lineage going back all the way to King Carter, the most notable individual in Colonial Virginia history.  Not only that, but he was Cashier at the Bank of Wytheville. 

          The most prominent economic engine in that part of the Commonwealth was the Lead Mines at Austinville, just a few miles to the south of Wytheville.  With a history going back to before the French and Indian War, they were the major source of lead to the Revolutionary forces, and were to become so to the Confederacy.  The bank at Wytheville was their financial institution.  The bank also did business with the Salt Works.          

         Not only did Stuart possess these qualifications, but he was the brother of James Ewell Brown (Jeb) Stuart, who along with Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jonathan (Stonewall) Jackson was among the three most popular men in the Confederacy.  Palmer made Stuart a full partner in the Salt Works.

         An army marches on its stomach.  In the days before refrigeration and canned food, salt was necessary to preserve food in its passage between the farm and the battlefield.  Tremendous amounts of salt were necessary to tan leather for horse’s harnesses, as well as for shoes for the soldier.  In the absence of salt, horses suffered ‘hoof and tongue disease’.