Rations

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: Issuing Rations

I offer Billings's fairly well-known account of a coffee issue, printed in Hardtack and Coffee on pages 122-123:

“[Coffee] was brought to camp in an oat sack, a regimental quartermaster receiving and apportioning his among the ten companies, and the quartermaster–sergeant of a battery apportioning his to the four or six detachments. Then the orderly-sergeant of a company or the sergeant of a detachment must devote himself to dividing it. One method of accomplishing this purpose was to spread a rubber blanket on the ground,—more than one if the company were large,—and upon it were put as many piles of the coffee as there were men to receive rations; and the care taken to make the piles of the same size to the eye, to keep the men from growling, would remind one of a country physician making his powders, taking a little from one pile and adding to another. The sugar which always accompanied the coffee was spooned out at the same time on another blanket. When both were ready, they were given out, each man taking a pile, or, in some companies, to prevent any charge of unfairness or injustice, the sergeant would turn his back on the rations, and take out his roll of the company. Then, by request, some one else would point to a pile and ask, ‘Who shall have this?’ and the sergeant, without turning, would call a name from his list of the company or detachment, and the person called would appropriate the pile specified. The process would be continued until the last pile was disposed of. There were other plans for distributing the rations; but I have described this one because of its being quite common.”

I suspect that the mechanics differed from one company to the next, but the system described by Billings seems like it must have been pretty common, and I'd lay a bet that a similar approach was used to dole out crackers, meat, etc. as well as coffee.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Issuing Rations

The these two links are not simple enough to be foolproof, but the information presented therein is easily understood.

http://www.stonewallbrigade.com/rations.htm

http://www.stonewallbrigade.com/articles_cooking.html

Charles Heath

[64OVI]

Re: Issuing Rations

Issuing rations is a great way to give your men the experience of the diet and food preparation of a typical CW soldier. Along with sick calls, pay scenarios, adding rations can really enhance the experience of a soldier's impression.
To begin the process, you need to ask yourself what is the context? In other words..is this a company issue and if so, are these marching rations for a campaign, or just a days supply from the regimental commissary? On the company level, volunteer Federal regiments utilized one of the Sgts to handle the commissary duties. Regimental Quartermasters usually did double duty with both QM and Commissary functions and the regimental QM Sgt (and any men detached for QM service) worked with the Com Sgts to dole out rations to the companies.
In the field, rations were carried in supply wagons following the marching infantry. The Com Sgts request rations for the requesite number of men in their respective companies and the Rgtl QM Sgt, under the approval of the QM, doles the rations out by weight from the available stores. Slab bacon, for example, isnt going to come from the QM in handy one lb chunks. It should be in slabs, which the Com Sgt etc. will have to cut up. Same with other items. If the men are going to carry the items in their haversacks, dont package things, but rather issue it and let them deal with how they store it.
Once the company Com Sgt has received his mens rations, then the scenarios as described can be portrayed. I would suspect, as mentioned, that the practice of divvying up the rations varied by company and the need to give the appearance of fairness.
I would suggest that to give your men the experience you desire, first dont tell them all what is being issued. Soldiers got what they got and bitched about it for any number of reasons. Keep it simple..crackers, slab bacon, coffee, sugar, etc. Its amazing the filling meals just these few items provide.
Good luck.

Kent Dorr
Quartermaster
Army of the Ohio

[PMBwriter]

cigarettes in the ACW

Hi. A quick note on cigarette consumption. I'll quote from http://69.10.163.110/suesgoodco/newc...e/tobacco.htm:

"Cigarettes Although these items were indeed around during the Civil War, they were often considered effeminate and did not enjoy widespread use until mass manufacture began in 1864. Two brands of cigarettes made in the US before 1864 were Durham and Century. Cigarettes had been manufactured in England since 1856, but their use was not wide-spread in the states.

"Cigarettes were manufactured exclusively in Northern factories and would have been a scarce item for Southerners. As American cigarettes were relatively expensive and not widely available, it seems reasonable to accept that only a fraction of tobacco consumed was in the form of cigarettes.

"A form of cigarette called cigaritos (tobacco rolled in corn husk) were enjoyed by a few Mexican War veterans."



I'll also quote my sister-in-law, a cardiologist in southern New Jersey:

I said, "I bet if everyone stopped eating those Philadelphia cheese-steak subs, you cardiologists would go out of business."

She replied, "Nah. We'll always have the smokers."

(Please don't give Joe Camel my email address!)

Paul M. Bauer
South Salem, NY

Hi,

This is hard to say since, of course, the level of medical knowledge left much to be desired, autopsies were rarely performed in the field, and there were so many other afflictions that could either exacerbate heart trouble or otherwise kill you. Medical evidence indicates Robert E. Lee suffered from heart trouble (angina pectoris, as I recall) and it was a contributing factor to his death albeit this happened, of course, in 1870.

