Rations

[ephraim_zook]

Re: Mechanical Baking Co.....?

Broke a tooth on Bent's?? Wow. Last year's McDowell-issue and this year's ITW crackers were from Bent. Because of the breakage we experienced with Bent crackers during shipping for Recon II a couple of years ago, we actually had Bent modify their recipe a bit so that the McDowell and ITW crackers were a bit harder than usual. It's been our experience that fresh Bent crackers are extremely soft -- almost too much so. I appreciate your comment. Your feedback is important to us.

Ron Myzie

Commissary Sergeant, Recon II, McDowell 2003
Commissary of Subsistence, ITW 2004, McDowell 2005

edited to add something I left out

Broke a tooth on a Bent's around 2 years ago, they seemed pretty hard to me. The one's issued that we ate at McDowell or Into the Wilderness or other campaigns seemed alot smaller and softer. Where did they come from?

[golden1864]

Re: Haversack Packing

Well guess I'll throw my 2 cents in. I agree with John that more documentation is needed on this subject to “do it correct” but as reenactors we can only mimic what our ancestors actually did. And it might not be necessary over the course of a weekend to pack a haversack just as they did.
Anyway, this seems to work best for me. Tin plate/small period iron stone plate in the back (for support) , utensils (poke sack) standing up on it's side, Meat (bacon/fat back/boiled beef) rolled in a piece of gum blanket in the bottom (keeps the yuck off everything else) , Veggies on top of that (in season of course) , cup w/ essence of coffee inside that, hardtack on top. Everything else goes in the Knapsack/Bedroll.

If I get really hungry ~ I'll go get some “Frybread”.....just kiddin':tounge_sm
Trent Golden

[Pvt Schnapps]

Re: Haversack Packing

I agree with Noah about keeping one's boiler inside the haversack, if at all possible. I've pretty much dispensed with plate or canteen half. Usually I'll have a bag with hardtack and one with meat and cheese wrapped in paper. I may also have a small writing kit.

Here's a nice little excerpt from 'On Campaign with the Army of the Potomac, The Civil War Journal of Theodore Ayrault Dodge', Stephen W. Sears, ed., Cooper Square Press, NY 2001:

June 30th, 1862, “I have just taken breakfast with great delectation. Unsling haversack and canteen, squat down & place the former between my knees and the latter resting against the former; open the haversack, extract a brown cartridge paper, which unroll and find a chunk of boiled beef; cut therefrom one third of a day’s ration, take also 2 sea-crackers and begin to eat, drinking splendid fresh spring water from my canteen. Suddenly says Verdi on my right, ‘Want a piece of bologna?’ and cuts a slice off the same, whose spicy juice would raise the dead! What breakfast could possibly compare with this...”

Some documentation exists for items other than food (and for the haversack to be clean enough for them to survive the encounter):

From 'A Damned Iowa Greyhound [letters of William Henry Harrison Clayton], Donald C. Elder, ed. University of Iowa Press, 1998':

June 18, 1863 (on the road in light marching order): "One of the boys happened to bring his port folio along in his haversack, and I was fortunate enough to get this sheet of paper and envelope."

And, my favorite account of heavy campaigning, from the diary of Alfred Apted, with the Brady Sharpshooters of the 16th Michigan, an account of the damage sustained in a skirmish on May 24, 1864:

"Had one bullet pass through my coffee kettle which was tied on top of my knapsack and one ball passed through the bottom of my haversack spoiling quite a lot of paper and envelopes, but I was glad that it was no worse."

[amazingkenneth]

Re: Can Openers?

I would love to see some pics. It's the small things that we do that not only the public see but us as reenactors learn.

Your Servant,
K.J.Reihl

[smithjub]

Re: Mechanical Baking Co.....?

It's been our experience that fresh Bent crackers are extremely soft -- almost too much so.

I agree that FRESH Bent's may be too soft, but I highly doubt that the old boys in the field ever had a fresh Bent's cracker. I buy my Bent's in bulk when I'm up in MA (Bent's is about 10 miles from where I have family living up there) and let it age until I need to bring it out with me. Trust me, I've got Bent's crackers anywhere from a month to a year old that will NEVER break in my haversack. The trick is just to let them sit, like they would have in the supply wagons and trains back then, and you'll have an authentic piece of hardtack worthy of a good soaking in coffee or bacon fat.

[Amtmann]

Re: Can Openers?

I have an original can opener (if it's not, then it's shortly after the War). There are also a few "can knives" with even an engraving of one, in the Russel and Irwin 1865 Hardware Catalogue (which I CAN'T post here).

I'm curious, how can a person tell if the opening on an original can is by a pocket knife or a "can knife"?

[79th N.Y.S.M.]

