1886

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#724 - Harper's new monthly magazine V.33 1866. - Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library

This description of the destruction of the West Bay Salt Works was written by John S.C. Abbott in a 1866 Harper's Magazine:

 The achievements of our blockading squadron have never been suitably commemorated. And yet they performed many of the most arduous and daring exploits of the war, and contributed far more than is generally supposed to the glorious final result. It was one great object of the National Government to render it as difficult as possible for the rebels to feed their armies. Vast herds of cattle roamed over the prairies of Florida. These were killed, packed in salt, and sent in great abundance, by the internal railroads, to the several encampments. There were innumerable bays and inlets penetrating the Gulf coast of Florida, along whose silent and secluded shores salt-works were reared. The destruction of these works cut off those supplies of meat which were essential to the existence of an army. 

 About one hundred miles east of Pensacola there was an immense body of water jutting in from the Gulf, called St. Andrews Bay. The shores of this inland sea spread out through uncounted leagues in every conceivable irregularity of outline. Here there was a gloomy forest and there a frowning bluff. At one point the open prairie spread far away until it was lost in the distant horizon, and again the encroaching hillocks, crowned with dark evergreens and hoary, moss-draped oaks, obstructed the view. From time immemorial the wigwam of the Indian had dotted these shores, and his fragile canoe had glanced over these waves. The Indian had now disappeared. The country generally retained its pristine wildness, and naught but the cry of the waterfowl was heard to disturb the silence of its lonely waters.

 Not far within the entrance of this majestic bay there was the little town of St. Andrews, an exceedingly convenient resort for blockade-runners. There was a small blockading force guarding the coast there, under the command of Acting-Master William R. Browne. Learning that there were some pretty extensive saltworks in operation far up this bay, in regions where they could not be reached by our gunboats, and being fully convinced that in their wilderness seclusion they would not be protected by any military force, Mr. Browne fitted out a single boat’s crew of bold men, and sent them on an exploring adventure up the bay under the command of Acting-Ensign James J. Russel. It was the 2nd of December, a very delightful season of the year in that sunny region. 

They rowed along, in a westerly direction, about twenty miles, through a varied scene of wildness, desolation, and beauty, and then landing, marched through the wilderness country five miles until they reached a large sheet of salt-water, called Lake Ocala. Here they came suddenly upon Kent’s salt-works. There were thirteen huge tanks or kettles in full blast, each holding two hundred gallons. It seemed as though they had fallen upon some realm of Pluto, as they saw the immense fires blazing, negroes running to and fro feeding them with the resinous fuel, and the air filled with smoke and vapor. They were producing one hundred and thirty gallons of salt daily. Our boat’s crew, who certainly deserve the title of intrepid, broke the boilers to pieces, utterly demolished the works, and threw into the lake all the salt which they had accumulated. Two large flat-boats and six ox-carts were destroyed, and seventeen prisoners taken and paroled. 

The success of this expedition incited to other similar movements. It so chanced that the stern-wheel steamer Bloomer, under Acting-Ensign Edwin Cressy, arrived. The steamer was of such light draught that she could run almost anywhere over the shallow waters of the bay. Master Browne put three officers and forty-eight men on board, and sent them to the extreme western extremity of the bay, to a place called West Bay, where they found extensive Government salt-works, which were producing four hundred bushels daily. Here they destroyed twenty-seven buildings, two hundred and twenty-two boilers and kettles, five thousand bushels of salt, and storehouses containing three months’ provisions. The estimated value of the property destroyed was half a million of dollars. 

This little stern-wheeler, which a sailor said “could run wherever there was a light dew,” now steamed down the shore of the bay, penetrating all its secluded inlets, and destroyed a hundred and ninety-eight private salt-making establishments. Seven hundred and sixty boilers and kettles were broken to pieces, and an immense amount of salt thrown into the lake. There was also committed to the flames two hundred buildings, twenty-seven wagons, and five large flatboats. The entire damage to the enemy was deemed not less than three millions of dollars. Such is war! “War,” says Napoleon, “is the science of barbarians, the science of destruction.”

