During the Civil war, salt was in such high demand in the south that a man could get an exemption from the draft by working in the salt fields. It was hot sweaty work, but at least the salt flats didn't shoot holes in a person. One of the locations was the flat areas on the northwest side of St. Andrew Bay, in the pan-handle area of Florida. The way it worked was that dikes were opened to allow the flow of sea water into a large flat area, then it was sealed off and the water allowed to dry, leaving salt behind. The Union never considered that this would be a military target so it operated until the very end of the war. At that time a union officer was sent to scout the area. In his travels around the bay, he fell in love with the land to the northeast side of the bay and decided that he'd like to live there. He bought all of the land at a very reasonable price and went into the real estate business. He laid out a complete city, with streets named after the states running north & south, with numbered streets east and west. The thing that really made his procedure unique was that he'd only sell to veterans of the union army. Many bought the land and had houses built as retirement homes, although some moved in fairly soon after the war. It was pretty hard for them not to notice all the monuments all over the south, commemorating the southern soldiers, so during a meeting they passed the idea, collected money, bought and erected a large statue to the Union Soldier. The statue was the starting point of many parades, and also the gathering point for funerals. The old cemetery is about a mile east of the town is filled with union soldiers and the family members that moved south with them. Today, the town is a sleepy little town, with moss draped oak trees and an easy going attitude such as is found in many southern towns, but they have this one unique statue. Incidently, the salt flats are still across the bay, you can see them easily as you fly into the local airport, but instead of salt, they're used to grow commercial shrimp. Ok, everyone can wake up now. Ron PS- I never did find how Vicksburg, Fl got it's name.