Rations

[Missouri Mule]

Re: Hardtack packaging

You might want to check out this thread:

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11823&highlight=hardtack

I believe that this should answer your question.

[wade03]

Re: Hardtack packaging

Thank You both for the speedy answering of my question

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: Hardtack packaging

Hardtack came in large boxes with I believe approx. 1000 pieces per box. Men were issued as many as needed straight out of the box.

It was closer to 500 per box, equalling about 50 lbs of hard bread. The typical ration per man in the Federal army was 1 lb of hard bread per day, which equated to approximately nine or ten crackers. How it was issued is described in several period books. For an interesting description of how coffee was issued, see John Billings's "Hardtack and Coffee".

[Charles Heath]

Re: Hardtack packaging

Speaking of issuing hardtack, this writer gives a description of greasy meat, and a couple of other clues. While the hardtack mention is light, but worth of a chuckle, the entire letter is worthy of a good read:

FROM OUR COLORED BOYS -- We publish the following from one of the colored men of our borough, who enlisted some time ago, and is now Orderly Sergt. of Co., D, 6th Regt., U.S. Colored Troops. It is dated Yorktown, Va., February 13, inst.

Messrs. Editors -- You have no doubt heard of our "on to Richmond move", and knowing the deep interest you have in the colored soldiers, I will give you a description of our march. I had just woke up from a nice nap on the morning of the 5th, and was strolling around camp, not knowing what to do with myself, the men busy fixing up the camp for Sunday inspection, when the order came -- six days rations in knapsack and seventy rounds of ammunition. I cannot describe the wild enthusiasm of the men on their receipt of the order. There was "mounting in hot haste"; greasy cooks cooking the fattest of bacon; and issuing hardtack sufficient to cause a dentist to shout with joy. We marched to Williamsburg and camped that night on the battlefield rendered famous by the victory over Magruder. The night was intensely cold and fires were prohibited. We left Williamsburg at 11 o'clock a.m., reaching New Kent Courthouse, a distance of 38 miles, at 1:30 a.m. and slept that night without rocking. After a hasty breakfast, we prepared to march, and it would have done you good to have looked down that dark line, and noted the stubborn determination to do or die. We marched within three miles of Bottom's Bridge on the Chickahominy River, where we met our Cavalry returning. Sadly disappointed, I assure you. Our rear guard was attacked by the enemy, but we repulsed them. We captured twenty five or thirty bush whackers and a few horses and carts, are arrived safe at camp on the evening of the 10th, without a straggler.

LEVI R. CHAPLIN
Orderly Sergt., Co. D, 6th U.S.C.T.

Source:

Orderly Sergeant Levi Chaplin, Company D, 6th USCT
Letter to the Huntingdon, PA Journal and American, 13 February 1864
Journal and American (Huntingdon, Pennsylvania), 24 February 1864
Charles Anderson Robinson, E-mail correspondence to the Afrolumens Project, 20 January 2006.

Website:

http://www.afrolumens.org/rising_fre...chaplin01.html

[Officer Lightoller]

Rations

Hello!
I'm fairly new to reenacting, and I was wondering something. Though I know what rations were given to the troops (Salt Pork, Hardtack, and Coffee), does anybody know what else they'd eat?

Brendan Macie,
a.k.a. 2nd Officer Lightoller
soon to be, 3rd US infantry

[Missouri Mule]

Re: Rations

Officer Lightroller,

A quick search of the AC found the following articles dealing with rations:

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11823&highlight=rations

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13047&highlight=rations

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=122&highlight=rations

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9575&highlight=rations

And while I haven't read them all myself, I'm sure they'd provide wonderful information. If nothing else, they'd give you other ideas to continue your own search.

Also, you might want to sign your full name to your posts. :)

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

Re: Rations

Using the Search Function just to the right of the top-center screen, you will find numerous answers to your questions. Part of your question needs to be defined...are you looking for the "Issued Ration" or period foods that may have been sent from home or bought from sutlers?

Here's a few links found by using the search function:

Dried Fruit:

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13047&highlight=rations

Sealing Food Containers:

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3393&highlight=rations

Commissary

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9575&highlight=issue+rations

Issuing Rations

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5470&highlight=issue+rations

Hope this helps get you started...and do not forget to sign your full name to your post.

Paul

[WoodenNutmeg]

Re: Rations

The world of Civil War military (and non-military for that matter) food rations is a glorious mecca of research and interest. As others have mentioned, check the board, but when you're done there, hit the books.

The library is a good place to start.

Pvt. Bryan O'Keefe, Esquire

[Charles Heath]

Re: Rations

Brendan,

It depends.

A good way to approach this time honored question is to ask yourself "For which event am I preparing?"

We have had a good time with rations this year, as is the case with most seasons, and the fun research that went into trying to figure out what the boys of '61-'65 were eating at a particular time and location. One of the rules of thumb is to read letters and find out what sort of food the average enlisted fellow was complaining about, and sometimes he'll even lay out what he wasn't getting in terms of foodstuffs.

