Excerpt from Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography, Vol. 3

During the Civil War, the government needed a rolling-mill somewhere in the South, in which twisted rails could be re rolled. It was probably the advice of Abram S. Hewitt, which led to the selection of Mr. Fritz as one who could procure the neces sary machinery and secure the erection of the mill with the least possible delay. He was surprised in March, 1864, by his ap pointment to this place with almost un limited powers. His commission under the War Department declared that any ar rangements he might make would be fully carried out by the Government. Mr. Fritz immediately prepared the plans and secured the necessary machinery for the mill, which was built at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and of which his brother Wil liam was made superintendent. William Fritz had been employed at Cambria and at Bethlehem until 1861, when he enlisted in the Union army, and in 1864, he was on fur lough, recovering from a serious wound. He ran the Chattanooga mill successfully until the end of the war.

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