Salt Kettles and Panama City
Business took me down to the Panhandle of Florida the week before last. As a young man, I saw plenty of the beaches in the area. Now as a happily married father, there just isn’t much draw to the beach unless the family is in tow. My schedule allowed me a few blocks worth of side trips into Panama City’s older sections. There I found an “off the beaten path” Civil War relic.
Along Business 98 are a couple of old “Salt Kettles” used during the war produce salt from seawater. A small industry sprang up during the war around St. Andrew Bay around this process. The system was simple. Draw seawater into one of these kettles, then bring it to a boil. After evaporation, most of the residue is salt. From St. Andrew Bay the salt was shipped to points north via Eufala and Montgomery, Alabama. Another of these kettles sits in the park in Old St. Andrews, just a bit further west. No doubt several others dot the Florida coast.
And much like the salt works in southwest Virginia, the salt processing became a target of Federal forces. Starting in August 1862 the Navy operated along the coast, looking for the kettle fires. And much like in Virginia, the attempts to destroy or suppress the salt making industry met with only limited success. A nearby marker records a failed naval scouting party that met with local militia at the shores of the bay. None-the-less, Navy Master R.W. Browne reported destroying supplies and works valued at $3,000,000 (presumably in 1864 dollars). Sort of a Shenandoah Valley burning along the coast of Florida?
While conducting some background research for the marker postings, I ran across Dale Cox’s blog detailing Florida’s Civil War history. Of interest is a recent, and detailed, series of entries discussing the sites along the Apalachicola.
Hunter’s Mill Road
Yesterday a major storm system rolled through the DC metro area around 3 PM. Trees went down and power lines fell. The afternoon commuter traffic was governed by anarchy rules. (And incidentally, many of the links for HMDB are still off this morning, due to power issues I suspect.)
Part of my drive home uses Hunter’s Mill Road, running from Vienna, VA through Reston, VA, and movement was at a crawl. After the first ten minutes in traffic, my mind wondered off to Civil War related topics, then I found a great way to pass the time instead of staring at break lights. I’d see how many Civil War related sites I recalled along Hunter’s Mill Road! Hunter’s Mill saw a great deal of wartime activity. The Army of Northern Virginia used the road while marching north from the Battle of Chantilly in September 1862. Portions of the Army of the Potomac marched along the road on their way to a place called Gettysburg. And Col. John S. Mosby used the route often during other stages of the war.
Right off the bat, after the turn off Chain Bridge Road (Route 123), a tree stands half in the road:
Local lore states Mosby hid in the tree, and fell upon passing Union soldiers. The area around the tree and the intersection with Chain Bridge Road was the site of a March 1865 ambush, by Mosby, of the 16th New York Cavalry. So there may be some validity to the tale.
“Mrs. Brooke’s House” or more correctly Lanham House, stands about two miles northwest of the tree. The house was an assembly point for the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry after a February 1862 raid on Confederate positions.
Continuing northwest, Hunter’s Mill passes Lawyers Road and then dips down to Difficult Run Creek. The crossing point was a common rest stop for wartime marches and patrols. A skirmish between the 1st Virginia Cavalry and the 14th New York Zouaves occurred here in December 1861.
As the road rises back up from the run, it crosses the old Washington & Old Dominion Railroad, now a rails-to-trails park. Five skirmishes occurred at Hunter’s Station during the war. And the site is frequently mentioned in movement reports. Mosby executed the Unionist Reverend John D. Read at the station in October 1864, for spying.
Certainly a lot of activity, and I’m only scratching the surface.
The ‘Times,’ They are Changing
One of my Saturday habits is to pick up the day’s Washington Times before heading out on a battlefield trip. The highlight is a lone page in the travel section dedicated to the Civil War. Typically the page offers two articles, usually but not always with a local slant. Of course for Northern Virginia and Maryland, there are plenty of local slants for the Civil War page. A small side bar lists Civil War related events – round tables, living histories, displays of note – for the upcoming week. Generally this has served for good reading material at lunch breaks. Several articles have found their way to my vertical files for later reference.
