The Egypt Coal Mine in North Carolina

In today's post in my Saw the Elephant Civil War blog, I mentioned that before Sherman destroyed the Fayetteville Arsenal in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the Harpers Ferry machinery to make weapons was removed and supposedly hidden in the mines of the Egypt Coal Mine, near Sanford, N.C..

According to a N.C. historical marker near its site:

The Egypt Coal Mine operated at intervals from 1855 to 1928.  It supplied coal for Confederate blockade runners.

Another source said the coal produced here was also called Deep River Coal and was taken by rail to Fayetteville and then put on barge plying the Cape Fear River to Wilmington and then used in Confederate ships and blockade runners.

--Old B-Runner