Rations

[straggler]

Re: Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

Just after the AC moved to this new server a question was asked
regarding skillets. At that time I posted a picture of a pair of Mr. Ellis'
skillets I have - one 7 inch; one 9 inch.

So if you go back to 1/01/04 you can click on the fingernail pic to see
a larger image.

Based on the scales at my local post office the 7" was just under 10
ounces, the 11 inch about one pound one ounce.

[Alamo Guard]

Re: Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

Spiders were used for a long time. There is ample mention of use by american forces in the Rev. War forward. A spider is called such because of the legs it has.
I have read past accounts of men taking the metal staves off some barrel and having them heated and rolled into small joined circles. They look like the modern burners you see on stoves. These were kept in mess chests and used for grilling meats and such. The height of the metal stave "grillers" elevated the item to be cooked off the coals.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

Fred,

I agree with your conclusion about the spider being an iron trivet to raise a cooking vessel above the coals.

We called a cooking trivet or grate a spider in Scouts. I too know folks who stand behind it being a pan with legs. The results are the same. The trivet is just more versitile.(A legged cooking pot is often called a ''grape")

I think it is a non-objective question that relies on time and place for usage.

Could you guys post photos of these articles, I have no idea what they are.

Also I carried Doug´s skillet up Lookout Mountain, It doesnt weigh anything and it was very useful.

[Vuhginyuh]

Solved the ''rations'' question...

'Possom Time (Translations available for those Unfortunates North of the Tappahannock )

Oh, dip some ‘taters down in grease
En fling de dogs a ‘tater apiece.
Ram yo’ brogans clean ter de tacks,
Split de splinters en fetch de ax.
It’s ‘possum time again!
Catfish tender, catfish tough,
We’s done et catfish long enough.
We’s tar’d er collards en white-side meat,
En we’s gwine have supp’n wut’s good to eat.
It’s ‘possum time again!
De pot’s gwine simmer en blubber en bile
Till it gits scummed over wid ‘possum ile.
But le’ ‘s don’t brag till we gits de goods.
Whoop! Come along, boys! We’s off to de woods.
It’s ‘possum time again!

John Charles McNeill
Deep in the Sandhills of North Carolina

... makes me homesick...

[billwatson]

Re: Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

Merriam Webster

*Main Entry: spi·der
Pronunciation: 'spI-d&r
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English spyder, alteration of spithre; akin to Old English spinnan to spin
snip
2 : a cast-iron frying pan orig. made with short feet to stand among coals on the hearth

If this is garbled, my apologies, the website is still adjusting to my computer screen. :-)

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

Could you guys post photos of these articles, I have no idea what they are.

Also I carried Doug´s skillet up Lookout Mountain, It doesnt weigh anything and it was very useful.

I could'nt get an image to load with a drop-forged, three-pound, ball-peen hammer.

[dusty27]

Re: Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

http://www.journalofantiques.com/hearthjan01.htm

This website has pictures of "spiders"

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

http://www.journalofantiques.com/hearthjan01.htm

This website has pictures of "spiders"

As does this one; http://www.giantspiders.com/
You don't want one of these boogers in yer kit.

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

Here's a spider too, says so on the handle. Sky-Line Drive,no doubt Reb issue.
And the hammer worked on the keyboard too. I highly recommend it.

[flattop32355]

Re: Solved the ''rations'' question...

I think I'll stick to the country ham. :D

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Solved the ''rations'' question...

De pot’s gwine simmer en blubber en bile - BOIL
Till it gits scummed over wid ‘possum ile. - OIL

Now, that should be more appetizing...

[markj]

Re: Tallow candles???

Greetings,

No guarantees for this recipe but it looks pretty interesting:

MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL [GRENADA, MS], July 24, 1862, p. 1, c. 7

To make hard tallow candles.--Wm. Summer, of Pomaria, S. C., furnishes the following to the Charleston Courier:
To one pound of tallow take five or six leaves of the prickly pear, (cactus opuntia,) split them and boil in the tallow, without water, for half an hour of more; strain and mould the candles. The wicks should have previously dipped in spirits of turpentine and dried.
If the tallow at first is boiled in water, and the water changed four or five times, it will be bleached and rendered free from impurities. Then prepare, by frying with prickly pears, to harden it.
In this way we have made tallow candles nearly equal to the best adamantine.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[markj]

Re: Tallow candles???

Greetings,

Here's another recipe:

MOBILE REGISTER AND ADVERTISER, October 11, 1862, p. 1, c. 4

[For the Evening News]
Tallow Candles Equal to Star.

Messrs. Editors: It may be of interest to your numerous readers to know that, with not a cent of additional expense, tallow candles can be made fully equal in point of merit to the common star candle.
To two pounds of tallow add one teacupful of good strong lye from wood ashes, and simmer over a slow fire—when a greasy scum will float on top; skim this off for making soap, (it is very near soap already) as long as it continues to rise. Then mould your candles as usual, making the wicks a little smaller—and you have a pure, hard tallow candle, worth knowing how to make—and one that burns as long and gives a light equal to sperm. The chemistry demonstrates itself. An ounce or two of beeswax will make the candle some harder, and steeping the wicks in spirits turpentine will make it burn some brighter. I write with one before me.
Yours, W.


Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Tallow candles???

What about spermaceti?
I'm sure they are not easy to come by...

Ok, SHUT UP all you Bevis and Butthead fans I can here the sad little comments and chuckles from here.

What I meant is the white, waxy substance consisting of various esters of fatty acids, obtained from the head of the sperm whale or another cetacean and used for making candles, ointments, and cosmetics. That is really not much better is it?

The curator of archaeology at Colonial Williamsburg stated that spermaceti candles were the most common store bought type from about 1820 to 1900 and quite impossible to obtain today.

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

Here is a TRIVET belonging to Nathan Byron Parker and Richard Brite Parker Co. A, 27th North Carolina Troops. It is roughly 6'' across, 10'' long and 1 5/8'' high.