Rations

[markj]

I have appended another very nice image from the LoC collection. This shows the cookhouse of the "Soldier's Rest." Here's the actual caption:

[Alexandria, Va. Cooks in the kitchen of Soldiers' Rest].

While the image was taken "in the rear," it is remarkable for its clarity and display of 1860's tin- and copperware. Definitely downoad the hi-res version of this image--you'll have a lot of fun zooming in on various sections. What I found particularly interesting were the wet sink, with water taps, shown on the far right as well as the gas lighting fixtures.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[easttnfed]

About the question where to find cast iron pots of the size shown in one of the images; I have visited various antique shops/malls/houses/barns in my local area (East Tennessee/Smoky Mountains) and have found several good sized cast iron pots that were taken out of barns and old cabins that are now lost forever due to them being torn down. You can find good pots at these places if you know what your looking for or at. The people are willing to give good deals for them also just to get rid of them. I have an old wooden banned wood wash bucket sitting in my living room that a family member of my dad, who has a bunch of antiques and who did not know what he had, just gave to me. It dates back to the early 1800's and is clearly all hand made. It was made by my ancestor that fought in the 8th Tennessee Cav. U.S before the war and is now in respective hands. This and other good finds are out there IF you know how to look for them. Good luck in finding them.

[echamp6165]

I've been hearing that store brand salt pork is unauthentic to the civil war period. But I'm not sure that slab bacon is any better because slab bacon is smoked, and civil war salt pork wasnt. What's the best thing to buy in this case. How different was salt pork then than it is now?

[Vuhginyuh]

If this is a real question here is a real answer.

Slab bacon and salt pork are two different things. Smoked meats and salted meats are different too.

Modern commercially cured ''salt pork'' has more nitrates. That’s all. But that is no reason not to use it. Unless you going to smoke or cure your own meat, don't worry about. You cannot judge authenticity based on an invisible ingredient.

Cosmetically, and I hate using that term to describe food, one thing that you can do is to open the meat, rub it lightly with oil, and give it a heavy dry coating of course black pepper. Use a pepper grinder if you can and not the canned stuff. (Course pepper can be found at the grocery.) Do not brush or shake it off. Wrap it tightly and store it until you need it. You do not need to remove the pepper coating when frying the meat.

The salt pork that is put up around home by hand is always coated with pepper after it is removed from the brine. This could be regional. Some folks here on the forom may say not to do coat it in pepper and use it the way it is. In eastern NC and VA it is still a common practice.

Any number of spices can be used when smoking or curing meats and chances are the spices are identical to those used hundreds if not thousands of years ago.

[VIrginia Mescher]

I've been hearing that store brand salt pork is unauthentic to the civil war period. But I'm not sure that slab bacon is any better because slab bacon is smoked, and civil war salt pork wasnt. What's the best thing to buy in this case. How different was salt pork then than it is now?

I've been researching period salt pork vs modern salt pork and below is just a little of the research.

There were various grades of commercial salt pork and the earliest definition I could find was in 1886 but the method for processing was the same as in the CW period.

“Mess Pork shall be packed from sides of well-fatted hogs, cut in strips not exceeding six and one half inches wide and flanked according to diagram as nearly as possible, and not back-stripped, 196 pounds of green [not cured] meat, numbering not over sixteen pieces, including only the regular portion of flank and shoulder cuts; four layers to be packed in each barrel, with not less than forty pounds of Turk’s Island, St. Utes, or Trepanné, or 45 pounds of other good qualities of foreign or domestic coarse salt, and clear brine as strong as the salt will make it.”
(Grocer’s Handbook, 1886)

“Clear Pork shall be packed from sides of extra heavy, well-fatted hogs, cut, selected and packed in the same manner as Mess Pork, the backbone and half the rib next to it be taken out.” (Grocer’s Handbook, 1886)

“Extra Clear Pork. Same as clear, except that all the ribs and backbone shall be taken out. (Grocer’s Handbook, 1886)

“Mess Ordinary, or Thin Mess. Of hogs reasonably well-fatted to light for Mess Pork, cut, selected, and packed in the same manner as Mess, no restrictions whatever as to the number of pieces to the barrel.” (Grocer’s Handbook, 1886)

“Extra Prime Pork shall be made from heavy, untrimmed shoulders, cut into three pieces, according to the diagram, the leg to be cut close to the breast; to be packed 200 pounds of green meat in each barrel, with the same quantity and quality of salt as Mess Pork.” (Grocer’s Handbook,1886)

“Prime Mess Pork shall be made of shoulders and sides of nice, smooth and fat hogs, weighing 120 to 170 pounds each net, regularly cut into square pieces, as near 4 pounds each as possible, the shank to be cut off close to the breast; each barrel to contain 200 pounds of green meat, the proportion of 20 pieces of shoulder and 30 pieces of side cuts, and to be packed with the same quality and quantity of salt as Mess Pork. The prime pieces shall be cut free of blade bone. The shoulder pieces are not to exceed 90 pounds in each barrel. When re-salted, the brine shall be drawn off and new brine added.” (Grocer’s Handbook, 1886)

The following is a typical recipe, from a home cookery book, for salting pork. “Directions for Salting Down Pork. Cover the bottom of the barrel with salt an inch deep. Put down one layer of Pork, and cover that with salt, half an inch thick. Continue thus till the barrel is full. Then pour in as much strong pickle as the barrel will receive. Also see that the Pork does not rise above the brine. When a white scum, or bloody-looking material rises on top, scald the brine and add more salt.
Leave out the bloody and lean pieces for sausages.
Pack as tightly as possible, the rind next to the barrel; and let it be always kept under the brine. Some use a stone for this purpose. In salting down a new supply, take the old brine, boil it down and remove all the scum, and then use it to pour over the Pork.” (Miss Beecher’s Receipt
Book, 1858)

From my understanding of the period reference, since salt pork was brined it would have been pale in color and somewhat floppy rather than salted firm modern version of salt pork. I'm not sure that there is a adequate modern substitute.

