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Food seems to always be on the mind of soldiers. Here are some excerpts about food and rations from a letter written by Lt. J. G. Waters, December 13, 1862.
"Since I last wrote our regiment has been on picket, a dangerous duty, [obscured] one liked by all the soldiers. The excitement that impending danger produces, coupled with the desire of the soldier, to add strange things to the store already in his haversack, which picketing is the most favorable place in the army for him to obtain, makes the boys always ready to go. When one company relieved the company doing picket duty where we were to be stationed, the inquiry is not, “Is the enemy in front?” but that other sentence dear to every American “What are the symptoms of pork?”"
. . . .
"Boys consume their time in camp by consuming their victuals and pills. By the way whether directed by the army regulations or not our Dr.’s prescribe pills of calibre 62, our guns being but 58. These in plentiful supplies with hard bread of the vintage of 1 B.C. keep the boys in a healthy condition. Soldiers would have better health if they could change their diet once in a while, but if they attempt to, they are put under arrest by Generals who say “that the pillaging must be done exclusively by the Dr.’s.” But still Uncle Sam by his efforts to please us has given the [obscured] Beside the regular detail of food, we have dessecated vegetables or in other words, Guano, dried and pressed. A haversack full of it, when boiled out will cultivate and keep in good condition a quarter section of land for years. A lamentable instance occurred in our regiment from its premature use. A soldier thought it was good to eat in its pressed dry state, and he accordingly ate a whole cake 10 by 12 inches in size, and of course drank a quantity of water, and while we were all sitting together on our company grounds we saw him go up in the air, head one way, and another, leg obliqueing to the right, shoulder, spine and hand or two filing left, while what we took to be a big hay stack going directly up, still expanding, by reason of the sun’s rays. The boys were frightened, but presently one of them who had been gazing on the sudden disappearance of a human being broke out in the following lamentable strain: “Oh! Ed Rall here goes yu’re purp,” while all the rest chimed in with the melancholy chorus: “And a five cent sutler check foolishly spent.” The haystack at last lighted in an adjoining camp which we found to be the cake (just moistened) that the soldier had eaten."
Originally published December 26, 1862, in the "Macomb Journal."
"Since I last wrote our regiment has been on picket, a dangerous duty, [obscured] one liked by all the soldiers. The excitement that impending danger produces, coupled with the desire of the soldier, to add strange things to the store already in his haversack, which picketing is the most favorable place in the army for him to obtain, makes the boys always ready to go. When one company relieved the company doing picket duty where we were to be stationed, the inquiry is not, “Is the enemy in front?” but that other sentence dear to every American “What are the symptoms of pork?”"
. . . .
"Boys consume their time in camp by consuming their victuals and pills. By the way whether directed by the army regulations or not our Dr.’s prescribe pills of calibre 62, our guns being but 58. These in plentiful supplies with hard bread of the vintage of 1 B.C. keep the boys in a healthy condition. Soldiers would have better health if they could change their diet once in a while, but if they attempt to, they are put under arrest by Generals who say “that the pillaging must be done exclusively by the Dr.’s.” But still Uncle Sam by his efforts to please us has given the [obscured] Beside the regular detail of food, we have dessecated vegetables or in other words, Guano, dried and pressed. A haversack full of it, when boiled out will cultivate and keep in good condition a quarter section of land for years. A lamentable instance occurred in our regiment from its premature use. A soldier thought it was good to eat in its pressed dry state, and he accordingly ate a whole cake 10 by 12 inches in size, and of course drank a quantity of water, and while we were all sitting together on our company grounds we saw him go up in the air, head one way, and another, leg obliqueing to the right, shoulder, spine and hand or two filing left, while what we took to be a big hay stack going directly up, still expanding, by reason of the sun’s rays. The boys were frightened, but presently one of them who had been gazing on the sudden disappearance of a human being broke out in the following lamentable strain: “Oh! Ed Rall here goes yu’re purp,” while all the rest chimed in with the melancholy chorus: “And a five cent sutler check foolishly spent.” The haystack at last lighted in an adjoining camp which we found to be the cake (just moistened) that the soldier had eaten."
Originally published December 26, 1862, in the "Macomb Journal."
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