Monday, September 9, 2013

Civil War Food

From: civilwaracademy.com

Civil War food came in many shapes and sizes. Suppose you're a Civil War soldier and you've marched all day in the grueling heat. You're exhausted, but you have one more duty before you can retire to your tent to dream of better days; you have to cook your dinner.

Civil War soldiers never had the luxury of standing in a mess line waiting for army cooks to dish out the chow. Civil War food for both Union and Confederate soldiers was provided by their respective Commissary Departments, but the daily rations were given to the soldiers uncooked.

Of course, generals and other officers had the luxury of a cook, but the vast majority of soldiers gathered in small groups each evening to prepare their food. They called these groups "messes" and referred to others in the group as ?messmates?. Messmates took turns watching the meals they cooked over an open campfire in a cast iron skillet or kettle or occasionally on a spit. If they had the time, soldiers tried to devise of ways of making their dull diet a little more varied, occasionally catching wild game or picking wild berries.

Ok so it wasn't good, in fact it was just plain terrible most of the time. Especially if you were a Rebel.

The Union troops had it a little better but not by much.

The old saying that an army marches on it's stomach is very true. Without Civil War food and water an army soon disintegrates into nothing more than a lot of starving people with no energy or will to fight.

No food No army.

So what kind of Civil War food was available to the average Civil War soldier? The Civil War food supplied to the soldiers of both sides was plain and monotonous. Because the rations had to be transported long distances, the Commissary Departments relied on foods that could be preserved, so the primary ingredients available to soldiers were salted meat and canned goods; Union soldiers also received a hard, unsavory cracker-like biscuit that the soldiers dubbed hardtack while Confederate soldiers were lucky if they received a good supply of cornmeal. During battles and when food was scarce a Union soldier?s primary source of substance often came from hardtack.

Hardtack is basically bread, if you wanna call it that, it's three inches long and half an inch thick.
Oh and it's also as hard as concrete...seriously.

That's probably the most well known Civil War food. Anybody who knows even a little about the war has most likely heard of hardtack.

There were plenty of other Civil War food options on a soldiers menu.

For example, one option was salt pork. This wasn't exactly a BLT but it was still meat...sorta.

The salt pork that was given to the soldiers during the war was a stinky kind of blue extra salty meat, with hair, skin, dirt, and other junk left on it. It was however, their main supply of protein. That counts for something right?

Letters from Civil War soldiers contain numerous references to bacon, but historians believe that the term bacon was used for all salt and smoked pork, not just the strips of meat that we now call "bacon". Salted beef and jerky were also given to the soldiers. Many ate salt beef only out of necessity. This was especially true for the confederates.

Salt beef was basically all of the very worst parts of a cow that you could think of. These lovely parts included organs, neck and shanks. but the basic meat was pork. Naturally, soldiers grew tired of this monotony.

In Union camps, sutlers (civilian merchants) sold items like canned fruit, sugar, tobacco, and coffee, but Confederate soldiers did not have sutlers stores, and relied on the generosity of local farmers for occasional treats such as fruit.

Civil War soldiers did occasionally have fresh meat to eat. This included cattle, pigs, and sheep. Armies would have entire herds following them while they were on campaign.

When in enemy territory, soldiers frequently helped themselves to chickens, fruit, vegetables, and other items from local farms and households, considering these the spoils of war. Commanders might reprimand soldiers for such acts, but this seldom stopped a hungry man from seeking extra food. During Sherman?s march from Atlanta to the sea, Union soldiers feasted on cattle, hogs, vegetables and fruit and destroyed what they could not carry.

When times were thin soldiers sometimes resorted to eating their horses and mules.

In extreme desperation, rats were consumed.

In the Confederacy things became so bad for civilians that it led to food riots throughout many southern cities.

Civil War soldiers were also given rice, potatoes, onions, molasses, and other non-perishable or slow to perish items, but hardtack (or cornmeal) and salt meat were favored because they were both easy to ship and easy to carry on a march or into battle.

Soldiers were given rations in three-day allotments; before a march or battle, they cooked their raw food so that they could carry it with them. A canvas haversack with a removal lining was used to carry Civil War food on the move. Although soldiers removed the lining and washed it when they had a chance, the haversacks soon smelled of old meat. Sometimes the salted meat given to the soldiers was past its prime, so they nicknamed it "salt horse".

Corn was really only available when things were going well for your side. Meaning not in the middle of a battle.

The same goes for beans, as they could not be consumed uncooked or improperly cooked. This would result in very bad stomach situations.

Peas were plentiful in supply and could be eaten as a meal in times of desperation. When there were no peas around, potatoes and rice would suffice.

Fresh fruits were really important to have in good supply.

Lack of fresh fruits could turn into Scurvy: a horrible disease that resulted in tooth loss, receding gums, night blindness, rotting lips, jaws, and cheeks, and even internal hemorrhaging.

All that was prevented just by eating an orange.

The men in the war also loved their coffee, and drank it whenever possible. Coffee was a treasured beverage during the war, for soldiers soon recognized its properties to keep them awake after many hours of weary duty. Raw, green coffee beans were given to Union soldiers, who roasted them in a pan over the open fire and then crushed them, often with the butts of their rifles. Confederates frequently had to use coffee substitutes, such as chicory or roasted acorns.

Civil War food was far from a balanced diet. Not surprisingly, a poor diet along with unsanitary conditions contributed to a high disease rate among soldiers on both sides.

Volunteer nurses and the volunteers who collected supplies back home for the soldiers tried to alleviate their monotonous diet by collecting fresh fruits and vegetables for them; although these items were not easy to send into the field, they were supplied in abundance to sick and wounded soldiers in northern hospitals and southern hospital workers also did there best to get fresh food for their patients, despite wartime food shortages.

Fruit was a favorite treat for ill soldiers; Abraham Lincoln often brought gifts of fresh fruit to the soldiers at the Washington army hospital, as did poet Walt Whitman who volunteered at the hospital.

Baked goods were another treat for sick soldiers. It was not uncommon for volunteer nurses to stay up late at night baking for their charges. Gingerbread was considered nourishing and easy to digest; it was often given as a comfort Civil War food to hospital patients. If we went back in time to the Civil War, we would enjoy some of the still familiar foods, like gingerbread, that the soldiers enjoyed, but we would also find some of the food, like hardtack, rather strange.


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