Salt was a crucial resource during the Civil War. Salt not only preserved food in the days before refrigeration, but was also vital in the curing of leather. Union general William Tecumseh Sherman once said that "salt is eminently contraband", as an army that has salt can adequately feed its men. One way Southern families acquired salt was to boil the dirt in areas where they had previously cured meats. They would dig it out, and strain it.