The liability of powder to deteriorate in damp atmospheres results from
the impurity of the niter used in its manufacture, and this it is not
possible to detect by any of the usual tests. Security, therefore, in
the purchase, depends on the reliability of the maker. To us, who had to
rely on foreign products and the open market, this was equivalent to no
security at all. It was, therefore, as well for this reason as because
of the precariousness of thus obtaining the requisite supply, necessary
that we should establish a Government powder-mill. It was our good
fortune to have a valuable man whose military education and scientific
knowledge had been supplemented by practical experience in a large
manufactory of machinery. He, General G. W. Rains, was at the time
resident in the State of New York; but, when his native State, North
Carolina, seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy, true to the
highest instincts of patriotism, he returned to the land of his birth,
and only asked where he could be most useful. The expectations which his
reputation justified, caused him to be assigned to the task of making a
great powder-mill, which should alike furnish an adequate supply, and
give assurance of its possessing all the requisite qualities. This
problem, which, under the existing circumstances, seemed barely
possible, was fully solved. Not only was powder made of every variety of
grain and exact uniformity in each, but the niter was so absolutely
purified that there was no danger of its deterioration in service.
Pages:
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740