What were those cartridges greased with?

[vtsaogames]

I'm reading "The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat". The Minie cartridges issued to the Union troops are greased with 1/4 beeswax, 3/4 tallow (animal, usually beef fat).

The East India Company assured the Sepoys that their cartridges did not contain beef or pork fat. If so, what were they greased with?

[Plynkes]

I think that information has been lost to history. Animal fat, definitely, but we don't know what kind.

“As these ingredients are purchased in large quantities and delivered to Woolwich, the Laboratory could not say exactly what animal the tallow derived from, only that hogs' lard does not, in any way, enter into the composition.”

Papers relative to the Mutinies in the East Indies, House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, 1857 Session 2 [2252] XXX.I.


That's all I got. Some Indian historians will tell you it was indeed "hog's lard and bullock's blood", all part of a deliberate conspiracy. The offer to let the troops grease their own with ghee only served to reinforce the rumours, and wasn't all that smart a move in hindsight. What you believe is a matter of politics and national myth these days rather than history, unfortunately. Whatever it was, it was no bloody good, as the cartridges went bad over time, they would swell up and not fit in the barrel. So beeswax was used from 1857 onwards.

[georgec]

I think the official answer at the time was ‘Errrrm.... ah yes mutton fat, of course, what else could it be?’  In truth, like in all good government procurements, it was probably whatever rubbish the lowest bidder could buy on a given day to maximise profits.

[Andrew_McGuire]

I'm currently reading Saul David's The Indian Mutiny, which addresses this question in some detail, as indeed it would have to, given the ostensible importance of the issue in causing dissent among native regiments.  In short, it appears that the original cartridges for the Enfields which were sent to India for testing in the climate probably did contain beef and / or pig fat, because nobody had given the matter of religious sensibilities any thought. However, they were never issued, once the problem had been highlighted, but in spite of the subsequent change to sheep fat, as well as the offer for the sepoys to do the greasing themselves, it remained a point of discontent, at least on the surface.

This raises the question of what weapons and cartridges the mutineers used against their former masters. Unless I've missed something, David doesn't address this, though I assume that for the most part at least they were still using smoothbores with ungreased cartridges.

However, one native officer or NCO pointed out to his bewildered white superior that the sepoys had always been keen to transfer to rifle companies of their regiments, and raised absolutely no concern over what was used to grease those cartridges. In short, it was a pretext, along with most of the other ostensible points of dissent.

I'm sure other members have much more knowledge than I, and can comment with greater authority, but the above-referenced book seems to me as good a starting point as any.