an engine explosion on October 8 that threw pieces of the engine 1/4 mile from the explosion. The explosion shut down the mill.

North Georgia State Parks


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Army of the Ohio
Chattahoochee River
Chattahoochee River Line
Joseph E. Johnston
William Tecumseh Sherman

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