According to 19th century refereces and modern food dictionaries, fat back would not be a substitute for salt pork. In the Food Companion, fat back is defined as “Often confused with salt pork (which comes from the sides and belly of a pig) fat back is the fresh layer(not salted or smoked) of fat
that runs along the animal’s back. It is used to make lard and cracklings and used for cooking.”
In the same book, salt pork is defined as, “So named because it is salt-cured, this is a layer of fat (usually with some streaks of lean) that is cut from the pig’s belly and sides. Salt pork is often confused with fat back, which is unsalted.... It’s [salt pork] similar to bacon but much fatter and unsmoked.” While researching a number of primary references there was no mention of fat back prior to 1911.

“Short Fat Backs, should be made from the sides of heavy, well-fatted hogs, from which the bellies [bacon] have been cut and the backbone and ribs taken out and all the lean taken off, trimmed smoothly and properly squared on all edges.” (Grocer’s Encyclopedia, 1911) Notice that salt or curing was not mentioned.

As fat back was defined, there was no mention of brine being used in the process. According to some secondary sources, occasionally fat back may have been dry salted to preserve it longer but since it was usually rendered to make lard and crackling and used as seasoning in cooking, it would not make sense to dry-salt fat back. The process used to dry-salt fat back consisted of the fat was cut and salt carefully rubbed on all the surfaces and then it would then be placed in a container or hung up to dry. Salt aided the drying process and the meat absorbed the salt which inhibited bacterial growth. Before cooking it had to be soaked and then cooked, usually by
boiling. This was the easiest type of preservation but the fat back was only good for a short period of time and would quickly turn rancid.

If anyone else has additional information, I would appreciate knowing more about salt pork.

[markj]

Hi,

With the above mind, here are enlarged extracts of an image showing a supply depot. The words "PRIME MESS PORK" are visibly stenciled to the top of the hogsheads depicted in the photo. Ah yes, salt pork, slowly stewing and "mellowing" in barrels at the height of a Virginia summer: "Delish!"

Using "Zoom" within your Word "View" function will undoubtedly bring out further details.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[hardtack1864]

Well, heres another question, the salt pork sold at stores that are seperated in about 1/4-1/2 pound plastic packages "I think thats what we are talking about" and if you freeze it and only take it out of the package when you get to the event and try to keep it cool "remember I'm not talking about putting anything on it like pepper" will it last about 2-3 full days without getting sick even when the meat has been cooked?

[echamp6165]

So as I understand it, salt pork of the day could include other cuts of meat, like shoulder, not just pork bellies of modern salt pork? There must have been a high percentage of pork bellies though, hence the term "Sow Belly" used so often at the time.Sir, In your first 2 postings on this forum you have not signed your name. When you registered for this forum you stated that you had read all the rules that we use to govern it. The first rule is to sign you name to all posts. Failure to do so in the future will result in a suspension of your account. Justin Runyon, AC Moderator

[HOG.EYE.MAN]

Well, heres another question, the salt pork sold at stores that are seperated in about 1/4-1/2 pound plastic packages "I think thats what we are talking about" and if you freeze it and only take it out of the package when you get to the event and try to keep it cool "remember I'm not talking about putting anything on it like pepper" will it last about 2-3 full days without getting sick even when the meat has been cooked?
For the past 2 years grocery stores, and other smaller chain produce markets now only carry pre-sliced salt pork (sliced like bacon) here in Cincinnati. I'm sure most of you guys seen this stuff at your stores too right?

If I go to a living history where I need to bring my own food, I always shop at a meat market.

[1stMaine]

Well, heres another question, the salt pork sold at stores that are seperated in about 1/4-1/2 pound plastic packages "I think thats what we are talking about" and if you freeze it and only take it out of the package when you get to the event and try to keep it cool "remember I'm not talking about putting anything on it like pepper" will it last about 2-3 full days without getting sick even when the meat has been cooked?

Comrade Sean,

I make it a practice to cook my rations, where possible, prior to the event. In account after account, you read the phrase, "issue and cook three day's rations" Wherever possible, it seems that the men were wont to cook their pork as soon as issued. It certainly would have traveled better, and made for a faster meal from the haversack, what with coffee needing time to boil, etc, it was just so much easier to have pork and crakers rerady to eat. That's not to say it was always done that way, for certainly there were times when there WAS no time for cooking. From my own readings, though, the latter seems to be more the exception than the rule.
Myself, I have had cooked salt pork last for a weekend with no personal biologicaly negative effects. That, of course, could simply be my own experience, and certainly other's may have not fared as well.
I have also had fried chicken show excellent signs of preservation in a haversack....at least that which wasn't consumed right away:)

Respects,

[VIrginia Mescher]

So as I understand it, salt pork of the day could include other cuts of meat, like shoulder, not just pork bellies of modern salt pork? There must have been a high percentage of pork bellies though, hence the term "Sow Belly" used so often at the time.

