Rations

[weed]

Re: Can Openers?

I have an ORIGINAL can opener dated 1862 in my collection. Yes, they were used, but most likely by the commissary. (This is beginning to feel like a research article waiting to be written). When I have time, later in the day, I will put of pictures of the original I have up on the thread.

John M Wedeward
33d Wisconsin
"The Racoon Regiment"

"The Camp Randall Quartermaster"
www2.inxpress.net/jwedeward

Items sold thru: Joe Hofmann. The Jersey Skillet Licker

https://www.skilletlicker.com

[Yellowhammer]

Re: Haversack Packing

Guys,

I'd like to see a little documentation for some of these assertions.

There are some great quotes from veterans like Berry Bensen, Val Giles, and Wilbur Hinman regarding haversacks and what they were carrying.

While I fully applaud trail and error experimental archaeology (AKA learning by doing), I think a few comments from the "original cast" might be in order.

To kick things off, here is a great quote from Wilbur Hinman regarding haversacks:

"There were haversacks-and haversacks. Theoretically, they were all water-proof but practically they were quite the reverse, particularly after they had become a little worn. A penetrating rain storm was very likely to make a sorry mess of their contents. Some of them were black and some of them were white-that is to say, they were white when new. By the time one of these had been in use for a few weeks as a receptacle for chunks of fat bacon and fresh meat, damp sugar tied in a rag-perhaps a piece of an old shirt- potatoes and other vegetables that might be picked up along the route, it took on the color of a printing office towel. It would have been alike offensive to the eyes and nose of a fastidious person. Very likely he would have gone hungry for a good while before he could bring himself to eat anything out of it. But the educated taste of the soldier disdained all such squeamishness. When his regiment halted he would drop by the roadside, draw his grimy and well-greased haversack around in front of him, and from its dark and odorous recesses bring forth what tasted better to him than the daintiest morsel to the palate of an epicure. It was all in getting used to such things."

[Masked Battery]

Re: Haversack Packing

There were how many real CW soldiers? Who knows what some of them must have put in their haversacks. Look at all at of the neato cr@p that Alfred May picked up during his time of service [Seashells? Oddball carbine rounds? Some sort of lady's undergarment?] , which is luckily preserved in the NC Mus. of History.

[John of the Skulkers Mess]

Re: Issuing Rations

Matthew,

Are you (or your unit) planning to attend the Franklin event?


John Pillers

[bugler3rdusarty]

Re: Issuing Rations

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??

Doug,

Please sign all posts here on the forums with your full name. You agreed to do so upon registering as a member. This is your second reminder (1st when registering). A third may lead to suspension. - Mike Chapman

[HOG.EYE.MAN]

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?!

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.

[Tom Ezell]

Re: Issuing Rations

Hello all,
I have run this idea past a few of my comrades and we are thinking about taking on the task of putting together a ration issue scenario for our company. I was wondering what would be the most appropriate way to dole out the salt pork, crackers, coffee, etc. I am hoping that some of you who have experience in this area can help me. My group has had a lot of success recently in putting on mail and pay calls and want to move in a new direction. Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

Some thoughts:

If you're not actually on the march, put the rations in one lot, assign a fatigue detail to kitchen duties, and cook en masse. Serve it out to the troops by sending them thru the chow line. Saves time, saves wastage, saves cost of food. And that's the way they did it in the Army.

If you give the fellows a raw sweet potato, or a tin cup full of farina, half the time they're going to chuck it in the bushes, tighten their belts, and hold on until they can hit the Cracker Barrel on the way home Sunday afternoon.

You'll need camp kettles to cook in and serve from (W.E. Osman for these; the ones from the Village Tinsmith are undersized), and maybe a couple of mess pans.

The standard way to cook the meat ration is to cut it into portion-sized chunks and boil it in a mess kettle. A long time.

Beans, if you have them in the ration, are boiled much the same way with a bit of salt and some fat trimmed from the meat ration.

Coffee is made in another mess kettle, with the grounds and sugar measured out and dumped into a kettle full of water, then brought to a rolling boil. Once you've got a good boil going, remove the kettle from the fire and add a cup of cold (or cool) water to settle the grounds. Wait a minute or so, and it's ready to serve out with the dipper.

As the fellows file through the line, plate in hand, fork them out one chunk of meat, a dipper of beans, three crackers, and a cup of coffee. Don't like sugar in your coffee, huh? Fine. Dry up. Keep the line moving, tomorrow's your turn on the mess detail and you can make it the way you like it.