 By some strange instinct, in these far-away regions, the slaves, with universal acclaim, received the Union soldiers as their deliverers. No frowns of their masters could repress their delight. With joy, which at times passed all bounds, they availed themselves of the opportunity of escaping from a bondage which their souls loathed. These ever-true friends to the Union cause proved of great service in pointing out the location of salt-works, and the places where kettles had been, hastily buried for concealment. Thirty-one of these contrabands accompanied the steamer back.

 While these movements were in operation, Acting-Master Browne, learning from deserters that the town of St. Andrews had been for ten months occupied by a rebel military force, steamed up in the bark Restless to within a hundred yards of the town. Seeing a body of soldiers he shelled them, and drove them speedily into the woods. Then, selecting some of the westernmost houses for a target, he soon set them in flames by his shells, and the conflagration rapidly spreading, in a few hours thirty-two houses were reduced to ashes. 

 DEDICATED TO THE INDEFATIGABLE SPIRIT OF THE CONFEDERATE BLOCKADE RUNNERS & SALT MAKERS OF THE GULF COAST

Scarlett: But you are a blockade runner. 
Rhett Butler: For profit, and profit only. 
Scarlett: Are you tryin' to tell me you don't believe in the cause? 
Rhett Butler: I believe in Rhett Butler, he's the only cause I know. 


http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/squeezing-the-south-into-submission/

Andrew F. Smith STARVING THE SOUTH   Project MUSE - <i>Starving the South: How the North Won the Civil War</i> by Andrew F. Smith (review)

The St. Andrews Bay area's Civil War claim to fame is that the largest salt works in Florida were located here around Lake Powell at Phillips Inlet, West Bay, North Bay, Callaway Bayou and California Bayou in East Bay. These salt factories were owned by individuals and the Confederate government in Richmond as well as the Confederate governments of Alabama, Georgia 

and Florida. At many times during the three years from 1862 to 1865 as many as 2500 men along with 4000 wagons were involved in producing and transporting St. Andrews Bay salt. This immense industry did not exist before 1862 and it ceased to exist after 1865 as soon as normal channels of commerce were established after the war ended. 

A hungry Confederacy demanded salt and after Lincoln's naval blockading Anaconda Plan began, there was no salt to be had. No salt for food preservation. No salt for tanning leather. No salt for horses, mules and livestock. Prices for salt soared to one dollar a pound but in most cases no amount of Confederate money could buy salt but salt was essential to life so St. Andrews Bay became the site of an extremely lucrative enterprise during an extremely critical time.

There was never enough salt. In the present day, genealogists probe the salt rationing lists issued at Alabama, Georgia and Florida court houses. These lists tell us which individuals were judged to be worthy enough to be given the privilege of being allowed to buy salt during this most violent and extended drama in our history.

Most everyone in Florida started off the year 1861 with the attitude of "The Rights of The South At All Hazard!" but it didn't take long for little personal problems like death and suffering to override politics and by autumn of 1862, war weariness had already settled over the Confederacy.

LINKS RELATED TO CONFEDERATE SALT WORKS ON THE NORTHERN GULF 1) The Eastern Gulf Blockading Squadron of the U.S. Navy built their naval blockade station, barracks, wharf, refugee camp, prison and cemetery on Hurricane Island, the barrier island that once existed at the mouth of the channel entering St. Andrews Bay at the time of the Civil War. By 1934, all traces of Hurricane Island had disappeared underneath the Gulf's waters. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_blockade#Gulf_Blockading_Squadron

2) This is a Wikipedia article on the U.S.S. Roebuck, a bark rigged clipper ship. It is one of many Wikipedia articles on the U.S. ships used to launch amphibious attacks upon the people of St. Andrews Bay during the Civil War. Five sailors from this ship were killed by Confederate troops near the town of St. Andrews on March 20, 1863. One body was left on the beach and buried by the Confederates. The other four were buried on Hurricane Island. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Roebuck_(1856)

