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This was written for the AC FAQ project circa 2001.
Is the speckleware cookery seen at reenactments authentic?
Comments by Brent Forney and Kevin O'Beirne
The very first issue of "The Watchdog" has a small article on enamelware. I think you can still purchase back copies of it. Here is a quote from that article:
"As for military usage, no enamelware cups or plates with Civil War military associations are known in reputable museum collections, and none are known by the author to have been excavated and properly documented from any archaeological site from the Civil War."
Brent Forney
The following is Kevin O'Beirne's contribution to the subject:
Is the speckleware cookery seen at reenactments authentic?
Comments by Brent Forney and Kevin O'Beirne
The very first issue of "The Watchdog" has a small article on enamelware. I think you can still purchase back copies of it. Here is a quote from that article:
"As for military usage, no enamelware cups or plates with Civil War military associations are known in reputable museum collections, and none are known by the author to have been excavated and properly documented from any archaeological site from the Civil War."
Brent Forney
The following is Kevin O'Beirne's contribution to the subject:
From "The Columbia Rifles Research Compendium", in the article entitled, "THE CAMPAIGNER’S INSTRUMENTS OF CULINARY ART: Mess Furniture of the Federal Civil War Soldier":
Despite its widespread use by reenactors, porcelain enamelware, also known as speckle ware, splatter ware, glazed ware, granite ware, granite steel ware, and agate ware is entirely incorrect for both military and civilian impressions of the Civil War era.
What exactly is enamelware?
“Porcelain enamelling is the process of fusing a thin layer of glass to a metal object to prevent corrosion and enhance its beauty. The base item is low carbon sheet iron formed in the shape of a utensil…Handles, spouts, and ears are welded or riveted in place. The base item is cleaned by pickling [it] in acid. A coating mixture of ground glass, clay, and water is applied and dried. The ware is then fired in a furnace.” [New Encyclopedia Britannica, 1991, cited in Bledsoe, Sharon, “Porcelain Enamelware: Should We Use It?” published in "Camp Chase Gazette"]
Types of enamelware include cups, plates, pots, pans, flatware, and other cooking gear. The most common enamelware colors seen at reenactments are gray and bright blue.
Enamelling was first patented in England in 1779, and for more than ninety years afterward inventors in both England and the United States worked to refine the process, which remained more-or-less experimental until the 1870s. Enamelware was first advertised for sale in the United States in 1874, but was not popularly introduced to the public until the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876—a full eleven years after the conclusion of the Civil War. Only in the 1880s was the process of enamelling further refined to lend bright colors, such as blue, red, and speckling, to cookware. Enamelware quickly caught on and remained extremely popular well into the Twentieth Century. Unfortunately, it is also quite popular with Civil War reenactors of the Twenty-first Century. [sources: Bledsoe, Sharon, “Porcelain Enamelware: Should We Use It?”; Hughes, Nicky, “And While We’re on the Subject of Dinnerware…” published in "The Watchdog"]
Because its widespread manufacture and use postdates the Civil War, enamelware is entirely unsuitable for a Civil War impression. One reference concludes, “Excavation of military sites and military collections show no evidence of Porcelain enamelware being used by the military of either army [in the Civil War].” [source: Bledsoe, Sharon, “Porcelain Enamelware: Should We Use It?”]
Kevin O'Beirne
columbiarifles@aol.com
The Columbia Rifles
Columbia Rifles
What exactly is enamelware?
“Porcelain enamelling is the process of fusing a thin layer of glass to a metal object to prevent corrosion and enhance its beauty. The base item is low carbon sheet iron formed in the shape of a utensil…Handles, spouts, and ears are welded or riveted in place. The base item is cleaned by pickling [it] in acid. A coating mixture of ground glass, clay, and water is applied and dried. The ware is then fired in a furnace.” [New Encyclopedia Britannica, 1991, cited in Bledsoe, Sharon, “Porcelain Enamelware: Should We Use It?” published in "Camp Chase Gazette"]
Types of enamelware include cups, plates, pots, pans, flatware, and other cooking gear. The most common enamelware colors seen at reenactments are gray and bright blue.
Enamelling was first patented in England in 1779, and for more than ninety years afterward inventors in both England and the United States worked to refine the process, which remained more-or-less experimental until the 1870s. Enamelware was first advertised for sale in the United States in 1874, but was not popularly introduced to the public until the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876—a full eleven years after the conclusion of the Civil War. Only in the 1880s was the process of enamelling further refined to lend bright colors, such as blue, red, and speckling, to cookware. Enamelware quickly caught on and remained extremely popular well into the Twentieth Century. Unfortunately, it is also quite popular with Civil War reenactors of the Twenty-first Century. [sources: Bledsoe, Sharon, “Porcelain Enamelware: Should We Use It?”; Hughes, Nicky, “And While We’re on the Subject of Dinnerware…” published in "The Watchdog"]
columbiarifles@aol.com
The Columbia Rifles
Columbia Rifles