Well the Times, in part of a reorganization, are shutting down the Saturday edition, at least in paper format. As part of the reorganization, the Civil War page will change to an “America at War” section and move to Thursday. The new format will include World War II, Korea, and Vietnam related stories in addition to the Civil War topics.
While my leanings are toward the Civil War, I have kept a well rounded interest in American Military History. So the added content for the 20th century wars is welcome, so long at no column inches from the “War of Northern Aggression” is sacrificed.
School House Ridge, Part II
In the Harpers Ferry Historical Park, US 340 bisects the park’s School House Ridge unit. I covered the northern half in an earlier post. The southern half is less developed, and certainly off the beaten path, but offers a few points of interest for the battlefield walker.
From the northern half parking lot off Bakerton Road (CR 27), the trail head of the southern half is reached by way of a crossing of the busy US 340. Bloomery Road is a continuation of (CR 27) and follows the valley between School House Ridge and Bolivar Heights, down to Millville, WV. The parking lot is roughly a half mile south of US 340.
And yes, there is a “one room visitor center” on site.
Two trails, to the northwest and south west split out from the trail head. The northwest trail offers a view of Bolivar Heights and the other Heights beyond, with a historical perspective. The interpretive marker at this point details the use of signal flags to coordinate General Jackson’s activities during the siege operations.
The southwest trail passes several post-Civil War ruins. Almost all are fenced off and appear near collapse. Queries with the park service has needed little background information regarding these structures. Continuing south, the trail drops down along Flowing Springs Run. A.P. Hill staged his division in this area prior to moving out to the Murphy Farm area on Bolivar Heights.
Outside of the park, further south on Bloomery Road at Millville is Keys Switch. The railroad here makes a turn around School House Ridge with branches to the south (Winchester) on a siding and west (Charlestown). The town was along A.P. Hill’s line of march. A Sons of Confederate Veterans obelisk at the switch marks the location of a skirmish on April 15, 1865 involving Col. Mosby’s Confederate Rangers and a detachment of Federals.
The markers for Schoolhouse Ridge both north and south sections are here: List Map. Overall the trails on the southern half of the ridge are easy walks, with only a few steep grades. I managed to take in Loudoun Heights and walk the southern trails as a “cool down.”
One additional note, School House Ridge was in the news recently regarding a nearby training facility for the US Customs and Border Protection Agency.
Other related articles:
Wilderness Battlefield Markers
Thus far I’ve cataloged fifty-nine markers that detail the Battle of the Wilderness. Credit where due, about half of those in the Historical Marker Database were entered by a fellow correspondent. This weekend I had some time to link these into related sets and give the battle some additional attention. While I know a few more markers are left to “capture,” at least enough are in the system to start providing a virtual tour of the battlefield.
The entry point is the Wilderness Exhibit shelter, the east wall panel. Five sets of markers present virtual tours, roughly in line with the Park Service’s driving tour:
Federal Rear (list) (map) – covering Germanna Ford, Grant’s Headquarters, Ellwood, and the Wilderness Tavern.
Gordon Flank Attack Trail (list) (map) – Subject of a previous post. Related set includes the Wilderness Shelter exhibits.
Hill-Ewell Drive (list) (map) – Follows the park road from Constitution Highway (the old Orange Turnpike).
Widow Tapp’s Fields (list) (map) – Some overlap with Hill-Ewell Drive, but covering this important sector of the battle.
Brock Road-Orange Plank Road (list) (map) – Covering Longstreet’s flank attack and the strategic intersection of these two Wilderness Roads.
Overall I’ve found the Wilderness Battlefield stops much less frequented than some of the other sections of the park, particularly Fredericksburg. However, the traffic in and around the subdivisions is at times heavy, pressuring the visitor who likes to pull off at unmarked locations. As with other battlefields, the park service has a solid solution for this problem – a series of trails that open up the real heart of the battlefield.