3) This is a link to a preview of Jeannie Weller Cooper's 2011 book, Panama City Beach: Tales From The World's Most Beautiful Beaches. This part reproduces the Hurricane Island information from a section of Marlene Womack's 1998 book, The Bay Country. John A. Burgess in his 1986 book, Sand In My Shoes, uses a Marlene Womack column from a June 1985 Panama City News-Herald and concludes from her information that Hurricane Island is now underneath the Gulf "in the open channel approximately one mile east south-east of the present day land's end (the eastern tip of today's Sand Island)." In 2013, the former land's end of Shell Island would now be a portion of Tyndall Beach.
http://books.google.com/books?id=sSgSx-aIX7sC&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=%2230+degrees+4+feet+23+inches%22&source=bl&ots=Hg_SbH5nR4&sig=ans2LjpZAPtZ2qD8Gvu5bm_DqH0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BHebUsnHCMP2oASelYGQBw&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%2230%20degrees%204%20feet%2023%20inches%22&f=false



4 ) This is a link that describes the markings on one of the Panama City salt kettles. A close friend of mine owns a Confederate salt kettle and I have his permission to examine & photograph it when I return to Alabama in January. I have also identified the location of two more kettles in the Mobile area.  http://www.flpublicarchaeology.org/civilwar/monuments/panama-city/asbell-park


5) This is a link to a 1955 Tequesta article that includes all the entries pertaining to Florida found in the journal of Dr. Walter Keeler, assistant surgeon aboard the U.S.S. Sagamore. The sailors of the Sagamore wrecked the salt works on St. Andrews Bay in September of 1862. Keeler noted that "salt nicely crystalized in cubical crystals" and that the people of St. Andrews promised not to build any more salt works.  Dr. Keeler does a great job of describing how he and his crew killed time between missions by oystering, crabbing, fishing and hunting game around the freshwater lakes in the dunes of Northwest Florida. He also writes that he had "no desire to go ashore in any part of Florida held by the rebels." http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/tequesta/files/1955/55_1_04.pdf

6) This is the link where I first discovered excerpts from Dr. Keeler's journal. It includes images of ships that launched attacks against St. Andrews Bay and also includes a photograph of Dr. Keeler.
http://books.google.com/books?id=0Nebb9DMN-8C&pg=PA132&lpg=PA132&dq=%22SALT+KETTLES%22+SALT+PANS+%22COLUMBUS,+GEORGIA%22&source=bl&ots=Vzoq0LG53-&sig=HneZBZMNgxPT0DwzaCjfdV-s6Ec&hl=en&sa=X&ei=D2SXUvS6L9KzsATS7IDQCg&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

7) This is the Wikipedia link for Dr. Keeler's ship, the U.S.S. Sagamore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Sagamore_(1861)


8) This is a November 2012 article by John Roberts who in his retirement has seen fit to go out and examine the remains of salt works in Northwest Florida. This was published in the Wakulla News and includes a picture of a large salt kettle that may still be in the salt marsh near the St. Marks Lighthouse.
http://www.thewakullanews.com/content/confederate-salt-works-st-andrews-bay-apalachee-bay

U.S.S. ALBATROSS The U.S.S. HARTFORD & the U.S.S. ALBATROSS Sailing Past The Rebel Guns At Port Hudson U.S.S. TAHOMA U.S.S. KINGFISHER Attacking Salt Works The U.S.S. HARTFORD & the U.S.S. ALBATROSS Sailing Past The Rebel Guns At Port Hudson
9) This is a link to a lesson plan on Confederate Salt Makers in Florida prepared in 1940. It includes John S.C. Abbott's description of the December 1863 burning of the town of St. Andrews which was published in Harper's Magazine in November 1866. http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/181536?id=6

Abbott in Harper's 1866   "They rowed along, in a westerly direction about 20 miles, through a 
varied scene of wilderness, desolation, and beauty, and then landing, 
marched through the wilderness country five miles until they reached a large 
sheet of salt-water, called Lake Ocala. Here they came suddenly upon 
Kent's salt-works. There were 13 huge tanks or kettles in full blast, each 
holding 200 gallons. It seemed as though they had fallen upon some realm of 
Pluto, as they saw the immense fires blazing, Negroes running to and fro 
feeding them with the resinous fuel, and the air filled with smoke and vapor. 
They were producing 130 gallons of salt daily. Our boat's crew, who 
certainly deserve the title of intrepid, broke the boilers into pieces, utterly 
demolished the works and threw into the lake all the salt which they had 
accumulated. Two large flat-boats and six ox-carts were destroyed, and 17 
prisoners taken and paroled. 

