In an "urban" setting.....

[lincolnsguard]

Nice, very nice. I like the Yankee version better.

[hanktrent]

For more googling fun, try "poudrette," especially in period sources like google books.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Regular3]

Collector of night soil. Certainly an underrepresented impression! Given its use in making gunpowder, are there indications this stuff went from being mostly a disposable nuisance to a valuable commodity as the war went on, or were other sources of the necessary chemicals easily available?

One source of saltpetre for the Confederacy was Organ Cave in Greenbrier County West Virginia, where saltpetre was mined at least as early as the 1830s. Some sources claim that the cave the primary source of saltpetre for the Confederacy from 1861 to 1863. Organ Cave is open to the public and wooden saltpetre vats are still on display there.