DaveBrt
1st Lieutenant
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2010
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
John David Gray was born in London in 1808 and emigrated to Boston in 1818. He eventually moved to South Carolina where he and a brother began their careers in the 1820's on the frontier of railroad construction and manufacturing in Columbia, SC. They built sections of a state road and many public buildings. They owned a steamboat line that operated on the canal system in South Carolina in the 1830's. They received a major contract for the construction of part of the South Carolina Railroad, the first railroad in the South.
John Gray moved to Florida and built four railroads, including the Tallahassee Railroad.
The next move was to Macon, Ga. to manage the Monroe Railroad (later the Macon & Western RR). He became president of the road and finished the route to Griffin and most of the grading to Atlanta. He constructed the bulk of the Western & Atlantic RR from Dalton to Chattanooga, including the tunnel at Tunnel Hill, the first extensive tunnel in the Southeast. He was the prime mover and contractor of the Atlanta & West Point RR and the Augusta & Savannah RR. He built sections of the Muscogee RR, the North & South RR, the Mobile & Girard RR and the Upson County RR.
In Alabama, he built the Opelika to Columbus branch of the Montgomery & West Point RR and the seventy-foot railroad cut, reputed to be one of the deepest railroad cuts in the world at the time, at Brock's Gap on the North & South Alabama RR. He constructed the line of the East Tennessee & Georgia RR from Cleveland to Chattanooga and the tunnel through Missionary Ridge.
Gray also worked on the Mississippi Central RR and several other roads.
He purchased land in northern Georgia on South Chickamauga Creek and established a company town (Graysville, in Catoosa County), combining mining, manufacturing, agriculture and transportation. His Graysville Mining & Manufacturing Company mined and processed lime, built furniture and barrels, and he created a distillery and a gristmill.
When the war came, he quickly began manufacturing guns, under the names of John D. Gray & Company and with the Columbus Armory. He turned his furniture factory into a war manufacturing establishment, and he established the Montgomery Rolling Mill on the Alabama River in Montgomery. He owned and developed the Chatata Lead Mines near Charleston, Tn. for the CS Government. He assisted in the establishment of a private niter works at a cave in Kingston, Bartow County, which was later take over by the Confederate Ordnance Department.
At the request of LtCol. Sims, he surveyed the iron and coal supplies in Alabama and Georgia and manufacturers capable of casting iron for use in constructing railroad cars.
http://csa-railroads.com/Essays/Orignial Docs/NA/NA,_RRB_7-16A-64.htm
http://csa-railroads.com/Essays/Orignial Docs/NA/NA,_RRB_7-16B-64.htm
http://csa-railroads.com/Essays/Orignial Docs/NA/NA,_RRB_8-11-64.htm
He lost all his assets during 1864 and 1865, but began again after the war, reconstructing the Columbus, Ga. Dillingham Street Bridge. Then came the incorporation of the Atlanta Mining & Rolling Mill Co. and construction of other railroads. He died in Graysville in 1878.
This bio is based on a Phd dissertation by Margaret Obear Calhoon and Georgia State University in 2001.
John Gray moved to Florida and built four railroads, including the Tallahassee Railroad.
The next move was to Macon, Ga. to manage the Monroe Railroad (later the Macon & Western RR). He became president of the road and finished the route to Griffin and most of the grading to Atlanta. He constructed the bulk of the Western & Atlantic RR from Dalton to Chattanooga, including the tunnel at Tunnel Hill, the first extensive tunnel in the Southeast. He was the prime mover and contractor of the Atlanta & West Point RR and the Augusta & Savannah RR. He built sections of the Muscogee RR, the North & South RR, the Mobile & Girard RR and the Upson County RR.
In Alabama, he built the Opelika to Columbus branch of the Montgomery & West Point RR and the seventy-foot railroad cut, reputed to be one of the deepest railroad cuts in the world at the time, at Brock's Gap on the North & South Alabama RR. He constructed the line of the East Tennessee & Georgia RR from Cleveland to Chattanooga and the tunnel through Missionary Ridge.
Gray also worked on the Mississippi Central RR and several other roads.
He purchased land in northern Georgia on South Chickamauga Creek and established a company town (Graysville, in Catoosa County), combining mining, manufacturing, agriculture and transportation. His Graysville Mining & Manufacturing Company mined and processed lime, built furniture and barrels, and he created a distillery and a gristmill.
When the war came, he quickly began manufacturing guns, under the names of John D. Gray & Company and with the Columbus Armory. He turned his furniture factory into a war manufacturing establishment, and he established the Montgomery Rolling Mill on the Alabama River in Montgomery. He owned and developed the Chatata Lead Mines near Charleston, Tn. for the CS Government. He assisted in the establishment of a private niter works at a cave in Kingston, Bartow County, which was later take over by the Confederate Ordnance Department.
At the request of LtCol. Sims, he surveyed the iron and coal supplies in Alabama and Georgia and manufacturers capable of casting iron for use in constructing railroad cars.
http://csa-railroads.com/Essays/Orignial Docs/NA/NA,_RRB_7-16A-64.htm
http://csa-railroads.com/Essays/Orignial Docs/NA/NA,_RRB_7-16B-64.htm
http://csa-railroads.com/Essays/Orignial Docs/NA/NA,_RRB_8-11-64.htm
He lost all his assets during 1864 and 1865, but began again after the war, reconstructing the Columbus, Ga. Dillingham Street Bridge. Then came the incorporation of the Atlanta Mining & Rolling Mill Co. and construction of other railroads. He died in Graysville in 1878.
This bio is based on a Phd dissertation by Margaret Obear Calhoon and Georgia State University in 2001.