Civil War Blockade Runners Elizabeth and Bendigo
An excerpt from the book, The Beginning and Development of Holden Beach 1756-2000, by John M. Holden.

The blockade runner Elizabeth was stranded on a sandbar, on the west side of Lockwood's Folly Inlet, September 24, 1863. The crew unloaded part of the cargo and set fire to the ship.

Neil Holden, who was a resident of Brunswick County and a soldier in the Confederate Army, went about the Elizabeth the day after it was abandoned in the Lockwood's Folly Inlet. He found a razor hone in the cabin and some people thought it could have belonged to the Captain.

He took the razor hone and used it during his lifetime. A few years before he passed away, he gave it to his son. The son like his father used the razor hone and passed it on to his son.

The grandson of Neil Holden, brought the razor hone down to the beach for me to see. It was two inches wide, six inches long and one inch thick. The hone was recessed in a small piece of wood, and the grandson told me it was cherry wood. He stated also that it was the original wood recovered from the cabin of the Elizabeth by his grandfather.

The Elizabeth was powered by two paddle wheels, one on each side. Most of the paddle wheel on the side next to the beach was still intact when I observed this ship the first time and about half of the one on the ocean side. Hurricane Hazel destroyed most of the remains of the paddle wheels.

Civil War Events

The mainland became the site for some of the events recorded about the Civil War in the area of Lockwood's Folly Inlet. Brown's Landing, as it is identified today, was about one half mile from the inlet bar. One needs to know why the are was named Brown's Landing in order to understand the events which happened here during the Civil War.
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