Wythe County lead mines (Austinville)
Lead mines, Austinville, Virginia.
- Side
- Confederate
- Kind
- Lead mines
- Where
- Austinville, Virginia
- Years
- 1861-1865
- Today
- Industry today
WYTHE COUNTY LEAD MINES
The Union Lead Mining Company mined lead and made shot here, supplying about a third of the lead used by the Confederacy. Stoneman's raiders burned the works on December 17, 1864. Repaired in March 1865, the mines were destroyed again in April 1865.
Then
The Union Lead Mining Company mined lead at Austinville and made shot, supplying about a third of the lead used by the Confederacy. A Confederate ordnance official said that in the last years of the war the army's lead came entirely from these mines.
Stoneman's raiders burned the works on December 17, 1864. The mines were repaired and reopened in March 1865, and Union cavalry destroyed them again in April 1865.
Now
Industry today
Lead and zinc mining have ended at Austinville, and limestone mining continues at the site.
The nearest railroad in service today is a line owned by Norfolk Southern, about 9 miles from the center of Austinville.
Served by
Nearby
- 21 miDublin DepotConfederate · Depot, Dublin, Virginia
- 21 miCrook burns Dublin Depot and the New River railroad bridgeMay 10, 1864, Dublin, Virginia
- 47 miSaltville salt worksConfederate · Salt works, Saltville, Virginia
- 47 miStoneman wrecks the Saltville salt worksDecember 20, 1864, Saltville, Virginia
- 50 miMoratock Iron FurnaceConfederate · Ironworks, Danbury, North Carolina
- 56 miAverell burns the Virginia and Tennessee depot at SalemDecember 16, 1863, Salem, Virginia