This was brought up briefly in a thread not too long ago. A number of accounts mention how Confederate troops (and I would suppose civilians as well) were rewarded for picking up fired bullets, shells, shrapnel, etc. for recycle and reuse.
In that thread I posted this excerpt from Pvt. Frank H. Foote's reminiscences of the Siege of Petersburg:
"Shells flew overhead pretty thick, and afforded a source of revenue to the poor Confederate soldier, which in those hard times was indeed a God send; and that was gathering of iron fragments of bursted shells and the leaden balls that fell behind our lines in vast quantities and selling them to the junk dealers at Petersburg, who bought them up for the C.S. Government. It was no unwonted sight to see dozens of ragged Confederates digging, gouging, and gathering to themselves the precious fragments in heaps from the fields to our rear. Thousands of pounds of each were thus gotten, and disposed of at good figures; and the iron showers that bursted over-head proved a blessing in this respect; and brought sustenance to man, where it was intended to wreak destruction. The government had it worked over into shell and bullets which would be sent to us; and thus it returned to our foe to make death or be lost in the pines. The soldiers finally became so reckless that frequently orders had to be issued forbidding the men to gather the iron. I have seen dozens of soldiers racing after a huge mortar shell; they knew about where it would drop, and recklessly exposed themselves to secure the shell or its pieces. These shells would frequently not burst, and this was a prize eagerly striven for, as it realized about thirty dollars."
But since then, I ran across another account of this in "The Civil War Memoir of Philip Daingerfield Stephenson, D.D." Stephenson - in the 5th Company, Washington Artillery - recalls the gathering of spent bullets and shot during the Siege of Spanish Fort, in the Mobile Campaign at the close of the war:
"Another recreation during the early part of the siege was to gather bullets and other forms of lead in the open space behind us. This lead was sent back to Mobile for remanufacture into cartridges and he who gathered a certain amount got a furlough of a day or so into the city. The soldiers did not hesitate to risk their lives while not in action roaming around in the exposed open space behind us gathering bullets. A furlough was a furlough."
In that thread I posted this excerpt from Pvt. Frank H. Foote's reminiscences of the Siege of Petersburg:
"Shells flew overhead pretty thick, and afforded a source of revenue to the poor Confederate soldier, which in those hard times was indeed a God send; and that was gathering of iron fragments of bursted shells and the leaden balls that fell behind our lines in vast quantities and selling them to the junk dealers at Petersburg, who bought them up for the C.S. Government. It was no unwonted sight to see dozens of ragged Confederates digging, gouging, and gathering to themselves the precious fragments in heaps from the fields to our rear. Thousands of pounds of each were thus gotten, and disposed of at good figures; and the iron showers that bursted over-head proved a blessing in this respect; and brought sustenance to man, where it was intended to wreak destruction. The government had it worked over into shell and bullets which would be sent to us; and thus it returned to our foe to make death or be lost in the pines. The soldiers finally became so reckless that frequently orders had to be issued forbidding the men to gather the iron. I have seen dozens of soldiers racing after a huge mortar shell; they knew about where it would drop, and recklessly exposed themselves to secure the shell or its pieces. These shells would frequently not burst, and this was a prize eagerly striven for, as it realized about thirty dollars."
But since then, I ran across another account of this in "The Civil War Memoir of Philip Daingerfield Stephenson, D.D." Stephenson - in the 5th Company, Washington Artillery - recalls the gathering of spent bullets and shot during the Siege of Spanish Fort, in the Mobile Campaign at the close of the war:
"Another recreation during the early part of the siege was to gather bullets and other forms of lead in the open space behind us. This lead was sent back to Mobile for remanufacture into cartridges and he who gathered a certain amount got a furlough of a day or so into the city. The soldiers did not hesitate to risk their lives while not in action roaming around in the exposed open space behind us gathering bullets. A furlough was a furlough."
Bringing the