The causes for many men's deaths were vaguely recorded as, for example, "congestion of the brain" or even "nostalgia." Many ostensibly healthy men, just as they do today, simply keeled over and no one ever figured out the cause. Even today we see healthy and well-toned athletes drop dead from unknown causes. I remember one doctor talking about an autopsy he did in which he said, "If it weren't for the fact that guy was dead, there was no reason why he shouldn't have just gotten off the slab and walked away."

Poor diet, rough living conditions, and bouts with such charming diseases as typhoid and chronic diarrhea undoubtedly did not help anyone with heart trouble. However, rotten meat and wormy hardbread aside, one can argue that 19th Century folks were in some respects "healthier" since they ate food containing less saturated fats and refined sugar. Their food was often fresher since, of course, cold-storage was relatively rare (ice-boxes did, however, exist). They also, as a rule, got more exercise (no couch potatoes!). Although many men smoked, cigarettes were almost unknown--pipes, cigars, and "chaw" were the order of the day. Since "nicotine delivery systems" like cigarettes basically didn't exist, in my view, heart disease and emphysema rates were likely lower. This fact, however, was undoubtedly balanced by fairly high incidences of lip, mouth, and throat cancer. Ulysses S. Grant, a heavy cigar smoker himself, died from throat cancer in 1885.

I guess, in a sense, everyone who died had a "heart attack" (or cardiac arrest) since, of course, their hearts stopped beating no matter the actual cause!

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Nifty50]

Re: Effects of diet on soldiers?

I think the possibility of heart attacks is around the same as it is today. Even though we may have access to a better diet than the original cast we do not always follow it or we follow whatever fad diet recommendations of the week we can. I am guilty as charged on not following a proper diet, but not guilty of following fad diets.

I must respectfully take a little issue with one of Karin Timour's comments:

"All of this, by the way, is assuming you're ablebodied and have the teeth to chew your rations. If you got wounded, or too sick to eat, and ended up on in the hospital in the early years, they would issue you the same food and just bring it to you and lay it on your cot. If you'd been shot in the face, or were too ill to digest hardtack, well, it just sort of mounded up on your blanket and in more than a few cases, men starved to death surrounded by rations they couldn't eat."

I have been researching hospitals for some time. So far as I have seen I have not come across an account like the one she described, even in the early part of the war. If there is some documentation for it I would be very interested in seeing it. Not being arrogant, just curious. In 1860 Dr. John J. Woodward wrote "The Hospital Steward's Manual", and several chapters are devoted to making sure the patients were fed and fed with proper diets. There were three- High, medium, and low and they were all based on the type of illness or injury. Anyone with a facial injury could be hand-fed beef broth and other liquified sustenance with invalids' cups/spoons. The Manual is targeted more towards the administration of general (and later depot hospitals like City Point) but even the field hospitals had to requisition food to feed the patients who arrived.

The patients were always grateful for the change in diet -luxuries like fruits, vegetables, geletins, soft bread, tea, what bliss!! :)

My humble conclusion - unless the injured/sick was a really fussy eater I doubt he would starve.

Sorry to get off-topic; and again, I'm not attempting to flame anyone.

Respectfully submitted,
Noah Briggs,
28th Mass. Co. B

[billwatson]

21st century thinking?

Folks,

Are we taking what we think we know, applying modern thought, and concluding our ancestors in the army all had poor diet? If so, consider the case of Charles Emerson. He enlisted in the 15th Maine in 1862 at the age of 15 (an illegal enlistment, apparently), served in Company G for two years, reenlisted at age 17 (another illegal enlistment, apparently). Both times he was described on the enlistment rolls. He'd grown two inches on army rations from age 15 to age 17 -- hardly an indicator of an inadequate diet.

Emerson died in the summer of 1865 while on occupation duty in Chester, S.C. What got him in the end was what got most of those in the 15th Maine who died in service -- disease. These boys spent most of their hitch in the deep south, one way or another.

Emerson is still in Chester, in Evergreen (I think that's the name) Cemetery, among 54 unknown Confederate dead. He had a brother in Company G, 15th Maine, and the brother returned after the war and arranged for a headstone that has -- apparently unlike his enlistment papers -- Charles's birth date.

The "poor" diet -- salt pork and hardtack, coffee and sugar -- was the marching diet, never intended to sustain anyone for very long. Nobody ate hardtack and salt pork for four years, although when things got tough as in Chattanooga -- and at Andersonville, on the other side of things -- bad diet might go on for longer than planned or desired. As for throwing out the dessicated vegetables -- I'd be willing to bet those boys had something better. I've seen what guys will eat when they are only moderately hungry, and I'm willing to bet anything even vaguely resembling food would not have been thrown out in a cavalier fashion unless they had their hands on something better.

