Page "Cedar Key, Florida" Paragraph 9

With the advent of the American Civil War in 1861, Confederate agents extinguished the light at Seahorse Key and removed its supply of sperm oil.

The USS Hatteras raided Cedar Key in January 1862, burning several ships loaded with cotton and turpentine and destroying the railroad's rolling stock and buildings on Way Key.

Most of the Confederate troops guarding Cedar Key had been sent to Fernandina in anticipation of a Federal attack there.

Cedar Key was an important source of salt for the Confederacy during the early part of the war.

In October 1862 a Union raid destroyed sixty kettles on Salt Key capable of producing 150 bushels of salt a day.

The Union occupied the Cedar Keys in early 1864, staying for the remainder of the war.