Anniston is a city in Calhoun County in the state of Alabama. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 23,106. According to the 2013 Census Estimates, the city had a population of 22,666. The city is the county seat of Calhoun County and one of two urban centers/principal cities of and included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area.Named "The Model City" by Atlanta newspaperman Henry W. Grady for its careful planning in the late 19th century, the city is situated on the slope of Blue Mountain.HistoryThe Civil WarThough the surrounding area was settled much earlier, the mineral resources in the area of Anniston were not exploited until the Civil War. The Confederate States of America then operated an iron furnace near present-day downtown Anniston, until it was finally destroyed by raiding Union cavalry in early 1865. Later, cast iron for sewer systems became the focus of Anniston's industrial output. Cast iron pipe, also called soil pipe, was popular until the advent of plastic pipe in the 1960s.The Union troops who destroyed the furnace wrongfully hanged one of the area's few residents, farmer Charles Lloyd, for the death of one of their number. Lloyd, who farmed land in what is now Anniston west of Noble Street, was executed on the orders of Union General John Croxton for allegedly bushwhacking a Union cavalryman. In fact, the Union horse soldier had been killed by a legitimate Confederate soldier who had been defending the furnace. As the shooting happened near Lloyd's farm, Croxton mistakenly placed the blame on Lloyd.
