4. Confederate Saltworks

County Road 30E

Historical Marker for Confederate saltworks

Today all that remains is a historical marker. Vacation cabins have been built on this site where a major Confederate saltworks once stood. The foundations of the saltworks were made of bricks salvaged from the old City of St. Joseph. The saltworks had a daily capacity of 150 bushels and would have produced 500 bushels when completed. Salt was vital to the Confederacy and was used to preserve meat, fish and other foods for the soldiers.

The USS Kingfisher under the command Lieutenant Couthouy destroyed the partially completed saltworks September 8, 1862. Lieutenant Couthouy reported to the Secretary of the Navy October 26, 1862: “the destruction of the extensive steam salt works in St. Joseph’s Bay, Fla., on the 8th…was a heavy blow to the rebels, and created great excitement throughout Georgia and Florida, these works having been the main source on which those States relied for a supply of salt for the winter’s provisions for their troops, and that it was a greater injury to the rebels than if we had captured 20,000 prisoners."

Illustration of destruction of Confederate saltworks

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