The different cuts of pork used in the various grades of salt pork was explained in my first post on salt pork.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary "sow belly" is an American slang for salted side of pork so it apparently did not just refer to the belly.

Bacon was the cured and smoked breast and could be made from sides or belly of the hog. The 1861 Webster's dictionary defines bacon as "Hog's flesh (sometimes that of bear) salted or pickled [brined] and dried, usually in smoke."

[FC Barlow]

As a salt pork substitute, try boiling some fresh red meat next time. Try doing it either before the event or on the Friday night before you sack out. Once boiled, the meat will usually last all weekend.

In general, armies on the march (especially Union forces) traveled with a herd of cattle that were butchered to feed the men in the field. Of course, this doesn't work for every scenario, but its usually pretty accurate to carry fresh meat.

[Vuhginyuh]

So as I understand it, salt pork of the day could include other cuts of meat, like shoulder, not just pork bellies of modern salt pork? There must have been a high percentage of pork bellies though, hence the term "Sow Belly" used so often at the time.
Read post Virginia's post above (#3), it is spelled out clearly.... and any cut of meat can be salt cured and air dryed or smoked.

Some very fat meat like fat back and streaky-lean are packed raw in vats of dry salt for curing.

Poaching or soaking meat in a salt brine is pickling or corning. This brine is usually washed off and sometimes the meat is soaked in fresh water for a time and then rinsed off. This is as common around here today as it was three centuries ago.

[billwatson]

How about this: It's been my understanding that a lot of meat for northern armies came from meat processing plants -- enormous factory-like operations where live animals went in one end and a variety of meat products, intended for a variety of destinations, went the other. Those meat packers got the contract to supply the armies with "processed" meats. It's also been my understanding that this was not so much the case in the South, that the processed/preserved meats came from many smaller operations, bought up from farmers and plantations and whatnot. Anyone shed any light on whether that's so, and, if so, what the implications are between what a Yankee would get issued in the field and what a Southerner might expect? (My initial thought was that the rank and file Yankee could expect a pretty consistent pork product taken from the less attractive cuts of pig, the belly and breast, while the Southerner might find that "less consistency" occasionally meant finding a chunk of ham in there somewhere, but WOULD involve some meats that had been smoked, even peppered as described, not just brined or salted.)

I'm throwing it out for discussion, not in assertion of anything....

[Vuhginyuh]

...meat for northern armies came from meat processing plants -- enormous factory-like operations where live animals went in one end and a variety of meat products...
And from the industrial meat processors of the Civil War grew The Jungle.

[KarinTimour]

Dear Noah:

I saw your note responding to your concerns about my note about the food fed to those with facial injuries.

Regretfully, I have to report that after about two weeks of rereading various sources on hospitals, nursing, diet, etc. that I'm unable to find the reference that left me with that impression. I'm sorry that I may have mislead people with my posting.

I think that the misimpression I got grew from when I was first researching nursing. I thought that this could be a potential impression when I first got involved in reenacting, and did quite a bit of reading of first person diaries, letters, etc. I suspect that where I went off the track was the definition of "hospital" -- many writers use this term to refer interchangably to what we would now call (using non-period terminology) "forward dressing stations," "MASH units" as well as the larger general hospitals located in Washington and larger cities.

I think I may have read about someone who had spent several days in transit on hospital boats, or who may have been left on the field for several days before being able to be moved. Thus, he wasn't supplied with anything to eat, and was carried in by stretcher, with his original rations intact, because he was unable to eat them after being wounded.

I do think that the quality and quantity of liquid food availble varied a great deal (will post references on this later this week when I'm a bit more caught up). In Frank Moore's "Women in the War" there is a great quote about a nurse who arrived in the hospital and the patients were always complaining about the taste of their tea. She discovered that the cook was using the same pot for washing, soup, tea and several other tasks. She bought a large pot with Sanitary Commission money and designated it only for tea and they all remarked how much better the tea was...

I also think that while the army had written specs as to what low-diet was, the availability, even in general hospitals varied a great deal. You would get soup, but you might get the same soup every meal for months and months. Again, will get you references on a story of a field hospital south of Vicksburg where they were literally refusing food rather than eat the bean soup one more time.

But I digress -- will get you references for the above later this week and apologize again for the unfortunate previous post,
Karin Timour
Period Knitting -- Socks, Camp Hats, Balaclavas
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society
Email: Ktimour@aol.com

[Dale Beasley]

Karen,

I have a good friend in VIcksburg, his name is Gordon Cotton, written I think 9 books now on ACW...he runs the Court House Museum there in Vicksburg. I am sure that he may have information that could help you.....I do know that the Sisters of Mercy had a Hospital there.....give him a try....

[Nifty50]

Madam Timour:

Thank you for your response to my post. If you come across the sources please let me know, either here or AC Forum private message, or straight to my email address.

As an old college English instructor once said in our class- "If I am not learning, then I am not teaching".

[hiplainsyank]

There's a story from Luke 14 in which Jesus heals a man with "dropsy". In preaching on that text and the verses around it a couple days ago, I learned that dropsy is what is now called edema, or swelling marked also by unquenchable thirst, normally caused either by congestive heart failure or kidney disease.

I do think that while they had more heavy animal fats, people also had MUCH less sugar and more whole grains overall. For example, even for me, relatively young (34), Halloween trick-or-treating when I was little was a treat because we didn't get to eat candy like that all the time, and pop was something you got some at pay day rather than an every day necessity. If you look at ingredients lists, sugar or corn syrup is a major ingredient to much of what you buy on grocery store shelves. And so much of grains, and fruits even, are so processed as to make them just slightly better than eating pure sugar.

