Knotts Island Salt Works

Knotts Island Salt Works. Helping Preserve Soldiers' Food. , Salt is so common today that doctors warn against overuse, but during the Civil War, it was desperately needed to preserve meat for the massive armies. Currituck County's location was ideal for salt works, and Knotts Island's residents had long made salt both here and across the sound on the Outer Banks., When the war began, both the United States and the Confederacy recognized that Currituck County was, as State Salt Commissioner Jonathan Worth wrote in 1862, "the best place yet discovered on our Coast for making Salt." Federal raids soon targeted Currituck County., After Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's expedition occupied the Outer Banks in February 1862, Navy Lt. William N. Jeffers led vessels and soldiers up Currituck Sound for "the destruction of some salt works, said near Old Currituck Inlet." After exploring both sides of the sound, however, he stated that "the capacity of salt-making establishments had been greatly exaggerated." Jeffers, however, likely was misled by the fact that many salt works were small, family-operated enterprises rather than large factories, Jeffers probably underestimated their effect. Confederate prisoners who escaped from the transport Maple Leaf in 1863 likewise noted the salt works here., [Sidebar:] , In December 1863, Union Col. Alonzo G. Draper burned several dwellings of alleged "guerillas" here on Knotts Island, included that of William White. Draper then took White's daughter, Nancy White, hostage to ensure that no Unionist's houses would be burned in retaliation. She was detained near Norfolk at Pongo Beach, Va., where the Union commander objected to Draper's treatment of her and filed charges against him. On January 16, 1864, Gen. Benjamin F. Butler ordered Nancy White released and transferred Draper and his regiment to guard prisoners at Point Lookout, Md., [Caption:] , The interior of a commercial salt works, where large iron pans of seawater were slowly heated to evaporate the liquid and leave salt crystals behind. Family operations used small kettles. Harper's Weekly, Jan. 14, 1865.