Rations were typically distributed individually only when the army was on the move, and there was no chance to set up the company kitchens. Even throughout the Atlanta campaign, the Confederates cooked rations in consolidated kitchens behind the lines and then brought cooked chow forward to the line for the troops.

Tom
member, Farina Liberation Army

[Gallinipper]

Re: Haversack Packing

There were how many real CW soldiers? Who knows what some of them must have put in their haversacks. Look at all at of the neato cr@p that Alfred May picked up during his time of service [Seashells? Oddball carbine rounds? Some sort of lady's undergarment?] , which is luckily preserved in the NC Mus. of History.

Great point pardo. I'd bet Mr. May could have picked up those carbine rounds at the same place he got the lady's underwear-- in an effort to deter an angry husband from shooting him. Those boys knew how to survive! Seashells, who knows. Maybe another memento of where he'd been? Remember the souvenir-collecting Sergeant from "Saving Pvt. Ryan"....

Rich Croxton

[billmatt04]

Re: Issuing Rations

Matthew,

Are you (or your unit) planning to attend the Franklin event?


John Pillers

John,
Yes, myself and several of my comrades should be attending the Frankling event. I hope to somehow get over to the AoP camp and see how they do ration issues, etc.

Matthew Cassady
104th Illinois Vol. Inf.

[Bill]

Re: Mechanical Baking Co.....?

Guys,

I purchased too many of Bent's crackers last year, and had enough left over for this season. Trust me, a year old Bent cracker is plenty hard!

[Rick Keating]

Re: Mechanical Baking Co.....?

I talked to one of the partners at Mechanical Baking this evening and she told me they are still in business but have experienced some difficulties with their building. Seems a drunked teenager plowed into it and did some damage to the electrical service and other fixtures.

They have a digital answering machine and whenever the power dips or goes out the messages disappear.

The owner of the building doesn't want to spend the money to track down and repair the damage so the folks at MBC are looking for another location.

They will be back in production shortly and will also have a new website up and running, one with the ability to take orders for their product.

As soon as I have the new web address I'll post it here.

Rick Keating

[Stiggs]

Re: Haversack Packing

"In my 'waterproof' haversack, I put... melasses(pokesack)... "

Really? Molassas in a poke sack? Interesting.


Welcome to the AC Forum! When you applied for membership with this forum, you agreed to have read our forum Rules & Regulations, one of the main rules being that ALL postings be signed with members' FULL NAMES.

Your agreement to have read those rules is a First warning, this is your Second.

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1034

You may set your Auto-Signature file to take care of this for you automatically.

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt, Moderator

[reb1912]

Re: Haversack Packing

Yes. 'Cause you could put the MOLASSAS in a piece of an old shirt, in an tin container, in a smal wooden box, in your spare socks or in your mouth. It's basically just to explain how I store it. So.....make no more of it.

"In my 'waterproof' haversack, I put... melasses(pokesack)... "

Really? Molassas in a poke sack? Interesting.

[Nifty50]

Re: Haversack Packing

I pack my haversack in the following:

canteen-half plate in back for support, my tin can "cup" in the haversack with the bacon inside of it, utensils on the side, and the coffee and hardtack bags next to/on top of the can. I pack extras only if there is specific research to warrant carrying the extras and if the extra in question is in season to be harvested/carried in the first place. That is it.

I do not let my cup or boiler dangle on the outside strap because it gets dusty from the marching and has the irritating habit of going "clang" right at the wrong moment, usually during a night patrol. Indeed I can always tell the vets from the greenies in my experience because the vets will be stripped to the bare essentials and make sure all their stuff is packed tight and secure while the less-experienced folks tend to overpack and let the extras dangle where they can make unintended noise. Too many times at large events do I hear the Federal/Confederate battalions long before I see them- they sound like a demolition derby on fast-forward.

And of course the rest is stashed in the backpack/bedroll. I have passed quite a few nights with next to nothing and next to nothing is often the best way to go.

And yes, I am just as guilty for being overpacked in my early years of reenacting. But thanks to message forums and knowledgable folks such as the posters on this forum I have gotten older and hopefully wiser in my years.

[btwils]

Re: Mechanical Baking Co.....?

Good please keep us informed. Ive tried both crackers and I had rather have the ones that stay together.

Brian Wilson
broken cracker mess