The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-25
HOW THE CONFEDERATES
 PROCURED ORDNANCE
- [SsSc- - - - S~ssSs BY PROFESSOR WILLIAM LeRoY BRoJN.

I brought as curiosities to the arsenal. and
 ber tRis as fssf Sy bullets aS Some years ago the charge that some
 or the Federal soldiers wore breastplatss was denied as gross islander. and in reply statement here made. These, no doubt, represented a few sporadic cases worn without the knowledge of others. The Confederate, soldiers. had to rely
 battlefield. and on importation, when the blockade could bs avoided, having avail able no large armory.
 The Tredegar Iron Works of Rich
 mond. Va. was the chief manufactory | of siege and field guns, all cast iron and
 smooth bore large columbiads were
 made there, also howitzer, 15-inch bronze Napoieons. etc. But the highly valued
 banded parrot three-inch rifles, with
 which the army was we'll supplied, were. as a rule. captured on the battlefield. AS the war continued great difficulties were experienced in obtaining the need
 iul ordnance supplies. and many de about Chattanooga, Tenn, when the con- federacy lost possession of the copper mines. no more bronze napoleors could
 ss naaa su nssad vs taerss ssaea t s the manner of the parrot guns. was made. and found to be fully as effective as the napoleon.
 AL tHc DeBlHnlnR or the war 1t must be remembered the Confederacy had no
 improved arms, no powder mills no ar senals no armories. no cap-machines, and
 no improved cannon. All supplies. at
 though the blockade subsequently cut off | this foreign supply. All arms were per- | cussion cap. muzzle loaders. In the be- gining the old flint lock smooth bore cap lock and issued to the troops. To keep a supply Of percussion caps was difficulty and a very serious prob lem. as the demand for caps was about
 as great as 1t was for cartridges. The machines were made after the United States pattern, did not yield a large supply. and simpler and much
 more efficient machines for making. fit- ting. pressing and vanishing caps were inverted and made by a Southern me- chanic.
 After the Federals had taken posses sion of the copper mines of Tennessee, great anxiety was excited as to the fu- ture store of copper from which to man.
 ufacture percussion caps.
 The casting of bronze field guns was immediately suspended and all available copper was carefully hoarded for the manufacture of caps. It soon became ap- parent that the supply would be ex- hausted and the armies rendered useless unless other sources of supply could be obtained. No reliance could be placed on the supply from abroad, though large orders were forwarded so stringent was the blockade: of course the knowledge of this scarcity was not made public. In this emergency. it was concluded to render available if possible some of the copper turpentine and apple-brandy stills which still existed in North Carolina Tn large numbers.
 Secretly with the approval of the Chief of Ordnance. an officer was dispatched to purchase or impress all copper stills found available, and ship the same cut into strips to the Richmond Arsenal.
 By extraordinary energy he was enabled
 to forward the amount necessary for our use. The strips of copper of these old stills were re-rolled and handed over to the cap manufacturer and thus were all the caps issued from the arsenal ana used by the armies of the Confederate States, during the last twelve months of the war, manufactured from the copper stills of North Carolina.
 After the completion of the cap ma chimes which were an improvement on the old United States machine. eight hands only, two being men, the others boys and girls, frequently manufactured from the strip copper over 100000 caps within eight hours. stamping. filing, preparing and vanishing them. These cap ma chimes thus had a capacity of producing a million day.
 These caps made at the arsenal were frequently tested, and pronounced to be
 superior in resisting effects Of moisture and fin general efficiency.
 For the completion of these machines. the Confederate Government awarded the inventor-an employe of the arsenal-the sum of $l25.000, being then equal to 5000 in gold.
 cury, we needed nitric acid and mercury:
 quantity of mercury was obtained early in the war from Mexico. To make nitric acid we required nitre and sul- phuric acid. The sulphuric we manufac- tured in North Carolina, after many fall ures, especially in obtaining the lead to line the chambers.
 ing Bureau especially organized for that purpose. Everywhere about the envIrons of Richmond could be seen large earthen ricks and heaps which contained dead horses and other animals. designed Tor the use in the manufacture of nitre. Ihe available earth from caves was also made to yield it's quota of nttre. With the sulphuric acid and nitfe, on the banks of the James River. we manufac- tured the nitric acid required in the man ufacture of illuminate.
 Near the close of the war the supply of mercury became exhausted. Here was A most serious difficulty. We had not and could not obtain mercury, an essen tIai material with which to manufacture Sulrninato of mercury. and without caps the army could not fight and must be disbanded. This was an extremely seri- ous situation as no mercury could be on- tained in the limits of the Confederacy We began to experiment on substitutes, and fortunately found in Richmond two substances-chlorate of potash ana SUI nhuret of antimony-which, when prop ariv combined. answered the purpose sat-
 And the battles around Petersburs during the last few months ot the war