From Colonel A. Abbott to Major W. A. J. Mayhew about the refusal of soldiers to use certain cartridges, 27 January 1857

Demi-official from Colonel A. ABBOTT, C.B., Inspector-General of Ordnance and Magazines, to Major W. A. J. Mayhew, Deputy Adjutant-General of the Army,--dated 27th January 1857.

        I hear that an objection has been made by the sepoys to use the cartridges made for Enfield rifles agreeably to the instructions sent from home, because one end of each cartridge (that which contains the ball) is greasy.

        It is absolutely necessary that grease should be used, and the composition used for patches is said to be unfit for cartridges. It was of cocoanut oil and beeswax. The present grease is tallow. I think that a committee had better decide what grease shall be employed. In the meantime practice cartridges may be issued to sepoys without grease, and the men may see that grease of unobjectionable quality is applied.

        The wax and oil would, I dare say, answer well enough if used immediately, though it dries up if the cartridges are kept long in store.

From: Selections from the Letters Despatches and other State Papers preserved in the Military Department of the Government of India, 1857-58.  Edited by George W. Forrest.  Calcutta: Military Department Press 1893, 3-4.