"The success of this expedition incited to other similar movements. 
It so chanced that the stern-wheel steamer Bloomer, under Acting-Ensign 
Edwin Cressy, arrived. The steamer was of such light draught that she 
could run almost anywhere over the shallow waters of the bay. Master 
Browne put three officers and 48 men on board, and sent them to the 
western extremity of the bay, to a place called West Bay, where they found 
extensive Government salt-works, which were producing 400 bushels daily. 
Here they destroyed 27 buildings, 222 boilers and kettles, 5,000 bushels of 
salt, and storehouses containing three months' provisions. The estimated 
value of the property destroyed was half a million of dollars. 

"This little stern-wheeler which a sailor said 'could run where-ever 
there was a light dew,' now steamed down the shore of the bay, 
penetrating all its secluded inlets, and destroyed 198 private salt-making 
establishments. Seven hundred and sixty boilers and kettles were broken to 
pieces, and an immense amount of salt thrown into the lake. There was also 
committed to the flames 200 buildings, 27 wagons, and five large flat- 
boats. The entire damage to the enemy was deemed not less than 
$3,000,000. . . . 

"By some strange instinct, in these far-away regions, the slaves, 
with universal acclaim, received the Union soldiers as their deliverers. No 
frowns of their masters could repress their delight. With joy, which at 
times passed all bounds, they availed themselves of the opportunity of 
escaping from a bondage which their souls loathed. These ever-true 
friends to the Union cause proved of great service in pointing out the location of salt works, and the places where kettles had been hastily buried for 
concealment. Thirty-one of these contrabands accompanied the steamer back. 

"While these movements were in operation, Acting-Master Browne, 
learning from deserters that the town of St. Andrews had been occupied for 
10 months by a rebel military force, steamed up in the bark Restless to within 
100 yards of the town. Seeing a body of soldiers he shelled them and drove 
them speedily into the woods. Then, selecting some of the weathermost 
houses for a target, he soon set them in flames by his shells, and the 
conflagration rapidly spreading, in a few hours 32 houses were reduced to 
ashes. 

"Salt is one of the necessities of life. The rebel armies could not 
exist without it. They immediately made efforts to repair and defend 
their ruined works. Early in February 1864, the rebels had put up at 
West Bay, upon the site of the ruins which he had left there in 
December, greatly enlarged works, with a guard of 50 men to protect 
them. There were 26 sheet-iron boilers, each one of which held 881 
gallons, and 19 kettles averaging 200 gallons. These boilers and kettles 
had cost nearly $147,000, and the works covered a space of half a square 
mile. They had been in operation but 10 days when Lieut. W. R. 
Browne fitted out a cutter, manned with 13 men under Acting-Ensign 
James J. Russel, and sent them up the Gulf coast 20 miles. Here they 
were to land and march inland seven miles, until they should strike the 
works in West Bay, thus attacking them in the rear. 

10) Here's a New York Times article from December of 1863 which also includes a description of the burning of St. Andrews. http://www.nytimes.com/1864/01/07/news/war-florida-important-naval-operations-immense-destruction-salt-works-lake-ocala.html


11) This material also came from the Confederate Salt Makers lesson plan.
According to The Tallahassee Historical Society Annual (1935) 
(3) 
in an article written by F. A. Rhodes: "the average small salt plant 
consisted merely of a large kettle holding from 60 to 100 gallons of 
water and set in a brick or clay furnace. They were very similar to the 
syrup furnaces of today found on our small farms in this section. They 
were not built directly on the shore because of the high tides and wind, 
but were usually located a few hundred feet inland. Very near this 
furnace and kettle was dug a shallow well which always produced a 
plentiful supply of salty water. Perhaps this water was not quite as salty 
as that secured direct from the Gulf, but there was not an appreciable 
difference and it was very much more convenient. Instead of having a 
haul the water some distance, it could simply be drawn from the well and 
poured directly into the kettle. 