And while I'm not doing a low carb diet, science has shown that combining those sorts of bad carbs with bad fats makes for bigger trouble than just having the bad fats alone.

SO in many ways people then did eat better, even with all the animal products they ate, that most Americans do today.

BTW, carrots are another root crop that can store well, and can be kept in the ground with some protection after it turns cold.

[billwatson]

... there's new research into what does cause heart attacks, and it's pretty interesting. Heart disease is something that is common to modern societies, but not to societies where the diet is, even today, as poor as what we think soldiers had. Abdominal fat and stress -- chronic, daily stress-- are two key causes and netiher, despite the prospect of battle as a stress-inducer, seems to have been anything Civil War soldiers had a problem with.

Here's a link to the research, but it may not last too long.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-17/1093840353144140.xml

If it fades, a keyword search for "Dr. Salim Yousef" will probably take you to the same information. He headed up the study, which was very widely based in terms of information gathering. Since it covers conditions in places where diet is somewhat similar to that of our Civil War ancestors, I thought it might be especially relevant.

[Hank Trent]

Abdominal fat and stress -- chronic, daily stress-- are two key causes and netiher, despite the prospect of battle as a stress-inducer, seems to have been anything Civil War soldiers had a problem with.

Abdominal fat, yes, but I'm not sure I follow you on the part about stress. You're saying "chronic, daily stress" wasn't a part of people's live in the 1860s compared to today?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[billwatson]

Abdominal fat, yes, but I'm not sure I follow you on the part about stress. You're saying "chronic, daily stress" wasn't a part of people's live in the 1860s compared to today?

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net


Not a part to the extent that is part of our lives. I think the incredible, relentless and ever-accelerating pace of change, in society, technology and everything else, is unlike anything any of our ancestors ever had to endure. I think it creates stress levels unprecedented in human evolution. I'm not saying there wasn't stress, and sometimes a lot of it, I'm just saying that in this millennium we have more people dealing with more stress at a higher level than ever before.

Or maybe it's just me. :-)

[Hank Trent]

Not a part to the extent that is part of our lives. I think the incredible, relentless and ever-accelerating pace of change, in society, technology and everything else, is unlike anything any of our ancestors ever had to endure. I think it creates stress levels unprecedented in human evolution. I'm not saying there wasn't stress, and sometimes a lot of it, I'm just saying that in this millennium we have more people dealing with more stress at a higher level than ever before.

Funny, because that's exactly what people were saying in the 1860s. Railroads and telegraphs made overland travel easy and communication instantaneous, for the first time ever. The industrial revolution reshaped life with each new invention, from sewing machines to mower-reapers, each of which either made people change the way they'd always done things, or work harder doing it the old way to compete with the new way.

I just looked up the following article to post on another topic. Titled "Mothers, Spare Yourself," it's from the collection Home Memories, 1858:

In the staid and quiet times of sixty, eight, or one hundred years ago, the mother had sufficient care, and labor, and anxiety in conducting and governing her household... In those days, mothers had sufficient care and labor; they were sometimes overtasked even then, and pressed into a premature grave. How must it be now?... Care, and exciting effort are demanded of the mother in four-fold proportion. The imperious voice of fashion and custom has given to the machinery of domestic life, a hurry and intensity of action, which are injurious in all its relations, but which wears most fearfully on the main-spring...

What is the remedy for this evil?... It is old-fashioned, perhaps stale, but we are looking back to the old paths, and trying to profit by the example of our ancestors. This is the maxim: Do not undertake too much. This is a great fault of the age. If others try to do everything, mothers must not. They live too intensely... The fashions and customs of the times are like a rushing torrent, against which there is no standing.

In Walden, Henry David Thoreau described the new faster pace he noticed in men's lives after the coming of the railroad:

Have not men improved somewhat in punctuality since the railroad was invented? Do they not talk and think faster in the depot than they did in the stage-office? There is something electrifying in the atmosphere of the former place. I have been astonished at the miracles it has wrought; that some of my neighbors, who, I should have prophesied, once for all, would never get to Boston by so prompt a conveyance, are on hand when the bell rings. To do things "railroad fashion" is now the byword; and it is worth the while to be warned so often and so sincerely by any power to get off its track. There is no stopping to read the riot act, no firing over the heads of the mob, in this case. We have constructed a fate, an Atropos, that never turns aside.

An article in the 1862 USDA annual report by Dr. W. W. Hall on the "Health of Farmers' Families," mentions some of the pressures that farmers faced:

...that grim specter DEBT, which is voluntarily set up in the households of three farmers out of four... it eats out half the joys of many families by reason of the self-denials, the always losing 'make-shifts,' the working to disadvantage and consequent extra labor, with those anxieties and solicitudes which are necessarily imposed, and which, in their turn, induce irritation of mind, irascibility of temper...

He discusses the specific "Hardships of Farmers' Wives," and some of the symptoms of what we'd call stress that they may show:

There is an inability to speak for a moment or a month, the heart seems to "jump up in the mouth," or there is a terrible feeling of impending suffociation. At other times there are actual convulsions, or an uncontrollable bursting out into tears.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Not a part to the extent that is part of our lives. I think the incredible, relentless and ever-accelerating pace of change, in society, technology and everything else, is unlike anything any of our ancestors ever had to endure. I think it creates stress levels unprecedented in human evolution. I'm not saying there wasn't stress, and sometimes a lot of it, I'm just saying that in this millennium we have more people dealing with more stress at a higher level than ever before.

