how did thay pack hardtack?

[itz3r1k]

I'm wondering how they packed the hardtack in the boxes. Did they just stick it in the box when it cooled or did they wrap it in something.

[Michael Comer]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

Search and ye shall find:

1863 SPECIFICATIONS:
Assistant Commissary General of Subsistence - [Lt. Col. C.L. Kilburn "Notes on Preparing Stores for the United States Army and on the Care of the Same, etc, with a few rules for Detecting Adulterations" Printed 1863], under Hard Bread:

"Should be made of best quality of superfine, or what is usually known as extra superfine flour; or better, of extra and extrasuperfine, (half and half.) Hard bread should be white, crisp, light and exhibit a flaky appearance when broken. If tough, solid and compact, is evident the fault is either in the stock, manufacture or baking; it should not present the appearance of dried paste. If tough and pasty, it is probably manufacture from grown wheat, or Spring wheat of an inferior kind. In all cases it should be thoroughly cooled and dried before packing. Kiln drying, where practicable, for long voyages, is particularly desirable; but if really and thoroughly dried in the oven, hard bread will keep just as well and its flavor is not destroyed. To make good hard bread, it is essential to employ steam; hand work will not do.

The dough should be mixed as dry as possible; this is, in fact, very essential, and too much stress can not be placed on it. Good stock, dry mixed, and thoroughly baked, (not dried or scalded) will necessarily give good hard bread. If salt is to be used, it should be mixed with the water used to mix the dough. Both salt and water should be clean. Bread put up with the preceding requirements should keep a year; but as a usual thing, our best bread as now made for army use, will keep only about three months. Good, bread, packed closely and compactly should not weigh, net, per barrel, more than 70 or 80 pounds; should it be heavier that 80 it indicates too much moisture. The thickness of the biscuit is important; it should not be so thick as to prevent proper drying, or so thin as to crumble in transportation. The quality of stock used for hard bread can be partially told by rules mentioned in the article 'Flour,' as far as they apply. The term 'sprung' is frequently used by bakers, by which is meant raised or flaky bread, indicating strong flour and sound stock. The cupidity of the contracting baker induces him to pack his bread as soon as it comes out of the oven, and before the moisture has been completely expelled by drying. Bread of this kind hangs on breaking; it will also be soft to the pressure of the fingernail when broken, whereas it should be crisp and brittle.

The packages should be thoroughly seasoned, (of wood imparting no taste or odor to the bread,) and reasonably tight. The usual method now adopted is to pack 50 pounds net, in basswood boxes, (sides, top and bottom 1/2 inch, ends 5/8 of an inch,) and of dimensions corresponding with the cutters used, and strapped at each end with light iron or wood. The bread should be packed on its edge compactly, so as not to shake.

[Michael Comer]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

He doesn't ask how they moved it, he asked how they packed it. The answer is there.

[itz3r1k]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

thanks for the replies guys.I made some hardtack for an upcoming reenactment and i wanted to know if i needed to keep it loose or packed in paper.

[Lance Stifle]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

Good afternoon to you all;
I haven't been able to find any relevant information in my references for the period.

But I can relate from personal experience as a soldier that as late as 1970 we were still being issued hard tack biscuits dated 1943!! And yep they were edible; well kind of.
As we used to say "you could eat them as they were, or boil them, smash at them with a rifle butt, roll an APC over them; and still eat them as they are".

They came in packets of twelve, wrapped in heavily waxed see-through paper and packed in tin boxes of approx 10 gallon capacity.

Is it possible that waxed paper was used for wrapping as early as the 1860's?

Ken Stewart

"I am with the South in death, in victory or defeat...I never owned a Negro and care nothing for them,
but these people have been my friends and have stood up to me on all occasions." Patrick Cleburne 1860.

thanks for the replies guys.I made some hardtack for an upcoming reenactment and i wanted to know if i needed to keep it loose or packed in paper.

[PetePaolillo]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

thanks for the replies guys.I made some hardtack for an upcoming reenactment and i wanted to know if i needed to keep it loose or packed in paper.

