The barbs were created from experiments with a coffee mill from his home. He created barbed wire by using a coffee mill to create the barbs. The Union Army was not the only one to have used the "Coffee Mill" guns. He set up farms, a sawmill, a gristmill, and a coffee mill. Similar weapons included J.D. Mill's Coffee Mill Gun. In 1988, the Trust also entirely reconstructed the coffee mill to its 1892 look. In 1988, the Trust entirely rebuilt the coffee mill to its 1892 look. Afterward, the area was named Coffee Mill Hammock, including a road by the same name.