The Act establishing the Nitre and Mining Bureau by the Confederate Congress stated: "That said bureau shall consist of one lieutenant colonel as superintendent, three majors as assistant superintendents, six captains and ten lieutenants, in which shall be included the officers of the present nitre corps, who shall have the same pay and allowances prescribed for officers of cavalry of the same grades.
"[3] Civilian production of saltpeter was encouraged by small farm holders, tobacco and livestock owners, from cave dirt and other resources.
Several pamphlets were printed by the Confederate Nitre and Mining Bureau to explain how loose dirt from ricks, smoke houses, barns and tobacco curing buildings could be treated to extract the nitrates.
Joseph LeConte, a professor of chemistry and geology at South Carolina University, wrote a pamphlet for the Nitre Bureau on the process for the manufacture of saltpeter in 1862.
[5] Desperate for saltpeter necessary for the making of gunpowder, the Confederacy sent out agents around the South to collect deposits of "night soil", i.e. human excrement.
[6] Because the production of iron was so important, the Bureau sent out information on the need to enforce the existing contracts with civilian companies and individuals.
In 1861, 75,000 pounds of pig lead a month were being hauled overland to Van Buren (Crawford County), to be shipped to the Memphis, Tennessee, ordnance works.
The loss of Missouri to the Union following the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas effectively meant losing this important war materiel source.
"In the opening stages of the war, geologists and government agents underscored the value and scope of Silver Hill's lead deposits, initially renting Mines for six hundred dollars per month.