During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...
, the
Union blockade
The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading.
The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required the monitoring of of Atlantic ...
interrupted the normal sources of salt for the Confederate states. Georgia, Alabama and other southern states began a
rationing
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...
process to ensure fair distribution. Many of the states handed rationing responsibility to the county courts, which created salt lists of eligible families and the amounts of salt (calculated in 1/2 bushels) that they could receive.
The rationing programs did not provide the salt for free, except for widows of soldiers. Other families were required to pay, although families of serving soldiers and widowed mothers of soldiers were given special consideration.
References
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External links
Civil War Salt Lists and Related Information
Cultural history of the American Civil War