What If England Had Cut Off Saltpeter Supply

[lrd89]

In "The Battle Cry of Freedom" by James McPherson, First Ballantine Books Edition, paperback, page 390; McPherson states that British India was the source of saltpeter for the Union. Saltpeter is necessary to make gunpowder. An official of the DuPont company was sent to England to try to buy up all that was available since the supply was running out in the U.S.

Question: If England had cut off the supply of saltpeter to the U.S., how severely would that have affected the Union war effort? I am surprised that the Union had to import nearly all of its saltpeter.

[r_moody]

There were many other sources for Saltpeter. England had a virtual monopoly on oversea's shipping at that time and they were the cheapest way to get it. There were mines in Alabama, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee. It can also be produced organically.

My guess is that if England had stopped shipments the North would have found other sources quickly.

Rick

[lrd89]

Thanks, the author had me thinking that buying it from England was the ONLY way to get it. I knew that didn't sound right.

[r_moody]

I forgot to mention that the South was making all of their own saltpeter. Mining and organic production were in full swing. At the end of the war the south had enough powder to continue for quite a while. Remarkably they were not as well off in other areas like food and clothing for the men.

Rick

[gary]

Commercial grade saltpetre supply may have been running low, but if the South could extract it from the chamber pot of a lady or the floor of a smokehouse, I don't see why the north with its larger population could not have resorted to the same exigencies.

[blue_zouave]

I wondered when the subject of chamber pots would come up... Even had the wicked thought that the question was a lead-in for the subject. Take a gander in Dr. Lowry's book "The Story The Soldiers Wouldn't Tell" for the song about John Harralson. I did a Google search on Mr. Harralson's name but the work computer won't let me view the site... Forbidden!! Ladies, tread with care.

Zou

[whitworth]

Great Britain had no intention of going to war with the United States and cutting off exports to the U.S.

First, the U.S. had a great supply of saltpeter at the start of the war. In its arsenal it had nearly 4 million pounds of saltpeter at the start of the war. By the end of 1862, the U.S. had enough saltpeter in inventory to make 12 million pounds of gunpowder.

England and Europe had a series of poor harvests. The U.S. exported over 40 million bushels of wheat and flour to Europe in 1862. Without the grain shipments, Britain would face famine.

[r_moody]

Anyone interested in the organic manufacture of saltpeter can find the instructions at

http://docsouth.unc.edu/lecontesalt/leconte.html

Anyone want to volunteer for the taste test? I'll pass!

Rick

[whitworth]

Or how the Confederacy never quite got it.


The U.S. would have cut off its kerosene and wheat shipments. Unfortunately for the Confederacy, they had poor long term planning regarding foreign policy. Great Britain had little interest, except to remain neutral.

In fact, sometimes the British thought the U.S. wanted to start a war with them.