Or maybe it's just me. :-)


This reminds me of my old forman. One day a guy scrapped a bunch of parts and said it was because he was "stressed out" my formans reply was; (He was in the Danish resistance in WW2) "STRESS! Stress is when you are hiding under the floorboards with a pair Germans boots inches above your face! Let me tell you about stress!"

Sorry this is not WBTS, but it changed the way I look at my day to day "stress".

MODs nuke this if you need to.

[billwatson]

"Not a part to the extent that is part of our lives. I think the incredible, relentless and ever-accelerating pace of change, in society, technology and everything else, is unlike anything any of our ancestors ever had to endure. I think it creates stress levels unprecedented in human evolution. I'm not saying there wasn't stress, and sometimes a lot of it, I'm just saying that in this millennium we have more people dealing with more stress at a higher level than ever before." Bill Watson


Funny, because that's exactly what people were saying in the 1860s. Railroads and telegraphs made overland travel easy and communication instantaneous, for the first time ever. The industrial revolution reshaped life with each new invention, from sewing machines to mower-reapers, each of which either made people change the way they'd always done things, or work harder doing it the old way to compete with the new way." -- Hank Trent

Let me note that neither assertion is incompatible with the other.

I think it also needs to be noted that whether the average person finds life more or less stressful is probably a combination of factors, including how well a particular society has ... folkways? traditions? ... that allow for the appropriate decompression of stress. It's pretty safe to say that the Irish who rioted in New York in 1863 were stressed economically, stressed culturally and had no vent, for instance. Kind of like a societal heart attack.

It seems like societies with technological change report more stress (and, for purposes of this discussion, more of the chronic, relentless stress identified in the study I cited on heart attack causes) than do societies where technological change is not as profound. It could be that neither our bodies nor our cultures have universally adapted to those particular conditions, and that this has always been true.

So, who wants to do the stressed-out 186x bankrupt farmer turned factory worker competing with a former slave for a job at the next event?

[JACKSONVC]

Pards, found this while going thru the "Southern Confederacy" (Atlanta GA) newspaper archives. Looks as if someone was looking out for those assigned to become the company cook.

SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY [ATLANTA, GA], June 1, 1861, p. 2, c. 3

Soldier's Rations and Mode of Cooking Them.

The regular daily ration of food issued to the troops in the United States service, is three-fourths pound of fresh or salt beef; eighteen ounces of bread, or one and a fourth pounds of corn meal, and at the rate of one hundred rations of eight quarts of peas or beans, or, in lieu thereof, ten pounds of rice; six pounds of coffee, twelve pounds of sugar, four quarts of vinegar, one and a half pounds of tallow, or one and a fourth pounds of adamantine, or one pound of sperm candles; four pounds of soap, and two quarts of salt.
On a campaign, or on marches, or on board transports, the ration of hard bread is one pound.
Fresh beef, when it can be procured, should be furnished at least twice a week; the beef to be procured, if possible, by contract.

Receipts.
1st. Soldier's Soup for 25 Men.

Take 15 quarts of water to 25 pounds of meat, 2 small tablespoonsful of salt, half a one of pepper; about 2 pounds of rice, put in while boiling, and what vegetables, fresh or preserved, that can be procured--say three pounds.

2d. Pork Soup for 25 Men.

In 6 gallons of cold water put 12 pounds of pork, 3 quarts of beans, 2 pounds of rice, season to suit; let boil one hour and a half; soak the beans overnight.

3d. Irish Stew for 25 Men.

Take 25 pounds mutton, veal, beef, or pork, cut into pieces six inches square, 4 pounds of onions, 8 pounds of potatoes, 4 tablespoonsful of salt, 1 of pepper, 8 quarts of water; cook it from 1 to 2 hours, slowly, thicken the gravy with flour mixed into smooth paste with water or potatoes mashed fine.

4th. Tea for 25 Men.

Allow 12 quarts of water; put the rations of tea--a large teaspoonful to each--in a cloth tied up very loosely, throw it into the boiler while it is boiling hard for a moment; then take off the boiler, cover it, and let it stand full 10 minutes, when it will be ready for use; first add sugar and milk, if to be had, at the rate of 3 pints or 2 quarts of milk, and 1 or 1 1/2 pounds of sugar.

5th. Pork with Peas or Beans for 25 Men.

To 14 pounds of pork add6 pounds of peas or beans, put them in a cloth to boil, tying it very loosely; place them both in the boiler, let them boil about 2 hours, then take out the pork, add some flour to the gravy, and put the peas or beans in it, with two or three onions cut up fine; let it boil a little longer, mash up the vegetables very finely, and serve them round the dish with the meat.

6th. Plain Stewed Meat for 25 Men.

Take 14 pounds of mutton, beef, veal, or pork, cut it into chunks and put it into the boiler; add 4 quarts of water, 2 quarts to a teaspoonful of salt, and half teaspoonful of pepper, 8 or 10 onions cut in pieces, let it boil half an hour, then let it stew slowly from half an hour to one hour longer, adding one pound of rice, potatoes, or any vegetable that can be obtained; thicken the gravy with flour mixed to a smooth paste in cold water.

7th. Stewed Salt Pork or Beef for 25 Men.

Wash the meat well, let it soak all night, wash out the salt as much as possible; 8 pounds of salt beef, 5 pounds of salt pork, one-third pound of sugar, 2 pounds of sliced onions, 6 quarts of water, and one pound of rice; let it simmer quietly for two or three hours.

