Thirty caches are located in five different regions throughout NC. Instructions for sending the documentation are in the passport. Once all five regions are completed, you have earned a special NC Civil War trackable geocoin. Mail the passport to the address inside the passport – then your passport will be returned with your unique coin.
All of the containers are the same - camouflaged 6 inch PVC tubes - the code word you need for your passport is inside the container on a laminated card and also taped on the container that holds the log sheet. Date your logbook and add your code word in the numbered area for the cache. As the containers may become over tightened, carry a TOTT to ease the opening process.
Passports will be available at the event, some Civil War Museums in NC, and via mail if you send me you address or you can download your passport here.
Murdoch Morrison Gun Factory: Guns and Smoke
The Murdoch Morrison Gun Factory was located just in front of you on Gum Swamp Creek, which provided it with water power. Until Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s army swept through here on March 9, 1865, it manufactured rifles modeled after the Buchanan Rifle pictured here, as well as other weapons for the Confederate army. Three millponds on Gum Swamp Creek also powered textile miles built before the Civil War.
When Sherman’s army entered North Carolina eight miles south of here, poor weather and wet bottomlands soon bogged it down. Marching was very difficult, especially in the direction of the Lumber River north of here. Part of the army bivouacked for the night on March 9, three miles from here at Laurel Hill Church.
Gen. Evander McNair, who was born in Laurel Hill, moved to Mississippi and then Arkansas. He led a Confederate brigade in major battles in the Mississippi River valley, Kentucky, and Tennessee.