Tredegar Ironworks

The Tredegar ironworks, an industrial complex in Richmond, Virginia, that produced vast quantities of war matériel during the Civil War, is shown here in a view taken from the banks of the James River by Union photographer Alexander Gardner. The Confederate government relied on Tredegar and a number of smaller local firms to manufacture everything from heavy ordnance and iron cladding for naval vessels to buttons and bullets.

The building with the large furnace stack, at center, served as the gun foundry, with machine shops located behind it. A brass foundry and a blacksmith shop can be seen along the water, at the left of the complex. The footbridge across the water led to Brown's Island where the Confederate States ordnance laboratory was located.