Period The Union War on Salt.

[major bill]

During a war in the mid 1800s salt was more than a nice thing to have, it was a vital military material. At that time salt was still needed to preserve meat. Early in the War the South lost some of its needed salt due to the Union blockade. The South started to make as much salt as they could.

During the War the Union tried to destroy the Southern ability to supply salt. Florida was one of the Salt War fronts. During the War the price of salt in the Confederacy increased form 50 cents a bushel to $10 per bushel in Georgia in 1864 and $35 a bushel in Mississippi in 1864.

Salt was so dear that it was reported that at the wedding or Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett in September of 1863, small bags of salt were given as presents. In some area salt be came a major barter item. Poor Southerners by War's end were doing without salt.

So did the people of the Confederacy find any way to substitute something for salt?

 

[major bill]

Some people must have changed cooking habits due to a lack of salt.

 

[leftyhunter]

During a war in the mid 1800s salt was more than a nice thing to have, it was a vital military material. At that time salt was still needed to preserve meat. Early in the War the South lost some of its needed salt due to the Union blockade. The South started to make as much salt as they could.

During the War the Union tried to destroy the Southern ability to supply salt. Florida was one of the Salt War fronts. During the War the price of salt in the Confederacy increased form 50 cents a bushel to $10 per bushel in Georgia in 1864 and $35 a bushel in Mississippi in 1864.

Salt was so dear that it was reported that at the wedding or Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett in September of 1863, small bags of salt were given as presents. In some area salt be came a major barter item. Poor Southerners by War's end were doing without salt.

So did the people of the Confederacy find any way to substitute something for salt?

Other then trying to make beef jerky or smoking the meat. It's a good question. The 2nd Florida Cavalry Union spent a lot if time attacking salt works as the Union Navy. Therefore salt was indeed considered a strategic target.
Leftyhunter

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

There's a fair amount of discussion of this in George E. Buker's Blockaders, Refugees, & Contrabands: Civil War on Florida's Gulf Coast, 1861-1865 (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama, 1993), including an overview map of "The Salt Coast" (St. Andrew - Apalachicola - St. Marks - Deadmans Bay) where a lot of this sort of thing went on. (Good book.)

 

[USS ALASKA]

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/salt.124892/

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/how-to-make-salt-from-sea-water.128052/

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/salt-during-the-war.126775/

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/salt-in-csa.69789/

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/salt.124892/

So much that I never knew about salt...

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[major bill]

Humans do need some salt in their diets, most of us get way too much. Still I am not sure what poor Southerners could use to replace the salt they were use to. Some families would have just not had any to use. They likely ate the less tasty food because they were hungry.

 

[nitrofd]

They had a salt plant on Cedar Key which is do west of Gainesville,Fl.there was a naval action there and the union occupied it for a while and then left it indisrepair.

 

[major bill]

The Union repeatedly raided salt works in Florida. often the salt works were back in production in short order.

 

[nitrofd]

The Union repeatedly raided salt works in Florida. often the salt works were back in production in short order.

There was a rail line to Cedar Key so it was a major salt producer.the line went from the Cadar Key to Hogtown (gainesville,today).from there it went in one direction to Lake City and Georgia and another branch that ran to Waldo and Jacksonville.it was an active salt plant and produced alot for the Confederacy.

 

[donna]

Salt was very important. See:

https://civilwarstoriesofinspiration.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/salt-shortages-trouble-confederacy/

 

[major bill]

Salt was very important. See:

https://civilwarstoriesofinspiration.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/salt-shortages-trouble-confederacy/

This is great information.

 

[matthew mckeon]

In Army Life in a Black Regiment, Colonel Higginson describes destroying salt works in a raid on the St. John's River.