Why wouldn't the South make salt from seawater during the American Civil War?
score:34
Its not quite that simple. Since the process typically relies on evaporating out water from pools, it turns out you either need a somewhat reliably sunny climate to do this, or you have to set up a lot of extra large boilers. So some places are much better than others to set up shop.
That being said, the South did in fact have large-scale salterns they tried to run during the war. There was one at a salt marsh in inland Virginia, and another in the Florida panhandle. There was(/is) also a major salt mine in Louisiana.
Of course this brings us to the next major problem: these large manufacturing sites were all vulnerable to enemy action. The Union had command of the sea, which enabled them to seize the important bits of Louisiana, and to raid and destroy the Florida works at will. Presumably they could do this anywhere on the coast that the Confederates might chose to set up shop. The inland Virginia site was right next to the border with Union-controlled West Virginia, and was raided twice in 1864. On their second attempt Union forces prevailed, and were able to destroy the works.
Upvote:9
Without seeing data on salt imports versus domestic production before the war, I'm suspicious of the assertion that Wales was the primary source. If that was indeed the case, it was presumably because Welsh salt was much cheaper and/or of different quality then the salt produced domestically, for whatever reason. A lot of salt produced in the United States before the war would have come from the mines at Syracuse, NY and other places in the North.
As far as the situation during the war itself, T.E.D. has discussed the major supply and production issues. It's also worth mentioning the demand side. Soldiers on the front lines ate a lot of salted meat, and used a lot of leather, both of which required salt to produce. So even if the Confederacy produced a lot of salt, it wasn't enough that the average household could afford to use as much as they had before.
More post
- 📝 What prompted Yamaguchi to split his airgroup when attacking the Americans at Midway?
- 📝 What was the historical prevalance of inherited chattel slavery?
- 📝 Why did France just give up without a major fight in WW2?
- 📝 Were the Huns and Mongols at one point rivals?
- 📝 Why is the nuclear powered USS Nautilus (SSN-571) a museum, when nuclear aircraft carriers are not converted to museums?
- 📝 Why did the line infantry not use shields in the 18th century?
- 📝 Did medieval stores have names?
- 📝 Did the U.S. and Soviet Union have a submarine battle in 1968?
- 📝 Can you tell me if my Father, a Lt Colonel, was paid during WW2?
- 📝 How strong a land force did Germany need for a conquest of the British Isles in the summer of 1940?
- 📝 How was Napoleon's military funded just a decade after the French Revolution ostensibly because of bankruptcy/mismanagement of funds?
- 📝 What laws did the king "refuse to pass... unless those people would relinquish the right of representation"?
- 📝 On what basis did Mao denounce Confucianism?
- 📝 Why were terminal train stations built in Germany?
- 📝 When did we stop diluting wine?
- 📝 Why would a rifleman have his bayonet fixed to the rifle in a non-combat situation?
- 📝 What other pairs of wars have had a ~25 year interval?
- 📝 Why isn't Somaliland recognized as a separate country?
- 📝 Why women in medieval India was topless?
- 📝 When penicillin was initially introduced, was it effective against all gram positives?
- 📝 Why and how were the Mongols able to invade Russia successfully?
- 📝 What was the combat effectiveness of German infantry in the western front of the Second World War?
- 📝 What happened to the stuff stolen from the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans?
- 📝 Did the people who initiated the trans-Atlantic slave trade think they were doing something new?
- 📝 Why doesn’t Cuba's flag have any communist symbolism?
- 📝 Why did Thomas Hendricks win the majority of Horace Greeley's electoral votes in 1872?
- 📝 Where can I find a world map from the Victorian period?
- 📝 Athenian Democracy - How were the citizens motivated to be so politically active?
- 📝 Why was Caesar at the Rubicon?
- 📝 Did pre-16th century Europeans call the Pacific Ocean the Atlantic?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why wouldn't the South make salt from seawater during the American Civil War?
- 📝 Why did the Union army favor a "western" route to approaching Richmond during the American Civil War
- 📝 How did the American Civil War help the U.S economy recover from the Panic of 1857 given that civil wars are extremely destructive?
- 📝 What uniforms did each of the American Civil War regiment wear during First Bull Run / First Manassas
- 📝 Why did antique guns and swords from the Franco-Prussian War make part of the demilitarization program to which Germany was subjected?
- 📝 Why were cavalry raids so powerful during the American Civil War?
- 📝 Did any of the US States ever attempt to secede, aside from American Civil War times?
- 📝 Why did Franklin D. Roosevelt confiscate gold from the American people during the Great Depression?
- 📝 Why did the north and south struggle to control the territories before the American Civil War?
- 📝 During the American Civil war did gunboats range far into enemy territory?
- 📝 Why wasn't the American civil war fought between slaves and masters?
- 📝 Why did the Confederacy think they could win the American Civil War?
- 📝 Why didn't Imperial Japan attack the Soviet Union during World War 2?
- 📝 Why didn’t Japan attack the West Coast of the United States during World War II?
- 📝 Did the King of Siam offer war elephants to the Union during the Civil War?
- 📝 Why were Civil War battle techniques so bloody, if the US had learned guerrilla fighting in the Revolutionary War?
- 📝 Was the American Civil War the “bloodiest civil war in history”?
- 📝 Why were the Irish exempt from conscription during WWI?
- 📝 Why did the Arabs start the 1973 War during Ramadan, and did it affect their performance?
- 📝 During World War I, why were church bells stopped until the war was over?
- 📝 Founding Fathers and the American Civil War
- 📝 Is it true that slavery was banned from discussion on the Senate and/or House floor before the American Civil War?
- 📝 Did Frederick Douglass affect British policy during the American Civil War?
- 📝 Effect of propaganda during the American War of Independence
- 📝 During the American Civil War, were cavalry units issued horses?
- 📝 How did the English Civil War affect the American Colonies policy-wise?
- 📝 Why did Loyalists go to Canada during the American Revolution
- 📝 Have American writing styles changed between the Civil War and Today?
- 📝 During the American Civil War, could you send mail to someone across the border?
- 📝 Was the American Civil War the first to include multiple multi-day battles?