Contents |
Introduction
between Saint Andrews Bay and Saint Marks, Florida
Confederate law exempted salt makers from the draft, which rendered saltmaking a popular profession in wartime Florida. The estimated workforce involved in saltmaking there numbered 5,000.[1]
Production
In Florida, workers pumped saltwater into shallow ponds, where some of the water evaporated. They then boiled the remaining water in large pans until only salt remained
Raiding
The Union Navy matched the Army’s aggressiveness. Four ocean fleets — the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, East Gulf and West Gulf — carried out raids on a regular basis from 1862 until the end of the war. One such expedition against St. Andrews Bay by the East Gulf Squadron on 10 Dec 1863, illustrates their destructive nature. Over the course of a single day, Union forces burned over 350 buildings, 27 wagons and five flat boats; destroyed over 600 steam boilers and 2,800 kettles; and ruined over 2,000 bushels of salt, supplies of corn meal, bacon, syrup and other food stuffs. Spies assisted in this orgy of destruction, showing Union troops where kettles had been buried. The superintendent for some of the works considered the destruction of the salt industry in St. Andrews Bay “a greater blow and more severely felt than the falling of Charleston.”
Slaves
Research Notes
Raided by Union forces, thus attempting to denying its Salt to the Confederate Army.
THESE ARE NOTES ONLY
Sources
- ↑ Davis, William (1913). The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida. Columbia University. pp. 203–205