How Gunpowder was made in 1863

[Gabob]

This appeared in the Selma Alabama Morning Times in 1863

Jonathon Haralsen, afterwards the Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court was Colonel of the 3rd Alabama Regiment in 1863 at Selma Ala. He was instructed to establish a Niter factory there and make gunpowder, ship via Atlanta, Ga to the troops falling back from Missionary Ridge. After he had gotten all things in readiness, he put a notice in the Selma Morning Times, which read as follows:

NOTICE

The undersigned, having established a niter factory in Selma, requests the ladies of the city to retain all chamber lye that may accumulate around the premises. Barrels will be sent around the streets daily to collect it.


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This was a rather odd advertisment to appear in a newspaper and it created a sensation among the citizens of the town. There was a young man in Selma at this time studying law whose name was T.B. Wetmore. He read this notice with considerable amusement and wrote a reply to it which appeared in the next issue of the paper , reading as follows:

To Jon. J. Haralson Colonel of Third Alabama


Jon Haralson, Jon Haralson
You are a funny creature
You've given to this cruel war
a new and curious feature
you've let us know while every man
is bound to be a fighter
The women, bless their dear good souls,
you've put to making NITER;


Jon Haralson, Jon Haralson
where did you get the notion
to send your barrels round the streets
to gather up this lotion
We thought the women had enough
of sewing shirts and kissing
but you have put the lovely dears
to Patriotic P_____g

Jon Haralson, Jon Haralson
Can't you invent a neater
and better method for our folks
to make up your saltpeter
The thing it is so very odd
gunpowder like and cranky
that when a lady lifts her skirt
she shoots a horrid Yankee


When this appeared in the morning paper there was a greater sensation than ever. It was the talk of the town. Colonel Haralson was equal to the emergency and came back in the next issue as follows:

Mr T. B. Wetmore, an impertinent young sprig of the Law Sir:

The women, bless their dear good souls, are every one for war,
to soldier boys they'd give their shoes and stockings by the score
they'd give their jewels all away, and petticoats galore,
They'll have saltpeter or they'll shout, in honest praise WETMORE!

Women will stoop to conquer, and keep their virtue pure,
It is no harm to kill a beast with chamber lye I'm sure
But powder we are bound to have and this they've sworn before
That if the needful thing is scarce, they'll PRESS IT AND WETMORE!


There was a pretty little widow from Boston, visiting relatives in Selma and she could not get thru the lines to return home. She was a red hot Yankee and expressed her sentiments at all times, yet everybody loved her because of her fine qualities. She read these squibs in the paper and decided she must have her fling at the Colonel, so her effort appeared in the next morning issue like this:



Jon Haralson, Jon Haralson
we've read in song and story
where women's tears
thru all the years
have sprinked fields of glory.
but n,er before has it been told
where midst such scenes of slaughter
Your Southern beauties dried their tears
and went to making water

No wonder Jon your boys are brave
who would not be a fighter
if every time he fired his gun
he used his sweetheart's niter
and vice versa
what could make a Yankee soldier sadder
than dodging bullets fired from a
pretty woman's bladder

[358 winchester]

That story sounds a little pissy to me

[45nut]

That was funny

[pinecone70]

...

[artabr]

Art

[Archie]

Could be worse. One of the conquistadors had his troops dangled down the interior wall of a volcano to scrape up sulfer, another needed ingredient for black powder. (That whizzing in the jar thing just doesn't seem so bad.) Still, one must use what one has, right?

But even then, black powder was on the way out as a primary propellant. Gun cotton was more or less perfected in 1846, and the process to colloid it and form it into what we recognize as 'smokeless' was discovered in 1884. Then, in 1887, Alfred Nobel developed what became 'Cordite'.

[Road America]

GaBob - Thanks for posting this - it's great! It's funny and also a little sad. I guess it shows that people back then could keep their sense of humor even in tough situations.