Saltville, Virginia

Saltville, Virginia — “The Mineral That Won Wars”

Winter, 1863. Confederate soldiers chew on salt-cured meat. Civilians line up, ration cards in hand. No cannon fire echoes here—but this quiet Virginia town may matter more than any battlefield.

Long before refrigeration, salt meant survival. It preserved food, fed armies, sustained livestock, and powered economies. And deep in the mountains of southwestern Virginia sat one of the most valuable salt sources in North America.

This episode tells the forgotten story of Saltville—a place shaped by ancient seas, Indigenous knowledge, enslaved labor, and industrial fire. We follow how a single mineral made the town a Confederate lifeline, why Union troops risked everything to destroy it, and how salt works became battlefields in one of the earliest examples of total war.

From Ice Age megafauna to Civil War atrocities to toxic cleanup scars still visible today, Saltville reveals a hard truth of history: wars aren’t won by generals alone—but by the resources that keep armies alive.

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