"Sometimes shallow holes were dug along the shore, and falling 
tides would leave them full of water, which was dipped up and carried in 
buckets to the furnace. . . . 

"The salt water after being poured into the kettle, was boiled in 
the same way as the brine secured form the smoke house. When there 
was only a thick brine left in the kettle it was dipped up, for further 
cooking would only burn that salt near the bottom of the kettle and render it unfit for use. The brine was usually placed on clean boards for 
the drying and bleaching process. Sometimes the brine was poured in a 
barrel, and after it settled, the water was dipped off the top. This was 
done particularly if the salt was not for table consumption, but merely for 
use in packing meat, etc. 

"Still others put the thick brine in bags and hung it up to dry, 
while others used fine sieves for the drying process. The salt often 
contained pieces of seaweed or other foreign particles which were 
removed." 


12) This article is an excellent summary of most of the wrecking done on St. Andrews Bay by the U.S. Navy during the Civil War.
http://www.navyandmarine.org/ondeck/1862saltraids.htm


13) This article about the destruction of salt works on Cedar Keys includes an image of the U.S.S. Tahoma.
http://civilwarnavy150.blogspot.com/2012/10/salt-works-raid-at-cedar-key.html

14) Here's a brief description of the Union raid on Geneva, Alabama in December 1862 which resulted in the capture of the Bloomer which became the U.S.S. Bloomer and was used in the attack on St. Andrews in December of 1863. http://www.genevapubliclibrary.org/genevareaper/general/Geneva%20Heritage%20Bloomer.pdf

15) This is the description of the Masonic funeral of the skipper of the Albatross.
THE DAY THE WAR STOPPED
http://www.drivenbylight.net/2013/04/an-act-of-masonic-brotherhood-that.html

16) This is the Wikipedia article about the Confederate officer in St. Francisville who arranged the truce and Masonic funeral for Lt. Commander Hart. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walter_Leake

17) This link describes on of
Connecticut's contributions to the Union's war effort: the construction of the U.S.S. Albatross in Mystic.  http://connecticuthistory.org/connecticuts-naval-contributions-to-the-civil-war/

18) Here's another link to the St. Francisville tradition produced by Lt. Commander Hart's suicide: THE DAY THE WAR STOPPED http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/daythewarstopped.html


19) Log of the Albatross  http://books.google.com/books?id=WwNHAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA710&lpg=PA710&dq=%22commander+henry+french%22&source=bl&ots=B1Nfn-YgF2&sig=w3EBU1jiKSv13kdL1gxTWIGPKH4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=sMyQUo-1FKzZsASs8ICgDg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22commander%20henry%20french%22&f=false

20) Wikipedia article on the U.S.S. Albatross http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Albatross_(1858)


21) The letters of Lieutenant Commander John E. Hart 1825-1863  http://cdm16099.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15241coll8/id/60

22) Goucher College's Ella Lonn's wonderful journal article about the St. Andrews salt works. This work was incorporated into her landmark book, SALT AS A FACTOR IN THE CONFEDERACY
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/30151279?searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoLocatorSearch%3FArticleTitle%3DThe%2BExtent%2Band%2BImportance%2Bon%2BSalt%2BMaking%2Bin%2BFlorida%252C%2B1862-1865%26Author%3DElla%2BLonn%26JournalTitle%3Dj50000142%26ISSN%3D%26vo%3D10%26no%3D4%26StartPage%3D%26MonthSeason%3D04%26Day%3D%26Year%3D1932%26Search%3DSearch&Search=yes&searchText=Florida%252C&searchText=Making&searchText=Salt&searchText=Ella&searchText=in&searchText=The&searchText=1862-1865&searchText=%25224%2522&searchText=Extent&searchText=AND&searchText=on&searchText=%252210%2522&searchText=Importance&searchText=Lonn&uid=3739256&uid=2134&uid=2476408973&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=2476408963&uid=60&sid=21102958697673

23) This work was prepared for the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War in Florida http://www.flheritage.com/preservation/trails/civilwar/civilwar.pdf

