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Kanawa Salt Works
The contract with the Confederate government specified that
Stuart would be paid in Confederate money for his salt.
However, he charged the local counties and individuals in
gold or United States greenbacks.
In 1863 Russell County delegated a special agent to deal
with the Salt Works management to procure salt for the county.
Other counties set up special commissions to deal with
him.
He set up a
“certificate” or rationing program.
An Abingdon newspaper of March 27, 1863 published an
article entitled “The Salt Question”, in which “the present
proprietors of the Works were denounced as Yankees.”
They went on to say that many Virginians wanted to
confiscate the Works, and to put it into “other hands”.
Stuart and Company was
denounced for making excessive profits.
In 1864 Stuart and Company contracted with the
Commonwealth of Virginia for delivery of 700,000 bushels of
salt, and the contract specified that if that delivery did not
occur Virginia was to take possession of the Works.
It is a fact that the Salt Works were owned by a syndicate of
northern capitalists at the start of the war.
Palmer was the on site face of this syndicate, and Stuart
was the mask on the face.
What happened to these northern owners during the war is
undocumented.
Palmer’s major overhead was the cost of the firewood used to
distill the salt, and food and clothing needed for his numerous
slaves.
Customers coming
to Saltville for salt would bring in firewood with them, which
was bartered to offset the
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