Tannehill slave cabins

The Tannehill slave cabins were a group of about 15-16 cabins housing slaves at the Tannehill Ironworks before the end of the Civil War.

Slaves were used in the construction of the first blast furnace and associated works at the site, begun in 1858, and it is those early arrivals, perhaps 50 or 60 in number, that are believed to have occupied the cabins across Roupes Creek from the furnace. It has been estimated that as many as 600 slaves may have eventually worked on site. Most of those who arrived later were leased from plantations in the area and probably sheltered in tents or roughly-built shacks. All the male slaves left the area in advance of General John Croxton's 8th Iowa Cavalary, detailed from Wilson's Raiders, that demolished the furnaces on March 31, 1865. A group of women stayed behind and thanked the soldiers for destroying the furnace that had claimed so many lives already. Some of the laborers who died were buried at the Oglesby plantation cemetery nearby.

Excavations have revealed evidence of family life at the cabins and it is supposed the slave families were housed as part of the initial labor force used to construct the furnace and other buildings. The cabins were constructed in two parallel rows. During the raid they were burned and, by the time the Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park opened in the early 1970s, were evident only as low piles of stone from foundation piers hidden in overgrowth.

Excavations of the area where the cabins were located began in 2006 under the direction of Jack Bergstresser.

References

• Bennett, James R. (2005) Tannehill and the Growth of the Alabama Iron Industry. Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission, 2nd Edition.
• Toner, MIke (July 9, 2007) "Cabins prove slaves were Alabama's early iron workers." Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
• Nance, Rahkia (July 6, 2009) "Birmingham, Alabama's Tannehill State Park may host memorial to unheralded labor, lives of slaves." Birmingham News