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War Eagle Mills
Sylvanus Blackburn came to the War Eagle in
1832. By 1838 he had a saw mill, a grist mill, and a
house. Peter Van Winkle came about 1850. The first
mill washed away in 1848. Then about 1860,
this was a thriving crossroads. March 8, 1862, Generals
Van Dorn and Price, retreating from the battlefield, bivoattacked 10 miles south of Elkhorn. The next day they
reached the Blackburn - Van Winkle area where abandoned homes
housed the sick and exhausted. While Curtis was in camp at
Cross Hollows before the battle, Col. Grenville M. Dodge ground
corn in Blackburns mill. The mill was burned by order of
the Confederate General to prevent the Union Army's capture and
use of the mill. The third mill was reconstructed in 1873
by James Austin Cameron Blackburn, son of Sylvanus, who later
became a state senator. |
