Grist Mills and Bombproof Shelters: The Willis Family Legacy

Chapter 1: The Mill on Utoy Creek

The agrarian foundation of Southwest Atlanta was heavily dependent on the milling infrastructure established by early pioneer families. Operating in the Utoy Post Office Community circa 1822, Joseph Willis served as the local miller. By 1830, he formally established a grist mill on a tributary of South Utoy Creek, located in Land Lot 200 of what was then DeKalb County (now Fulton County). Willis ground corn into meal and grits for the early settlers of the region. His regular customers formed a roster of the area’s foundational pioneers, including DeKalb County’s first physician, Dr. William Gilbert, and his brother Dr. Joshua Gilbert, alongside the White, Childress, Bryant, and Head families.^[1]

To house his family, Willis constructed a sturdy log cabin. This original log structure, which served as the family’s home and kitchen during the antebellum period, was located in what is now the driveway of the modern property.^[2] This homestead served as the anchor for a sprawling plantation that stretched southward toward Campbellton Road. The family’s influence on the local geography was absolute; the rugged dirt path that connected their mill to the Sandtown Trail was officially named Willis Mill Road.

Chapter 2: The 1864 Siege and General Cox’s Memoir

In August 1864, the Willis property was transformed into a theater of combat during the Battle of Utoy Creek. During the siege of Atlanta, the Willis mill served as the literal dividing line between the Union XXIII Army Corps and the Confederates of Bate’s Division.^[3]

As Union and Confederate artillery exchanged fire across the valley, the Willis family, alongside the neighboring White and Helm families, sought refuge underground.^[4] Above ground, the Willis log cabin was commandeered as the headquarters for Union Brigadier General Jacob D. Cox. In his post-war memoirs, General Cox provided a haunting, firsthand account of the civilians trapped beneath his headquarters. (Note: Cox erroneously identified the owner as an old man named “Wilson” in his writings, a mistake later corrected by historians to Willis).^[5]

“They excavated a sort of cellar just in rear of the house, on the hillside, digging it deep enough to make a room some fifteen feet square by six feet high. This they covered over with a roof of timbers, and over that they piled earth several feet thick, covering the whole with pine boughs, to keep the earth from washing. In this bomb-proof four families are now living… I looked down into the pit, and saw there, in the gloom made visible by a candle burning while it was broad day above, women sitting on the floor of loose boards, resting against each other, haggard and wan, trying to sleep away the days of terror, while innocent-looking children, four or five years old, clustered around the air-hole, looking up with pale faces and great staring eyes as they heard the singing of the bullets that were flying thick above their sheltering place. One of the women had been bed-ridden for several years before she was carried down there. One of the men was a cripple, the others old and gray. The men ventured up and took a little fresh air behind the breastworks; but for the women there is no change unless they come out at night. Still, they cling to home because they have nowhere else to go, and they hope we may soon pass on and leave them in comparative peace again.”[6]

Chapter 3: Post-War Reconstruction and the Kurtz Archives

Following the devastation of the war, the Willis family rebuilt. The original log cabin that had served as Cox’s headquarters was eventually replaced. Joseph Willis constructed a new home of “home-made brick” at what is now 1571 Willis Mill Road, situated just in front of the old dugout site.^[7] Over the decades, this brick structure was covered in stucco. During the era when the T.K. Mayfield family owned the property, the stucco bore a green tint, but it was later painted white.^[8]

The exact location of the subterranean shelter was preserved in local memory by physical markers. In a photograph taken on May 21, 1932, looking up the hill toward the rear of the house, a walnut stump was explicitly identified as marking the approximate location of the dugout where the Willis, White, and Helm families spent those three terrifying weeks.^[9]

As the centennial of the Civil War approached, historians attempted to formally recognize the site. On Sunday, March 2, 1958, renowned Atlanta historian Wilbur G. Kurtz visited 1571 Willis Mill Road to speak with the owner and resident, P.W.T. Ward, about placing a roadside marker across the street. Ward, who was fully aware of the dugout history and knew that T.K. Mayfield had once lived there, flatly refused the marker. He informed Kurtz that he was placing the property on the market and feared a historical marker would interfere with the sale, citing a similar situation in Decatur where a homeowner had refused a marker for the Thomas Holley Chivers home in the 1850s.^[10]

The family’s history continued to attract scholarly and personal interest. On May 6, 1963, Roy I. Ector, a relative of the Willis family residing at 393 W. Ontario Avenue S.W., contacted Kurtz requesting a copy of his 1932 “Dug Out Home in Atlanta” article. Ector explicitly cited pages 121 and 290 in A.A. Hoehling’s book Last Train From Atlanta, demonstrating how the family’s survival story had permeated formal historical literature.^[11]