Re: Issuing Rations

HOG-EYE MAN, what I ment when I said that is not what I said. I mean this.. if that is what the "old guys" did during the war..and if people, reenacters, are not doing that what are they doing? Going to events, wearing a costume? Going to food stands at the event to getting thier food? I say this becuase poeple could have the most authentic uniforms in the whole world..but it wouldn't mean anything if they dont act like the "old men" or try a little to get a very very small peek of what they went throught. And when I say act I mean the little stuff, Not moveing in the ranks at attention, makeing jokes.. "giggling" at times when it should not be done,not talking in the ranks at attention. When put on the uniform and people put on a uniform,any kind, they represent that regiment. Now what I said are MY opinions and My beliefs.

[DBVaughn]

Re: Issuing Rations

[QUOTE=bugler3rdusarty]Speaking of which....what bugle call would you use for this? There's no specific call I know of for this in Infantry....there is a call in the Cav.

Any ideas??

The Bugle call in the cavalry is called Distributions good for pay,mail, or rations. A sort of come and get it call.

Mark Hess

[amazingkenneth]

Re: Issuing Rations

Hello All,
Yes, The way that Kevin spoke of is what I have done in the past. We issued hardtack, sugar, and rice....It was really great to do and see. If you want to make your own hardtack try my unit's site. We have a few item that are good to make. www.6thnjvol.chb.net

Your Servant,
K.J. Reihl

[flattop32355]

Re: Issuing Rations

Attending heavy Immersion events with a ration issue usually....... and or, drilling at a living history.

This is Hardcore reenacting at it's best... I haven't done a "sick call" or "Pay scenario" in 10 years I don't think.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't sick call be one of the more accurate things to do at an immersion event? Was it not done every morning in every camp of every army?

[bugler3rdusarty]

Re: Issuing Rations

Mark:

I know that...have played that MANY times, but like I said, nothing equal to that in the infantry (that I know of). Fatigue call, maybe?

[QUOTE=DBVaughn]

Speaking of which....what bugle call would you use for this? There's no specific call I know of for this in Infantry....there is a call in the Cav.

Any ideas??

The Bugle call in the cavalry is called Distributions good for pay,mail, or rations. A sort of come and get it call.

Mark Hess

[Amtmann]

Re: Can Openers?

Before this gets buried...

I'd still like to know how a person can tell if the opening on an original can is by a pocket knife or a "can knife"?

[amazingkenneth]

Re: Can Openers?

Hello All,
I am still looking into this. This is the info I found so far.

The can opener was invented in 1858 by Ezra Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut, USA. Warner's device used a lever and chisel. Until then, cans were opened using a hammer and chisel; the can opener was invented 50 years after the metal can was invented.

The can opener was improved in 1870 by William Lyman of West Meridian, Connecticut, USA. Lyman's device used a rotating wheel and a sharp edge. His can opener only fit one size of can, and first had to pierce the center of the can.

The modern-day type of can opener (using a serrated wheel) was invented in 1925.

I got this from: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/1800a.shtml

I'm looking to find out more if I can. It i true that many of the troops used their knife and other items but I'm sure that some might have used a can opener.....If they were incamped for a long time in a location that might have sounded good.

Your Servant,
K.J. Reihl

[John E. Tobey]

Re: Can Openers?

Rick,

It's been a long time since I read that article by Artie Henshaw, but here goes...

What Art did was this -- he procured working specimens of the can openers that had been excavated from CW sites. I think that came to three different kinds of openers. In at least one case, he had to make a reproduction -- that's where I got involved...I made the copy. Then he used them on tin cans to see how they worked and what kind of marks they left.

If memory serves me correctly, some of the can openers Art used were of what you could call a "blade and lever" configuration. That meant that they cut the cans from the inside out. The effects are easy to see -- except for the entry plunge, the cut edges curve outwards. Most of the original cans that Art was looking at had crudely-cut, irregularly-shaped openings with the edges showing only multiple plunging strokes; such is the case with the can shown in the photograph above. In one case, a soldier had opened a can with three strokes of a hatchet.

One can opener Art used had to have a hole punched in the lid of the can to be opened. This device left a very distinctive signature, of course. More on this one in a bit...

To the best of my knowledge, Art did not try *every* kind of can opener or can knife that was available at the time, only the ones that had excavated provenance. If there was a can opener that operated like and had a cross section like a common pocketknife but wasn't known to have been found in CW sites, I don't think it would have been considered.

John Wedeward's comment on the QM usage of can openers is interesting because one fairly large group of cans that Art used from a campsite near Falmouth were definitely opened by a purpose-built can opener. I remember that Art was at a loss to explain this, since the number of cans was too large to be the work of one soldier or even a single mess.
The can opener (presumably the same one, at least) itself was found at the same site -- it was the one that used a central hole as a pivot point.

John Tobey

[Amtmann]

Re: Can Openers?

John,
Thanks for the info. Something else one can probably consider. Since the can opener was such a new device, do you think it could have been used improperly? I'm talking the "can knife" type. Maybe the person using one then didn't know to use it the way we do now? Instead of one entry and then a "see-saw" motion as we would do it, maybe they took the plunge in-remove-repeat process with it. That could result in a different type of cut.

Just a thought.