Doyle, I think you hit the point when you referred to alcohol as war supplies. In addition to its obvious uses, alchohol was (and is) an important commercial and industrial product. Muster rolls are full of references to men being detailed to guard distilleries, as well as other commercially-important resources, such as salt-petre mines, lead mines, mills, etc. There are also less frequent references to soldiers being detailed to actually work in these facilities.