An Iron plantation was a small scale iron production facility common in the Southern United States

Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

 prior to the 1900s. It involved a process of smelting that produced an inferior grade of iron called pig iron

Pig iron

Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...

 that did not require a large scale industrial process to produce higher grades of iron. Southern states had iron ore deposits that could be used to produce low grade iron in a small plant, or iron plantation.

The old south was geared towards agriculture and did not have the factory structure that was needed to produce larger amounts of high grade iron. This was one of the weaknesses of the confederate army during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. Their guns and other equipment was made of low grade iron and not as durable as the equipment used by the union army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

.