We think we're enjoying fresh vegetables year round by virtue of our modern economy and transportation system and refrigeration. Our ancestors could enjoy fresh vegetables, or at least vegetables with anti-scorbutic properties, year round with planned crops and proper storage of things like apples in root cellars. Even in February, and pretty far north, you can have various vegetables, some of which have fallen off most menus these days (when's the last time anyone had parsnips? How about turnips? Jerusalem artichokes? All can be stored in root cellars and offered an alternative to potatoes. I think Jerusalem artichokes can be left in the ground all winter and harvested right from the field for use.) There are greens that can be planted in the fall and harvested almost as soon as the snow melts in the spring -- they were coveted crops, and what they offered - vitamins, etc. -- were craved by people even if the nutritional concepts were not articulated.

I"m not picking a quarrel here, I'm just reacting to what seems like a tendency to think we've got the last word on nutrition and don't do stupid things like throw away our vegetables. Well. This is the society that officially declared catsup a vegetable in the school lunch program (so a cheeseburger with catsup is now a food-group balanced meal) and which makes such nutritionally destitute and unhealthy foods as Coke and Pepsi available by design in a great many school systems. So how smart are we?

[Dale Beasley]

Re: Effects of diet on soldiers?

From the signs and symptoms that have been described above....I would think that the conditions indicate Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). CHF is characterized by fluid in the alveoli of the lungs. Which basically is the inability of the heart to pump enough blood to meet the demands of the tissues. Associated casues of CHF may include acute renal failure, shock lung due to toxic fumes / smoke / heat inhalation of a fire or blast that causes destruction of the alveolar surfactant.
Sysmptoms may include: Shortness of breath, dyspnea on exertion, dyspnea when lying down, or when awakening from sleep, swelling of the ankles and legs, fatigue, and nausea.

Who knows, it's only a workable theory?

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

Re: Issuing Rations

I am just thinking.. If people, Re-enacters, are not doing "Sick Calls", "Pay Scenarios". "Issuing Rations"....what the heck are they doing?!


?

[Alamo Guard]

Re: Issuing Rations

Regardless of the method used, don't forget to cuss the Q/M Sgt, The Commissary Service, and the supplier of the product for the poor quality of their product.
If you have a small mess of four or five, have one man divide up the rations in separate piles. Then have each of the men draw to see who goes first, with the understanding that who ever orginally divided the rations goes last. The one who complains of his share gets to divide the next lot.
Finally some really odd ball rations were issued at times. Vinegar, collard greens, cabbage, some men even got strawberries. Might be fun to throw in some of those and see how the men respond.
One of the thing that seems to be left out of ration issue scenerios is things like salt, candles, and soap.

[TeamsterPhil]

Re: Issuing Rations

This thread has prompted a discussion among the Out To Brunch gang about the possibility of having a folder dedicated to the functions of the Quartermaster/Commissary Department. There seem to be enough questions on the problems of supply/logistics/distribution that a folder would be a useful thing.

Phil Campbell

[1stMaine]

Re: Issuing Rations

Comrades,

A review of the 1861 regs will also give you a good look at what was SUPPOSED to be issued, and what the quantities per man were. Some of the items that were also added, depending upon location and availability, were salt fish, tea, and molasses.
Salt cod is still available in many places, and although it takes a bit of work to reduce it to an edible state, it's something that was not unknown.
An interesting description of the issuing of rations in the field may be found in Val Giles' excellent memoir "Rags and Hope", wherein he describes trying to issue rations under fire at Gettysburg to the men of his company of the 4th Texas. It's worth the time to read, as is the entire book.
respects,

[billmatt04]

Mechanical Baking Co.....?

Hello all,
Does anyone have a definitive answer on Mechaincal Baking? Are they still in business? I tried to call them but I ended up having to leave a message on a machine which used to say that you had "reached Mechanical baking Co." but now is just an automated voice saying that you must leave a message. If anyone knows for sure please let me know. Thanks a lot.

Sincerely,
Matthew Cassady
104th Illinois Vol. Inf.

[theknapsack]

Re: Mechanical Baking Co.....?

Mr. Cassady,

Mechanical Baking company, to my knowledge, is out of business. I too left a message about 2 months ago and didn't get anything back. Your best bet is to get Bent's now. If only Bent's was a bit harder. . .

[billmatt04]

Re: Mechanical Baking Co.....?

Mr. Cassady,

Mechanical Baking company, to my knowledge, is out of business. I too left a message about 2 months ago and didn't get anything back. Your best bet is to get Bent's now. If only Bent's was a bit harder. . .

Thanks, Riley, I appreciate it. Too bad about Mechanical, I LOVED their crackers. By the way, had a fun time this weekend with you guys. Wish you had been there Sunday.

Sincerely,
Matthew Cassady
104th Illinois Vol. Inf.

[theknapsack]

Re: Mechanical Baking Co.....?

Wish you had been there Sunday.

Yes, I had heard it was better than what we did on saturday. Did you do any good drill?

Mechanical Baking company was good. What we need is Bents look and testure and Mecahnical Baking Company's hardness. It's a shame to see them go out of business.