8th. Salt Pork with Potatoes and Cabbage for 25 Men.

Take 15 pounds of pork, extract the bones, 3 pounds of potatoes, 2 winter cabbages, let it boil for two hours, 10 quarts of water, serve the meat with the vegetables round it; the gravy will make a good broth with peas, beans, or rice added, also a little onion. Ship biscuit, broken into the broth makes a very nutricious [sic] soup.

9th. To Fry any kind of Meat.

Get your frying pan very hot, put in some fat pork which will immediately melt, then put in the meat you wish to fry; (a small teaspoonful of salt, and a quarter of a teaspoonful of pepper, to every pound of meat;) when done, lay the meat on a dish, add one pint of water to the fat in the frying-pan, a few slices of onion, or two teaspoonfuls of vinegar; thicken it with a little flour, and pour it over the cooked meat. Any sauce, or a few chopped pickles may be substituted for the vinegar or onions.

10th. Coffee for 25 Men.

Take 12 quarts of water, when it boils add 20 ounces of coffee, mix it well, and leave it on the fire till it commences to boil, then take it off, and pour into it a little more than one quart of cold water, let it stand in a warm place full ten minutes; the dregs will settle to the bottom, and the coffee be perfectly clear. Pour it then into another vessel, leaving the dregs in the first. Add sugar, four teaspoonfuls to the quart. If you can get milk, leave out five quarts of water in the above receipt, and put milk in its place.

11th. Peas or Bean Soup for 25 Men.

Take 14 pounds of pork, 8 quarts peas, or beans, 20 quarts of water, 25 teaspoonfuls of sugar, 12 of pepper, and several large onions; boil gently till the vegetables are soft--from four to five hours.

12th. Receipt for a small quantity of Mashed Meat.

Cut the meat in very small pieces; heat the frying-pan, put into it one pint of water, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful of flour, and let it cook fifteen minutes. Salt meat must be cooked the same, omitting the salt, in its place putting a small teaspoonful of sugar, spices, or pickles, chopped fine. Dish it on some ship biscuit. Steak, chops, sausages, bacon, slices of any kind of meat can be cooked in a frying-pan, with a little melted fat at the bottom. Salt meat should always be soaked.--Veile's Hand Book of Active Service.

[pops]

O.K. where do I start with this one.My local gro.store will not carry slab bacon or the correct salt pork but I did run across smoked hog jowls,after looking through web pages the common way of preparing it was to boil with greens.I belive this to be a common pratice,any one have any other ideas,and can you tell me if smoked hog jowls would last through a campaign event

[LWhite64]

Well it can also be fried. It was always a family tradition to have hog jowl and black eyed peas on New Years Day. I never really cared for the stuff. By being smoked that will make it last longer, so I wouldnt worry about it spoiling if it is truely smoked. The whole idea there being the salt and smoking would enable meat to last longer.

Lee

[48Sarge]

Alright, I'l bite, what exactly are hog jowls? I realize it is a pork product, but does it come where I think it comes from? Growing up with a Pennsylvania Dutch Grnadmother we ate some strange things (cow tongue, dandelions), but don't think I've ever seen hog jowls?

[LWhite64]

I think Hog Jowls are more or a southern food item. Yes it is the jaw as well.


Lee

[btwils]

Jowl meat can also be fried. The store where I get mine in AL is also heavly salted as well as smoked. It will last the weekend and some of it has a lot of meat in it as well as the Fat/skin.
Brian Wislon

[Vuhginyuh]

Aaron,
It is cured fat meat from the cheeks ( jaw and neck).
It is rendered for flavoring and can eaten like bacon or left in the fat to add meat to peas or greens. At home it was used mostly in Black-eyed, crowder or field peas. Collards are the greens of choice. As with anything of this nature its favorite use is regional.

Hallo Herr Garrison. Just in case, please check your Auto-Sig feature if you have altered it within the past day or so... Thanks. Curt-Heinrich Schmidt

Garrison Beall

Yeah, this was posted with the auto Sig On and then I deleted it from the Profile.

[NC5thCav]

I have seen several references to soldiers dying of heat strokes. Wonder how many were really heat strokes and how many were heart attacks? :confused:

[Ringgold]

Alright, I'l bite, what exactly are hog jowls? I realize it is a pork product, but does it come where I think it comes from? Growing up with a Pennsylvania Dutch Grnadmother we ate some strange things (cow tongue, dandelions), but don't think I've ever seen hog jowls?

Aaron,

Your Mom-mom fed it to you, only it was in the Pannhas!* :tounge_sm


*that's scrapple if your an English and don't know no better . . .

[55th VVI]

Ok, scrapple is pushing the line. Thats about as bad as stopping at the chili dog shack on the side of the road here in jersey, or hitting the roach coach in the school/constrution site parking lot.

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo Kameraden!

What's a little, or a lot, of congealed clear grease as cholesterol would not be invented for a hundred years or more.

Scrapple, sousse, pig's knuckles, pig's feet, pig snout, head cheese, ox tail, Lindburger Kaese mit Musik- ah.... life in... Pennsylvania.

Hold the chitlins please.

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt
Mangeur du Lard Mess

[Vuhginyuh]

Jowl signature test......

Garrison Beall

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo Kamerad!

Jowl-wohl!

Thanks.

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt
Moderator

[DonSmithnotTMD]

Hallo Kameraden!

