• January 19, 1861 - Georgia secedes from the Union.

• October 1862 - The first Confederate troops arrive in Whitfield County.

• 1862-1863 - Benjamin Franklin Prater sells corn, hay, fodder, bacon, split rails and planks to the Confederacy for $1,591.17 Confederate dollars.

• 1863 - Ben Prater, age 37, enlists as a third lieutenant with Company I, First Regiment Georgia State Guards, also known as the Red Hill Home Guards.

• February 23, 1864 - Union forces under Colonel Eli Long camp at Prater's Mill with 350 mounted infantry, 250 Cavalry and 12 prisoners.

• April 13, 1864 - Confederate General Joseph Wheeler's Calvary camped at Prater's Mill.

• May 9, 1864 - Battle of Varnell's Station. General Joseph Wheeler, CSA, with 900 men, routed 5,000 Federals under Brigadier General Edward McCook. Ten Confederates and 150 Federals were killed. Wheeler took over 100 prisoners.

• May 1865 - The war is over. Ben Prater frees his seventeen slaves and gives several acres of land to each family.

On some Civil War maps, Prater's Mill is listed as Barrett's or Russell's Mill. Barrett was a former owner of the property while Russell was probably a Prater relative hired as the miller.