Tweet
Re: Soap on campaign
I was hoping to find more info on procurement and issue of soap by the army -- the Contingent Fund expenses I mentioned earlier were for the office of the Secretary and clearly a bit better than what one could get in the field. Unfortunately in looking through 1861 Subsistence Department contracts I only found a series of contracts for "soap" at about 4 to 6 1/2 cents a pound depending on where or when bought. Knowing that Augustus Meyers worked as a Commissary Sergeant, I checked his "Ten Years in the Ranks" but found reference only to the occasional issuance of a "small piece" of soap.
FWIW, another reference -- a letter to Congress from the Secretary of the Navy on prizes taken -- contains an inventory of materiel captured at sea, which on pp. 589-590 includes several lots of soap that give us a picture of commercial packaging:
lot 306:
1 case, containing 4 boxes honey toilet soap, 3 dozen each, cakes 4 oz.; 3 boxes brown Windsor soap, 3 dozen each, cakes 6 oz.; 12 boxes magnum bonum assorted soap, 3 dozen each, cakes 8 oz.; 1 box prize medal honey soap, 6 dozen each, cakes 6 oz.; 8 boxes royal household assorted soap, 3 dozen each, cakes 4 oz.; 1 box royal household assorted soap, 6 dozen each, cakes 2 oz.; 3 boxes royal household assorted soap, 3 dozen each, cakes 6 oz.; 3 boxes brown Windsor soap, 3 dozen each, cakes 4 oz.
In fact the whole document, or at least the inventories, gives a pretty interesting picture of the sorts of things picked up from blockade runners, including clothing and drugs (I'm wondering what a "cotton undershirt, merino finish" would look like?):
http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA5...AYAAJ&as_brr=0
I was hoping to find more info on procurement and issue of soap by the army -- the Contingent Fund expenses I mentioned earlier were for the office of the Secretary and clearly a bit better than what one could get in the field. Unfortunately in looking through 1861 Subsistence Department contracts I only found a series of contracts for "soap" at about 4 to 6 1/2 cents a pound depending on where or when bought. Knowing that Augustus Meyers worked as a Commissary Sergeant, I checked his "Ten Years in the Ranks" but found reference only to the occasional issuance of a "small piece" of soap.
FWIW, another reference -- a letter to Congress from the Secretary of the Navy on prizes taken -- contains an inventory of materiel captured at sea, which on pp. 589-590 includes several lots of soap that give us a picture of commercial packaging:
lot 306:
1 case, containing 4 boxes honey toilet soap, 3 dozen each, cakes 4 oz.; 3 boxes brown Windsor soap, 3 dozen each, cakes 6 oz.; 12 boxes magnum bonum assorted soap, 3 dozen each, cakes 8 oz.; 1 box prize medal honey soap, 6 dozen each, cakes 6 oz.; 8 boxes royal household assorted soap, 3 dozen each, cakes 4 oz.; 1 box royal household assorted soap, 6 dozen each, cakes 2 oz.; 3 boxes royal household assorted soap, 3 dozen each, cakes 6 oz.; 3 boxes brown Windsor soap, 3 dozen each, cakes 4 oz.
In fact the whole document, or at least the inventories, gives a pretty interesting picture of the sorts of things picked up from blockade runners, including clothing and drugs (I'm wondering what a "cotton undershirt, merino finish" would look like?):
http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA5...AYAAJ&as_brr=0
Comment