What's a little, or a lot, of congealed clear grease as cholesterol would not be invented for a hundred years or more.

Scrapple, sousse, pig's knuckles, pig's feet, pig snout, head cheese, ox tail, Lindburger Kaese mit Musik- ah.... life in... Pennsylvania.

Hold the chitlins please.

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt
Mangeur du Lard Mess

MR Schmidt,
Stop it!!! Things are bad enough here in the Land of the Morning Clam (sic).
On the other hand, tehre are some strange things that turn up in rations (check your local OR). BTW - Food Lion has some salt pork that will take brine pretty well. Here's a lesson learned. Keep it in the dark. I made some in a clear plastic tub in normal light and got a lot of mold.

[billwatson]

I think conditions overall were far more likely to produce heat-related problems than heart-related problems. Lack of water on the march is the killer -- wool clothing is not so much of a problem so long as you can sweat, but take away a steady supply of water and you are quite quickly at the threshold of serious overheating. I think the normal condition on the march, at least for the big movements of the big armies, would be "not enough water," especially in the heat of summer when streams tend to be at their lowest.

My understanding based on various casual readings,during which I didn't take notes to provide citations, is that the kind of heart-related problems we are seeing today afflict a far great proportion of our population than was the case in earlier times.Whether that's a cultural outcome due to how people lived or some wrinkle caused by inaccurate diagnoses, I dunno.

[48Sarge]

Mark,

There was a lot of other stuff in that Pannhas that I would care to rather not know about as well! Oh well, what does not kill me......

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo Kameraden!

Once, around Chrismouse time, while visiting some acquaintances who ran a Chinese Restaurant...

They brought me a square of something I thought was a lemon square type dessert.
However, my first bite down signalled my instant doom.

It was rancid, chopped fish heads gelled in clear congealed grease with the white fat having settled to the bottom.

Yummy, that.

And we talk of salt pork... ;-)

Curt-Heinrich Schmidt
Who Once Spent Many Years in the Company of Orientals Mess
Proud Member of the Acquired Taste Rifles

[DonSmithnotTMD]

OOH -- I once went to a real Chinese food buffet in celebration of a christening (friends of my (soon to be) ex-wife). Amazing.

[Skeet]

Pards, There is a market here in VA that sells the best hog jowl. It's in Penn Laird, the name of the place is Gayle's Market. You can get just about anything that has to do with pork. If you cook it with greens, I pity the person who has to spoon next to you! :sarcastic

[DonSmithnotTMD]

How do you get there from here? Well actually N.C.

[orngblsm]

Gents,

Some of my pards and I are planning on doing a ration issue. We wanted to add candles into the picture, but I can't see paying $.75 a candle for 50 candles. Just wondering if anyone knew of a source that sells bulk candles that are period accurate for the federal army.

Respectfully,

[Makoski4141]

Gents,

Some of my pards and I are planning on doing a ration issue. We wanted to add candles into the picture, but I can't see paying $.75 a candle for 50 candles. Just wondering if anyone knew of a source that sells bulk candles that are period accurate for the federal army.

Respectfully,
I do not know if you find this worth doing but if you check out www.Jastown.com they sell candle molds, beeswax, and wicks. Then you could make the candles your self which is quite easy. It might cost you $60.00 and whenever you need candles just buy a pound off beezwax which runs about $10.00 and it makes a good amount of candles.

Andrew Birnbaum

[MissMaggie]

I've had some good luck buying hand dipped candles from a local candle outlet. Unfortunatly, the place went out of business. When they were open I think I was able to get 12 candles for just under 8 dollars. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the place but at least the idea is there.

[Spinster]

Makin' candles aint' as easy as its cracked up to be. :baring_te Got the spots on my ceiling to prove it--they go nicely with the spots resulting from Ben Thomas's ginger beer receipt. Like corset making, I've learned to leave these processes to experienced pros, and tend to my dyepots like a proper old crone.

Not knowing exactly what is required of a Federal issue candle, I can't say that this would be a match. I have purchased in bulk from her though, and her candles are all she says they are. Wade past the popups and any web based ordering-call her, leave a message and wait.

http://members.tripod.com/Bushwomans/

[VIrginia Mescher]

I do not know if you find this worth doing but if you check out www.Jastown.com they sell candle molds, beeswax, and wicks. Then you could make the candles your self which is quite easy. It might cost you $60.00 and whenever you need candles just buy a pound off beezwax which runs about $10.00 and it makes a good amount of candles.

Andrew Birnbaum

In researching for an article on candles, I found that beeswax was usually dipped or ladled rather than molded. Pure beeswax is sticky and difficult to remove from the molds.

Candles of the period were mostly of three kinds - tallow, beeswax, and adamantine. Aviod the modern paraffine candles. They are not correct for the period and will soften and melt in the sun. Although the term paraffine candles was used, the paraffine was made beech tar or peat.

Tallow candles were either dipped or molded but were fairly soft, difficult to use in the summer, smelly and smokey. They were readily available commercially but were still made at home, at least in the south. Beewax burned cleanly but were mostly purchased and not made at home. Adamantine candles were a commercially made candle and could not be made at home. They burned cleanly, burned longer, were hard and didn't bend as the tallow ones would, and were less expensive than beeswax. In reading store ledgers, the adamantine candles were by far the most popular.

If the impression is a federal one, most of the candles were provided by Proctor and Gamble and were called "Star" candles. By that time, the Star candles were adamantine rather than tallow, which they first produced. The army regulations provided for use of tallow, adamantine and sperm, with a specific amount for each type of candle issued. More tallow candles were issued per company than would have been when adamantine or sperm were issued.

