The hog purchase program was devised by Major Henry C. Symonds when commodity speculation caused a crisis in the salt pork market.
However, he took no action until 1863, when he informed Brigadier General Joseph Pannell Taylor, head of the subsistence office, that he could pack 15 million pounds of meat in an unused city porkhouse.
In November 1863, pork trade journals circulated reports of a hog shortage, making both packers and dealers uneasy.
Publication of Burbridge's transportation order brought hordes of angry packers to the Louisville commissary office.
Within ten days, the army agents had purchased several thousand hogs at just seven and a half to eight cents per pound.
When the drovers and farmers learned that hogs in the Louisville market were bringing in ten and a half cents per pound, they protested.
In retaliation to the army, some packers and drovers filled the newspaper with tales of the “Hog Swindle” and spread malicious rumors.
Symonds soon became aware of the efforts against him and fired his original contractors and agreed to accept hogs directly from holders after November 17.
Symonds also turned to the packers of Indiana, who added another 23,000 hogs to the army's pork supply by Christmas.