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Warfield Saltworks and Coalmines
Warfield, formerly in Lawrence Co. until 1870, when the
town became the first county seat of the newly created
Martin Co., was established in the early 1850's as a
coal, salt and lumber community by George Rogers Clark
Floyd and John Warfield of Va. Products shipped by river
boats to Cattlettsburg.
Floyd was a son of Governor John Floyd of Virginia and
had served as Secretary of State for the Territory of
Wisconsin under Polk from 1845 to 1848.
On March 3, 1857, George Rogers Clark Floyd deeded all
the Warfield property to his brother John B. Floyd.
[Lawrence Co. Deed Book E, p. 405] and in turn purchased
64,000 acres in Logan Co. from Anthony Lawson and moved
with his family to Logan Co. VA. The same year, John B.
Floyd, formerly Governor of Virginia, was appointed US
Secretary of War under President James Buchanan.
In December 1860, John B.
Floyd resigned his position as Secretary of
War and subseqently served as brigadier-general in the
Confederate Army. His vast Warfield property of 15,000
acres came under a sheriff's sale January 21, 1862 and
was sold to Colonel Laban T. Moore and wife Sarah, Col.
George W. Gallup and wife Rebecca, and Joseph Tromstine
and wife Bertha. [Lawrence Co. Deed Book F, pp.
555-559/559-566, recorded September 11, 1862]
At the beginning of hostilities production had ceased at
Warfield and the coal mines were used throughout the
Civil War as hiding place against marauding by enemy. On
Aug. 16, 1862, according to Damian Beach, Confederate
cavalry repulsed and defeated a unit of Kentucky Home
Guards near Warfield."
On August 26, 1863, General Floyd died near Abingdon,
Virginia, at the home of his adoptive daughter, Mrs.
Eliza Johnston Hughes, a niece of Confederate Maj.
General Joseph E. Johnston. Her husband Robert W. Hughes
was a US district judge from Norfolk, Virginia. Just
eight days prior to his death, on Aug. 18, 1863, John B.
Floyd had bequeathed all his estate to his wife Sallie
B. Floyd.
[John B. Floyd Will, Martin Co. Will Book]
On Sept. 14, 1866, after the close of the Civil War, the
Moores, Gallups and Tromstines sold the Warfield
property to Robert W. Hughes for $ 3500, relinquishing
all rights and title to the said property under the
former sheriff's sale in Lawrence Co.
[Lawrence Co. Deed Book H, p. 522]
On July 2, 1867, the Warfield Coal and Salt Co. was
deeded to Sallie B. Floyd, conveying all of Warfield,
under general warrantee to her.
[Lawrence Co. Deed Book I, pp. 245-247 ? /285-287].
On the same day, Robert W. Hughes was appointed her
Executor and Trustee
[Lawrence Co. Deed Book I, p. 284-285]
Map of Warfield in 1879
For larger image click on map
In December 1881, a correspondent of the Louisville
Courier-Journal reported that "After a series of years
of failure, mismanagement and disappointments, the
[Warfield] estate fell into the hands of James A.
Barrett of Martin Co., KY, a colonel in the Confederate
army and a gentleman of rare intelligence. Knowing the
value of associating capital in joint stock companies,
Mr. Barrett has capitalized his estate and formed a
company that develop its vast resources and bring untold
wealth to its members.
[Ashland Independent, Dec. 29, 1881]
Researched and compiled by Marlitta
H.
Perkins [October 2002]
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