24) This is a link to a book that includes a description of the December 1863 attack when the town of St. Andrews was burned. http://books.google.com/books?id=4M6ro7N3mGEC&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=%22salt+making%22+%22st.+andrews+bay%22&source=bl&ots=-hpTzxkfl-&sig=JpM58U5RYQLjkM7Tzkv6lcV_9gI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NRKFUofwEKf-4APgrYDoBQ&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=%22salt%20making%22%20%22st.%20andrews%20bay%22&f=false

25) Great recent article with an overview of salt making in Northwest Florida during the Civil War. http://floridamemory.com/blog/2012/07/25/needs-more-salt/

26) A 2012 description of a Civil War reenactment of the St. Andrews Skirmish in Panama City. http://civilwarnavy150.blogspot.com/2012/04/st-andrews-bay-saltworks-raid-event-21.html

27) Here's a recent little history lesson on the salt works written by the Wakulla County salt works aficionado, John Y. Roberts. https://wakullahistoricalsociety.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/salt-works-final-6-15-12.pdf

28) Paul A. Clifford's 1888 History of St. Andrews Bay is a short 76 page pamphlet that has a good description of the bay area in 1888. https://archive.org/stream/authenticreporth00clif#page/n3/mode/2up

29) George M. West's book on St. Andrews Bay http://books.google.com/books?id=YDwVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46&dq=%22GEORGE+MORTIMER+WEST%22+ST.+ANDREWS&source=bl&ots=bUIfzqtnLu&sig=I17gnTtBxQ64x333qPSIVokXdWE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NlN-UricN7K-4AOyiYGoCA&ved=0CEYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22GEORGE%20MORTIMER%20WEST%22%20ST.%20ANDREWS&f=false

30) The official record of the attack that destroyed the town of St. Andrews in December of 1863. http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moawar;cc=moawar;rgn=full%20text;idno=ofre0017;didno=ofre0017;view=image;seq=635;node=ofre0017%3A1;page=root;size=100

 

 

 

 

 

CROWLEY https://timesuckpodcast.com/UploadedFiles/ShowNotes/BONUS%2018%20-%20Aleister%20Crowley%20V2.pdf

 Three Flatheads in one night- UNPRECEDENTED!

 

 It is entirely appropriate that the following 1958 stories with their original pen and ink drawings of Florida salt works were printed in the TAMPA TRIBUNE when James Augustus Clendinen (1910-1991) served as the editor of the TAMPA TRIBUNE. James was the grandson of James Augustus Clendinen (1825-1890), the former superintendent of the State of Alabama's West Bay salt works, 

James A Clendinen (1910-1991) - Find a Grave Memorial

James Clendinen (1825-1890) - Find a Grave Memorial

from the October 5, 1958 TAMPA TRIBUNE

The salt came from the sea. It was extracted from sea water through an evaporation process with the water boiled in huge metal vats and fires. It was scraped from the kettles over blazing "fat pine" pans and boilers into barrels and wooden boxes.

 At the height of the salt making period, Florida was supplying nearly 20 per cent of the Confederacy's salt. More than 6000 men tended the fires in the lonely salt camps usually hidden among the coastal dunes.

Center of the salt-making industry was St. Andrews Bay, near the present site of Panama City. That section became one vast battle-charred, smoking ground. Time after time, the Yankee raiders smashed hundreds of salt distilleries. But the salt stills always managed to reappear, usually in the midst of the ashes of the old ones.

SALT MAKING was a natural war industry for Florida. Especially along the Gulf coast, vast pine forests stretched down almost to the water's edge. With vast secluded areas in which to scatter the salt stills and with unlimited amounts of sea water and wood fuel at hand, salt could be manufactured cheaply. The usual salt-making camp consisted of a number of rough lumber shacks, sheds and store houses. Around these were scattered scores of boiling pans, vats and kettles each supported by a crude brickwork furnace. Dominating the scene were huge piles of split pine logs stacked for day-and-night use. 

Salt already packed into barrels and boxes was usually stacked out of the weather under crude sheds- awaiting the next wagon train which would carry it to the nearest railhead.