AS far as wrapping them in paper, I sell hardtack and I wrap them in brown paper and put a generic label on them just for ease of selling them verses loose. Unless other evidence presents itself I do not believe they were shipped any other way other than Crates and Barrels as previously shown.
My suggestion is if you are doing a ration issue at an event, make yourself a crate with stencils based on originals. The specifications can be found in , Customs of Service: for Officers of the Army by August V. Kautz.
If they are just for you, throw them in your haversack. If they are made correctly they will hold up fine loose in there.

Here is a crate I made, below:

You can find this project with Kautz's specs, in AJ Hamlers new book
Civil War woodworking

http://www.woodworkerslibrary.com/product.php?productid=18000&cat=0&page=

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

They came in packets of twelve, wrapped in heavily waxed see-through paper and packed in tin boxes of approx 10 gallon capacity.

Is it possible that waxed paper was used for wrapping as early as the 1860's?

Ken Stewart

I can't add much as to how hardtack was packed but there was an illustration in Hardtack and Coffee of hardtack in a box and there was no evidence of the individual pieces being wrapped.

From my research I don't think that hardtack was wrapped in wax paper in the 1860s. I wrote an extensive article on waxed paper for the Watchdog (Winter 2007) and waxed paper was not used for wrapping foods until the 1880s. In the article there is a reference from 1897 describing soldier's emergency rations and some of the items were wrapped in "tough paraffine paper."

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

Here is a link to a previous thread that is piled high with useful information on this topic from the late Mr. Heath.

Please read on!
Hardtack Dimensions Thread

[itz3r1k]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

thanks everyone for the replies.It's been very helpful so far. I just want it as authentic as i can get it.

[VetUSMC08]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

Does anyone have the exact dimensions and measurements of the hard tack boxes? If I remember correctly, they had a full description several years ago in the Columbia Rifles Research Compendium, but have not had access to it.

Aaron Rowland

[Army30th]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

Don't know if I should, but here's the information in the CRRC:

August Kautz described general dimensions: 26 x 17 x 11 (exterior measurements); ends of box made from 1 inch material, the rest 5/8th inch.

Surviving boxes that were profiled for the article:

1. 25.27 x 18. x 10.75 with ends made from 3/4 inch material and the rest 1/2 inch material (knotty pine)

2. 25.75 x 18.25 x 10.75 with ends made from 3/4 inch material and the rest 1/2 inch material (knotty pine)

3. 25 x 17.857 x 11.375 ends made of 3/4 inch material and the rest varying from 1/2 in to .625 inches

4. two boxes recovered from steamer Maple Leaf 25..25 x 18.5 x 10 and the other 26 x 18.5 x 9.5

[VetUSMC08]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

Outstanding! Thank you very much!

[VetUSMC08]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

Here is a link to a previous thread that is piled high with useful information on this topic from the late Mr. Heath.

Please read on!
Hardtack Dimensions Thread

In reply to Mr. Wickett's (Thank you for the link, Sir) previous post, I found the following while looking over my copy of Hardtack and Coffee:
". . . Two which I have in my possession as momentos measure three and one-eighth by two and seven-eighths inches, and are nearly half an inch thick. Although these were furnished to organizations by weight, they were dealt out to the men by number, nine constituting a ration in some regiments, and ten in others. . ."
He also goes on to say "The most of the hard bread was made in Baltimore, and put up in boxes of sixty pounds gross, fifty pounts net. . ."
Also, it was rather interesting when he noted that in 1861, it was not yet reffered to as "Hardtack."

[BenjaminLDavis]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

Gentlemen (and ladies, if any have this information,) ~
Is there anyone today making quality stencils for the period lettering on these cracker boxes?
The paint is not a problem, but I have come up empty on the stencils.
Thanks.

[hiplainsyank]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

Another piece of evidence that no other packaging was used than wooden boxes is the fact that maggots sometimes hatched in the hardtack, leading the soldiers to refer to them as "worm castles." And the practice of, when eating them in the dark, to break the crackers into their coffee and skim the top with a spoon or fork since maggots float, as described in either Wiley or Catton's Reflections on the Civil War.

If hardtack was packaged in paper in addition to the boxes it would be much more difficult for flies to get at it and lay their eggs...