how did thay pack hardtack?

[fahtz]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

James-
To my knowledge and searching no one is currently making the stencils. I know of several people (myself included) who are making the boxes with stencils painted on them, but will not sell the stencils. The new civil war woodworking project based book has an example or two that you could blow up to cut your own stencil, but kinkos might not allow you to do so. Also they are the easier ones to draw yourself.

[AZReenactor]

Entomological correction...

Came across this during a search and wanted to correct what seems to be a small bit of misinformation lest someone say they learned it on the AC...

Fly larvae or maggots only grow on decaying animal matter, not flour or hardtack. The worms in hardtack are likely weevils that hatched from eggs laid by various forms of beetles, not flies. Those little beetles don’t fly, but crawl and can get into the most miniscule spaces to lay eggs and unless the paper was thoroughly sealed on every seam, it would do very, very little to keep weevils out of hard tack.

Entomology wasn’t just a hobby in the period, but much needed information for the farmer, housewife and others before the advent of modern insecticides. ;-)

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...

[cprljohnivey]

Re: Entomological correction...

"Don't you know that in the service, one must always choose the lesser of two weevils" ... sorry coudn't resist...

[RJSamp]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

Another piece of evidence that no other packaging was used than wooden boxes
...

they packed them in wood barrels as well......

[Jon Fritz]

Re: how did thay pack hardtack?

I read this earlier today and I just saw what Appomattoxnps posted on Instagram...
Essayons,
Pvt. Fritz 1st Michigan Eng. Co. E