 In the bigger salt camps, there was usually a detachment of irregular infantry, charged with fighting off Yankee raiders. Old records show, however, that on all too many occasions, these worthies watched from the shelter of the deep woods while Federal troops raided.

 The salt-makers themselves formed a semi-military body. They were given arms and ammunition by the state and haphazardly trained as militia. Apparently, they presented little in the way of an obstacle to the Yankee wrecking and burning sprees. 

The salt-maker was a figure alone in Florida history. His work was so important to the South that he was exempted from front-line military service. He lived out the war miles from civilization, usually. However, if he didn't go to war- he found it came to him rather suddenly.

The St. Andrews Bay salt raids cost the Confederate government and private interests a total of $3,000.000, according to a New York Herald correspondent accompanying the Federal raiders. His estimate of damages included: Five hundred salt boilers and kettles-$375,000; salt on hand destroyed-$120,000; destruction of Confederate government salt works covering three quarters of a mile (480 acres)-$500,000 and 199 smaller government and private works- $1,990,000, for a total of $2,985,000.

from the April 13, 1969 PANAMA CITY NEWS 

Saltworks: A Reminder Of Our Past

 By DOROTHY BEANLAND Staff Writer

 Nestled among acres of saw grass around a neck of water jutting into East Bay where Callaway Bayou enters lay the battered remnants of what was an important activity in Florida during the War Between the States. 

Remains of at least eight salt works were uncovered recently by Joe Saunders, soil conservation technician with the Soil Conservation Service, while surveying for a canal for a new subdivision being developed and known as "Plantation Estates". 

The historical find was made by Saunders when he noted at varying locations amid the acres of saw grass, clumps of tree growing on small hills stuck out amid the heavily eroded soil.

 He began investigating one and in digging down found the remains of brick ovens, cinders, and broken iron pots. A look around convinced him this "must be the location of an old salt-works".  

Plantation Dr - Google Maps

He searched further noting that every few hundred yards in the area other clumps of trees jutted out of the grass. Each contained the same as the first broken brick, cinders and pieces of iron pots.

 An old map shows the area where the salt-works are located once was known as Laughtin Point at the present it apparently has no name but is considered part of Callaway Point.

 Saunders has launched a one man campaign to restore the old salt-works to give present and future generations something authentic to see in the Callaway sector of Florida from the days of the War Between the States. 

Further evidence that the 'find' is authentic was located in a historical account of "St.Andrews, Florida" by G. M. West. 

In it is contained an official report telling of a raid of a party of Union soldiers attempting to intercept the Confederate boat which traveled down the bay picking up the salt from the many salt-works scattered all along the area. 

The report read:

"Additional report of Acting Master W. R. Browne, 

United States Bark, Restless: 

"St. Andrews Bay, Florida, Feb. 19, 1864. 

"Sir: I have the honor of making the following report; having gained information that a large barge would leave the Wetappo river on or about the 18th instant for East Bay, with all the material on board necessary for erecting a large salt-work, and on her return intending to bring back a cargo of salt (her capacity 1,500 bushels) 

"According to my instructions the boats left the ship at 8 p.m., the 17th instant, and proceeded to a bayou on the southwest side of East Bay, selected a place of ambush, and which the barge must necessarily pass. After lying in wait the appointed time and seeing no appearance of the barge, the men were landed, and destroyed all the works at hand, fifteen in number, among which were some of the largest government salt-works ever erected in Florida, the whole of which were successfully destroyed, consisting of five large steam boat boilers, and twenty-three kettles, together with sixteen log houses, one flatboat, a large quantity of salt, vats, tanks, and other materials connected with the manufacture of this article. After destroying the above they returned to the ship bringing with them six contrabands found at this place. 

"Very respectfully your obedient servant,

 "W. R. Browne

 "Acting Master Commanding 

"Acting Rear Admiral Theodorus Bailey

 "Commanding E.G. B. Squadron."

 The making of salt was as vital, according to Saunders, as the making of gun powder. Men working in the salt-works were exempt from the draft and the price at one time reached a $1 a pound. People came from throughout Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee to Florida to get the precious commodity as it literally became their "life's blood." It was necessary to have it to preserve meat for the lean months of the year and the sea was the only place it could be obtained.