In the early 19th Century, the McDonald and Patterson Mills were laid out as the saplings of industry for the newly formed Hamilton County, harnessing the power of pristine rushing waterways such as Opossum Creek and Sale Creek. Providing opportunity for the new settlers and weaving together the foundations of Hamilton County one square nail at a time. None of which would have been possible if not for one man.
On June 20, 1779, a 16-year-old Robert Patterson eagerly waited for his first interaction with Lt Col. Maitland’s heavily armed British forces near the small South Carolina community of Rantowles. A battle later known as Stono Ferry, where he would witness the death of Andrew Jackson's brother Hugh, the decapitation of British officers, and the military prowess of the German born Hessians. This was the first of many battles the young man would encounter in the next 15+ years of military service. Robert traveled across the Lowcountry during the Revolution, engaging the lobsterbacks from salty marshes and cypress swamps, through the hazy hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. His last call to action was in the fall of 1781, here Capt. Patterson served in the shadow of Brig. Gen. Griffith Rutherford as they sought to route Maj. James H. Craig from Wilmington, NC. It was during this tenure under Rutherford that he received word of the surrender at Yorktown. Robert continued to serve under the same command after the war, following Rutherford back into East Tennessee in 1792. The same year he joined the Knox County Militia, making it seem likely that he participated in Gen. Sevier’s Etowah Campaign of 1793.
Somewhere along Roberts journey he met his lifelong partner Rhoda Witt, they joined in holy matrimony in 1794, just a handful of years before they relocated to Rhea County, TN. In 1807, Mr. Patterson had secured himself a fairly respectable position among the Cherokee, obtaining a contract from the U.S Government and Cherokee Nation to establish a grist mill in the territory for the benefit of the tribe. This was most likely an attempt to build further rapport between the two nations.
Robert settled near modern-day Bakewell with his wife and two sons, constructing his mill on Opossum Creek. He had successfully established a thriving business venture for the family and the roots of industry in the soon to be county. With the combined help of the Gamble and Pearson families, Robert was able to branch out and help shape the foundations on which the county was built upon.
In 1819, two years after the Hiwassee Purchase, when the U.S Government bought the remaining portion of East Tennessee from the Cherokee Nation, Hamilton County was officially formed. John Patterson, eldest son of Robert, began drafting plans to have a relative of his, Abel Pearson, construct for him a grist mill along Sale Creek. Thus, McDonald Mill and Dam began operations in 1820, at the time it was referred to as the second Patterson Mill or Pearsons Mill. The two Patterson mills ran for the same reason at the same time, that was until two McDonald brothers purchased the mill and dam with all the adjoining property on Dec. 17, 1856. Two years prior to this purchase, Benjamin Jones McDonald married Sophronia Patterson and James A. McDonald married Rhoda Patterson, both daughters of John Patterson.
The McDonald brothers began working the mill and making additions to the property with haste. They first constructed a sawmill on the opposite side of Sale Creek. This sawmill changed the game for the family, bringing forth the opportunity to join the lumber industry. In 1858, Benjamin found himself striking a deal in Chattanooga, he was tasked with providing the lumber for the grand construction of the Union Depot, Chattanooga’s first rail hub. Frank J. McDonald (1870-1953) remembers his father Benjamin telling of the time he had to strip many portions of McDonald Farm of its lush lumber, then proceed to float the logs down Sale Creek to the newly built sawmill, here he would shape them before they entered the Tennessee River bound for Chattanooga. The depot became a vital rail hub for both sides throughout the Civil War, as did the mills. During the War, Millers and Millwrights were seen as essential workers, in a similar way to nurses during the Covid-19 Pandemic. McDonald Mill in particular was considered one of the most important operations in northern Hamilton County at the time. In late 1861, the newly divided country was still adapting to the war time efforts of rapidly gaining strategic control of as many nooks and crannies as possible. Col. S.A.M. Woods of the 7th Alabama Infantry CSA slipped into Sale Creek upon orders to rid the valley of Col. William Clift who was gathering a considerable force of a few hundred unionists in Coulterville. Not long after what some have dubbed “The Battle of Sale Creek”, Col. Woods set up camp at the Sale Creek Academy. It’s believed that it was either Col. S.A.M Woods or Col. William B. Wood that first constructed the trenches surrounding McDonald Mill. Making certain that any and all grain produced by Benjamin McDonald or John Elsea was for the use of the army. Throughout the remainder of the conflict many different detachments encamped among the fortifications at the McDonald Mill and Dam, names such as Col. Minty, Col. Wilder, Col. Woods, Col. McCook, Gen. Braxton Bragg and others. The mill's trench network routinely saw the rotation of gray and blue.
After the war, Benjamin continued to run the operation until he wasn’t physically capable of doing so, Frank Jones McDonald remembers helping his father run it when he was a boy, saying “The McDonald Mill was really a landmark in that part of the country for a great many years.” That was until it was sold to Ed Downey in the 1920s, just before it washed away in a great flood, leaving us with nothing but the timeless foundations of a once thriving Sale Creek industry. Today the story continues with this article, clinging onto life after death through memory. To retell a story is to save a memory from being forgotten, this is just one of many memories that grace the McDonald legacy now threatened by extinction.