The December 14th Wilmington Star News continued with its story on the old Wilmington & Weldon Depot in Burgaw, NC.
Mike Taylor, Library Director of Pender County Public Libraries and president of the Burgaw Depot Historical Preservation Foundation has done a lot of research on the subject. The depot being attacked and set fire during the Civil War has long been a part of local oral tradition.
Taylor has found mention in a Union cavalry battalion history that it was attacked in early 1863. A cavalry regiment from New Bern made a raid on the W & W Railroad and burned it. They were pursued by a heavy artillery battalion, but got awar. The W & W Railroad was referred to as the "Lifeline of the Confederacy" for all the supplies brought in by blockade-runners to Wilmington that were then transported by rail to Richmond.
The North Carolina Office of Archives and History says that the 1850 portion of the depot still stands but has fire damage.
The depot renovation is scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2009.
It's a Depot Thing. --Old B-Runner
The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.
