Site Visit Saturday: Saltville, Virginia

   The town of Saltville, in Smyth County, Virginia, has a deep and interesting history, one that I’m sure we will be re-visiting in the future. Saltville was the site of an ancient salt lake, and the salt deposits have drawn people for thousands of years. Salt was a requirement, especially for preserving meat, required by every Southern family prior to war, and while there were natural salt deposits, like those at Saltville, the United States imported 12,000,000 bushels annually. The blockade shut off the overseas markets, and Southerners turned increasingly to the ocean, artesian wells, and inland salt lakes.

   Salt had been mined in Saltville since at least 1773. By 1860, most of the property was owned or leased by Stuart, Buchanan, and Company. The salt, produced by boiling the water, was some of the best in the United States. Naturally, when the Federal blockade made it difficult to import salt, the natural deposits became even more important. The problem with the salt works at Saltville was the location, in the Appalachian Mountains. Once the salt was produced, it had to be transported several miles through the mountains to the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad for transportation. After September 1863, that line seldom ran south of the Watauga Depot in Carter County, Tennessee. Running north was not a problem until the train reached Lynchburg or Petersburg. There, the bags of salt had to be unloaded and reloaded due to different railroad gauges. 

Salt making display in Saltville 

   The Confederate States, and various other states, leased property from Stuart, Buchanan, and Company to manufacture salt. North Carolina began operations in June 1862, negotiating for kettles, salt pans, and bricks for the kiln. Slaves were brought in from Warren County, and osnaburg cloth from Randolph County was brought to produce bags, By July 1863, the North Carolina works at Saltville had manufactured 106,000 bushels of salt, shipping 86,000 pounds back. In many cases, the salt was delivered to the railroad depots where the salt agents for various counties would arrive with wagons to transport the commodity back to their respective areas. In Alabama, the fourteen northern counties in the state were supplied with salt from Saltville. The facilities struggled with obtaining enough wood and workers. At one point in 1864, the men from North Carolina working in Saltville were all conscripted into Confederate service.

   There were several attempts by the Federals to shut down the operations in Saltville. The first battle of Saltville occurred October 2, 1864 and was a Federal defeat. The second battle of Saltville occurred December 20-21, 1864, and was successful. However, the works were again operational before the end of the war. (These raids deserve their own post.)

   Part of the site is preserved by the American Battlefield Trust. There are a couple of good books on salt and the war, including Ella Lonn’s Salt as a Factor in the Confederacy (1965). I have visited Saltville several times over the years. My last visit was in July 2019. There are a couple of Civil War Trails markers, along with a display showing how the salt was produced.