Chapter 4: Tragedies, Relics, and Modern Preservation

The family remained deeply anchored to the Utoy community, though their legacy was marked by both civic prominence and bizarre tragedy. The patriarch, Joseph D. Willis, passed away in March 1907. Found dead in his bed from heart failure at the age of 64, his obituaries noted he was a Confederate veteran who had served in the 42nd Georgia Regiment during the Civil War. His funeral rites were conducted at the historic Utoy Church. A dedicated member of the East Point lodge of Masons, the fraternal organization took full charge of his funeral services and his interment in the churchyard. His pallbearers included prominent neighbors D.E. Herren, W.F. Poole, Colonel W.H. Hulsey, T.M. Armstead, Leak Wilson, and O.I. Culberson.^[12], ^[13]

By April 1913, the Willis property was explicitly listed in a formal petition submitted to the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, successfully requesting that the private dirt path running through their land be officially converted into a public municipal road, cementing the family’s name on the modern map of Atlanta.^[14]

The family suffered a shocking agricultural accident decades later. In September 1932, Mrs. David Elbert Herren, the daughter of pioneer Joe Willis, was tragically killed after being knocked down by a cow. The local press noted the profound historical irony of her death, reporting that she was born, reared, and ultimately died on the exact same plot of family land on Willis Mill Road.^[15]

The physical remnants of the 1864 siege continued to surface well into the modern era. During the 1960s, neighborhood children equipped with metal detectors frequently scoured the grounds of the former Willis estate, uncovering numerous Civil War relics. Longtime residents recalled that before the heavy suburbanization of the area, lead minie balls could easily be found resting on the ground level after a hard rain washed away the topsoil.^[16] Today, the post-war brick home built by Joseph Willis still stands on Willis Mill Road, although fire damaged.^[17]

Footnotes & Citations (Click to Expand)

Citations:

1. Historical records of the Utoy Post Office Community and the Willis Mill customer base, circa 1822-1830. ↑
2. Historical records of the Utoy Post Office Community and the Willis Mill customer base, circa 1822-1830. ↑
3. Historical records of the Utoy Post Office Community and the Willis Mill customer base, circa 1822-1830. ↑
4. Wilbur G. Kurtz, “Dugout Home in Atlanta,” The Atlanta Journal, July 10, 1932, 47. ↑
5. Jacob D. Cox, Military Memoirs, Vol. 2, excerpted in local historical discussions. ↑
6. Jacob D. Cox, Military Memoirs, Vol. 2, excerpted in local historical discussions. ↑
7. Wilbur G. Kurtz, Handwritten Archival Notes, Notebook #9, Page 89. ↑
8. Wilbur G. Kurtz, Handwritten Archival Notes, Notebook #9, Page 89. ↑
9. Wilbur G. Kurtz, Handwritten Archival Notes and Photograph Caption, May 21, 1932. ↑
10. Wilbur G. Kurtz, Handwritten Archival Notes, March 2, 1958. ↑
11. Wilbur G. Kurtz, Handwritten Archival Notes, May 6, 1963. ↑
12. “Joseph Willis,” The Atlanta Constitution, March 9, 1907, 5. ↑
13. “Funeral rites over the remains of Mr. Joseph Willis,” The Atlanta Journal, March 10, 1907, 15. ↑
14. “Petition to change a private way into a public road,” The Atlanta Journal, April 8, 1913, 5. ↑
15. “Mrs. Herren’s late husband,” The Atlanta Constitution, September 12, 1932, 10. ↑
16. Local historical accounts and community recollections regarding Willis Mill Road relics. ↑
17. Local historical accounts and community recollections regarding Willis Mill Road relics. ↑

Comprehensive Bibliography (Click to Expand)

• Cox, Jacob D. Military Memoirs, Vol. 2.
• Historical records of the Utoy Post Office Community and the Willis Mill customer base, circa 1822-1830.
• Hoehling, A.A. Last Train From Atlanta.
• Kurtz, Wilbur G. Handwritten Archival Notes and Photograph Caption, May 21, 1932.
• Kurtz, Wilbur G. Handwritten Archival Notes, March 2, 1958.
• Kurtz, Wilbur G. Handwritten Archival Notes, May 6, 1963.
• Kurtz, Wilbur G. Handwritten Archival Notes, Notebook #9.
• Kurtz, Wilbur G. “Dugout Home in Atlanta.” The Atlanta Journal, July 10, 1932.
• Local historical accounts and community recollections regarding Willis Mill Road relics.
• The Atlanta Constitution. “Joseph Willis.” March 9, 1907.
• The Atlanta Constitution. “Mrs. Herren’s late husband.” September 12, 1932.
• The Atlanta Journal. “Funeral rites over the remains of Mr. Joseph Willis.” March 10, 1907.
• The Atlanta Journal. “Petition to change a private way into a public road.” April 8, 1913.