While reading a very interesting biography of William Jemison Mims (Capt. Co. G, 43rd AL Inf.) prepared by his granddaughter, Glover Moore, in 1966, I ran across a very interesting account of the activity of his troops during the siege of Petersburg, VA.

He reported to his wife that: “-- even in the trenches, when it was obvious the South was losing the war, the men were as cheerful as could be expected under the circumstances. That many of them spent much of their time collecting shells, shell fragments, and balls thrown from the enemy guns and rifles. They could sell the former for 8 cents a pound (for iron) and the latter for 20 cents per pound (for lead). Often a man would claim a shell even before it hit the ground. Thus it was possible to make money rapidly after a brisk shelling. If a soldier could gather 17,000 balls or their equivalent in weight (of lead), he would be given a furlough of seventeen days. One of his men was wounded while engaged in this Herculean task. –“.

Another indication that our Confederates were very resourceful, even under very adverse conditions.