![]() ![]() One of the major issues that faced saltpeter mining was the security of the operations. Farragut’s capture of that city at the end of April 1862. The saltpeter was shipped down the Arkansas River to New Orleans, Louisiana, until Admiral David G. Major General Leonidas Polk suggested to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, that the caves be taken over and worked by the Confederate government. These operatives reported that the supply of saltpeter was “virtually inexhaustible,” and Arkansas’s deposits were especially advantageous because of their proximity to potash, wood, and water, which were essential to such operations. The Confederacy, in turn, had confidence in Arkansas’s production of the mineral.Īs soon as it became known that the Confederacy was purchasing great amounts of saltpeter, private entrepreneurs moved into the area to exploit the resources. Less than a month later, on May 6, the Arkansas Secession Convention voted to secede, and the Arkansas State Gazette urged that the state build up a supply of arms and munitions, maintaining that it had enough saltpeter to supply all of the Confederate forces. Between the time of secession and the outbreak of war, they purchased such materials from the Union, but after the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln cut off trade with seceded states. His findings were published in 1860, and, by 1862, the Confederacy, looking to arm itself for the upcoming conflict, began funding the development of these resources. A geographical survey was conducted by Dale David Owens from 1857 to 1860. ![]() Saltpeter deposits were known by early Arkansas settlers long before the Civil War in Madison, Searcy, Independence, Marion, and Newton counties. Although this resource was a definite advantage for the Confederacy, problems with labor, security, and transportation made Arkansas’s saltpeter mines an ultimate failure. Found in limestone caves in the Arkansas Ozarks, it became one of the state’s most important chemical industries during the Civil War due to the Confederacy’s demand for arms. Potassium nitrate, or saltpeter, is a naturally occurring mineral that is vital to the production of gunpowder. ![]()
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