So, you may end up with pemmican, turkey nuts, wild onions, stinky cheese balls, peaches, sardines, rats, warm white bread, venison, beef, pork brains, apples, parsnips, canned beef, rice, unbolted cornmeal, pea bread, field peas, salt herring, salt cod, cherries, powdered lemonade, and oysters, just to name a few things, but not all at the same time at the same event at the same meal.

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: Rations

In addition to the resources and links already cited, the "old standby" books commonly read by reenactors are also great introductory resources, including:

Hardtack and Coffee, by John Billings

The Life of Johnny Reb and The Life of Billy Yank, by Bell I. Willey.

The Civil War Infantryman, by James Coco.

...and numerous, well-read and oft-cited soldier memoirs, diaries, and letter-collections.

[BenjaminLDavis]

Re: Rations

In addition to the resources and links already cited, the "old standby" books commonly read by reenactors are also great introductory resources, including:

Hardtack and Coffee, by John Billings

The Life of Johnny Reb and The Life of Billy Yank, by Bell I. Willey.

The Civil War Infantryman, by James Coco.

...and numerous, well-read and oft-cited soldier memoirs, diaries, and letter-collections.

You took the words right out of my mouth, Kevin - I would add here
"A Taste for War: The Culinary History of the Blue and Gray,"
by William C. Davis.
I would also concur that the Billings and the two by Willey are essential
to the library of anyone starting out in this hobby. Not only about food,
but all aspects of the life of the common soldier.

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: Rations

Very true about Billings and Wiley's books. I think a lot of reenactors read them when they first get into reenacting and then forget a lot of what those books say, and neglect to return to them in subsequent years for re-readings. I've read Hardtack and Coffee a couple times, but years ago; when I got involved with the "Winter 1864" event, for example, I rediscovered that Billings devotes an entire chapter to the topic of life in winter quarters--something I'd quite forgotten was in that book. I suspect that a number of reenactors are in the same boat, and sometimes neglect to return to the old standbys now and then to brush up their impression and knowledge.

[fedhead]

The whats in season in what state , at what time of year question

I sometimes revisit this question from time to time and it's a hard one to answer.

What was is season in what state at what time in the Civil War . I know this is a big question i am hoping someone knows the answer to some part of the question and so on.

As living historians we take in all time periods and some of us portray both sides during the civil war , therefore as the armies moved through different states and so foraged different food items they would have had access to a changing array of foodstuffs . This would have also been influenced by the time of year and period of the war and location. I believe this is a very interesting and varied topic.

It's very easy to say use the items that were in season but the answer is far more complicated .

HELP?

[13thnhv]

Re: The whats in season in what state , at what time of year question

Martyn, Certainly, I'm not intending to sound disrespectful or flip, but I am convinced that whatever was edible at the time, in whatever season or means was available, was a clear target for foraging, ie eggs, nuts, corn, cherries, pies, chickens, cattle, pigs, etc. The Civil War was no different than any other war prior to its time. You scrounged if necessary to quiet the growling tummy. The governments of both armies provided what they provided. The rest was easy, or less so. Find it, prepare it, eat it and do it again. Perhaps I am missing the intent of your question, but I seriously am struggling to fathom a deeper meaning to your query.

[Becky Morgan]

Re: The whats in season in what state , at what time of year question

Ummm...do you mean, for instance, when are blackberries ripe in Gettysburg, or apples in Virginia? (Or, given apparent climate change, when *were* blackberries ripe, because it may have been earlier or later.)

If so, one good source is the county extension agent for the locale you're interested in. That'll give you a starting point, at least. Soldiers' letters and diaries are very handy, because like soldiers since time immemorial, Billy and Johnny thought about food a lot. Over and over we read that the presence of something out of season, or the absence or scarcity of something that should have been in, is enough to write home about.

Also, it doesn't hurt to ask around. Right now, near the fortieth parallel in eastern Ohio in a rare dry year, most full-season varieties of apples are ripe, but small. I saw very few summer apples this year. There didn't seem to be a good peach crop this year; what we got came from out of state and wouldn't have been available in CW times unless someone went to great trouble. Hard squash are plentiful. Pumpkins are ripe and the vines are beginning to dry up. Cattails are turning brown already even though there has been no frost. We had a few raspberries in the usual third week of June, some tame red raspberries in the third week of September, a modest blackberry crop in late July and what was supposed to be a very good elderberry crop between August and September (I didn't pick any.) The third cutting of hay will probably be poor, but there was enough late growth for the third cut after all. Sumac has made large heavy berry cones. There is a decent but not unusual crop of black walnuts and acorns coming down as we speak. Tomatoes are slacking off and the vines are looking tired. Late-planted peas are starting to come in and some people are still picking green beans. Potatoes are ready to dig if they haven't been dug.

Is that what you had in mind?