March 2023
instances of smuggling personal necessities like soap and other items into the Southern states by Confederate sympathizers in the North, supply never came close to reaching the civilian demand for such essentials.
Soldiers received soap as part of their issues while in permanent camp, but it was not part of the marching rations. One officer, Nelson Miles, wrote in a letter to the Army & Navy Journal in 1863:
“Will you please call the attention of Headquarters to the necessity of a general order on the matter of personal cleanliness in the Army? Every correspondent of London journals has sneered at our Army in this respect… Bathing should be encouraged in warm weather. Prof. ______ has determined by experiment that a beleaguered garrison can hold out and subsist longer by half whenever the men bathe daily.”
Even if soldiers felt they could go without soap for extended periods, as so often proves the case, “necessity was the mother of invention,” and Southern civilians were resourceful people. Cottonseed was ground in a mortar to extract the oil and cooked with lye to produce a crude soap. Author Victoria Rumble wrote in Shortages and Substitutions of the War-time South: “As farm animals were taken by the army, both C.S. and U.S., meat became scarce and with that came a shortage of fats to make soap and candles. Wax for candles was obtained by boiling the wax off myrtle berries and straining it, and homespun wicks several yards long were passed through a shallow pan of pine rosin and beeswax until approximately the size of a pencil then the long wick wrapped around a bottle, corncob or other item of similar size to produce a Confederate candle. Corn shucks and cottonseed were among the items resorted to for replacing fats in soap making.”
Here are some period receipts (recipes) for making several different Civil War-era soaps, from The Confederate Receipt Book published in 1863.
HARD SOAP
Pour twelve quarts of boiling water upon five pounds of unslacked lime. Then dissolve five pounds of washing soda in twelve quarts of boiling water, mix the above together, and let the mixture remain from twelve to twentyfour hours, for the purpose of chemical action. Now pour off all the clear liquid, being careful not to disturb the sediment. Add to the above three and a half pounds of clarified grease, and from three to four ounces of rosin. Boil this compound together for one hour, and pour off to cool. Cut it up in bars for use, and you are in the possession of a superior chemical soap, costing about three and a half cents per pound in ordinary times.
SOFT SOAP
Bore some holes in a lye barrel, put some straw in the bottom, lay some un-slacked lime on it, and
fill your barrel with good hard wood ashes, wet it, and pound it down as you put it in. When full, make a basin in the ashes and pour in water, keep filling it as it sinks in the ashes. In the course of a few hours the lye will begin to run. When you have a sufficient quantity to begin with, put your grease in a large iron pot, pour in the lye, let it boil, &c. Three pounds of clean grease are allowed for two gallons of soap.
COLD PROCESS SOAP
Cut chunks of glycerin into slices and heat on stove top at low heat. Add your favorite natural oils and botanicals such as rose petals, honey and oatmeal, spices such as cinnamon, and lemon or orange peel and pour the liquid mixture in molds. Chill for a half hour or so and then remove from the mold. Greasing the mold with cooking oil before filling will allow the bars of soap to release easily. Bars of soap should cure or rest for a week or so before using.
Craig L. Barry was born in Charlottesville, Va. He holds his BA and Masters degrees from UNC (Charlotte). Craig served The Watchdog Civil War Quarterly as Associate Editor and Editor from 2003–2017. The Watchdog published books and columns on 19th-century material and donated all funds from publications to battlefield preservation. He is the author of several books including The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy (2006, 2011), The Unfinished Fight: Essays on Confederate Material Culture Vol. I and II (2012, 2013). He has also published four books in the Suppliers to the Confederacy series on English Arms & Accoutrements, Quartermaster stores and other European imports.