Although the adamantine candles are more expensive than common modern paraffin candles are, they burn longer and are much more authentic. If anyone is interested in adamantine candles, please contact me privately at vmescher@vt.edu.

[Hank Trent]

Just curious if dipped or beeswax candles were issued by the Federal army in any significant quantities.

The regulations gave the equivalents for star, spermaceti or tallow candles in the rations, but beeswax wasn't listed. Are there references to them being issued though?

Dipped vs. molded I don't know much about, but would be curious to see references to large-scale commercial candle-dipping in the 1860s. What little I've run across seems to indicate molding was the standard commercial method.

We've purchased plain white molded 7/8" diameter stearine (adamantine, star) candles in bulk from Cathedral Candles at http://cathedralcandles.com/prod_main.cfm?productTypeId=45 . Over the phone they told us they were 100% stearine, and they certainly have all the long-burning, hard qualities that were attributed to adamantine candles in the period. But they're indistinguishable from regular modern white paraffin candles (not that paraffine candles are totally anachronistic), and I wish I knew how to tell whether they were indeed 100% stearine and whether they actually have the same qualities as stearine candles of the period.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[VIrginia Mescher]

[QUOTE=Hank Trent]Just curious if dipped or beeswax candles were issued by the Federal army in any significant quantities.

The regulations gave the equivalents for star, spermaceti or tallow candles in the rations, but beeswax wasn't listed. Are there references to them being issued though?

I've not found any reference to beeswax candles being issued.

But they're indistinguishable from regular modern white paraffin candles (not that paraffine candles are totally anachronistic), and I wish I knew how to tell whether they were indeed 100% stearine and whether they actually have the same qualities as stearine candles of the period.

100% stearine candles clack when hit together and other candles will clunk. Also, if you run a fingernail down a stearine candle the substance will chip off in flakes and with paraffin candles, the wax will come off in a ribbon.

[Makoski4141]

Im thinking that if you find a sutler that carries tallow or star candles you should contact them and arrange for a special order. Maybe they will give you a discount.

Andrew Birnbaum

[ThehosGendar]

Gents,

I present to you the official sequel to my wildly popular post, "An apple amid the cornstalks."

On July 2nd, 1863, on the ground in front of Little Round Top over which passed the left flank of Robertson's brigade...

http://www.3nj.org/lrt.jpg
(LC-B817- 7493 <P&P>)

... there lies a can amongst the rocks.

http://www.3nj.org/can.jpg

I wonder what it could have been!

[markj]

Gents,

I present to you the official sequel to my wildly popular post, "An apple amid the cornstalks."

On July 2nd, 1863, on the ground in front of Little Round Top over which passed the left flank of Robertson's brigade...

http://www.3nj.org/lrt.jpg
(LC-B817- 7493 <P&P>)

... there lies a can amongst the rocks.

http://www.3nj.org/can.jpg

I wonder what it could have been!

Nice bit of detective work, old boy. The short answer is, of course, "We'll never know." The can could have been discarded by one of the photographers, or by a soldier passing through, or even by a citizen foraging for battlefield souvenirs or booty. All of the aforementioned explanations are entirely reasonable.

Maybe you should contact William Frassanito about this item as well.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[huntdaw]

Hopefully it's not a can of Dinty Moore beef stew. We'll never hear the end of it from the streamers :D .

[VIrginia Mescher]

Gents,

Some of my pards and I are planning on doing a ration issue. We wanted to add candles into the picture, but I can't see paying $.75 a candle for 50 candles. Just wondering if anyone knew of a source that sells bulk candles that are period accurate for the federal army.

Respectfully,

Ryan,

Another thing to consider is that each man was not issued a candle. The ORs state that one pound of sperm, one and a quarter pounds of adamantine or star or one and a half pounds of tallow candles were issued per 100 men. The difference in the recommended number of each kind of candle was due to the various burning times of each type of candle, with tallow burning
the fastest and sperm burning the longest.

[BobSullivanPress]

I don't know what they're made of, but IKEA sells boxes of candles for about $5. They look just like Federal Issue candles, same shape, size and color. They seem to burn long also, provided you don't put them in a tin lantern (which you wouldn't anyway). Anyway, you get about 25-30 candles for $5, which comes out to about 20 cents a candle.

I'm stating this simply for informational purposes. If your unit requires candles made from specific materials, you probably don't want to go to IKEA.

[VIrginia Mescher]

I don't know what they're made of, but IKEA sells boxes of candles for about $5.
I'm stating this simply for informational purposes. If your unit requires candles made from specific materials, you probably don't want to go to IKEA.


The cheaper candles you mentioned are not stearin candles and are made mostly from paraffin which is not nearly as hard as stearin. Some candle makers add stearin to the paraffin but you still don't have as good of a qualtity as a 100% stearine candle.

[BobSullivanPress]

100% stearine candles clack when hit together and other candles will clunk. Also, if you run a fingernail down a stearine candle the substance will chip off in flakes and with paraffin candles, the wax will come off in a ribbon.

Well, they clack... :)

[hiplainsyank]

Notice how the debris seems to take a rough line "behind" the rocks (at least, relative to forces holding the Round Tops). Wasn't this area occupied by various troops the 3rd and 4th? Someone maybe had a can of peaches or something to eat during their long, tense time holding this position.

My 2 cents.

[VIrginia Mescher]

Well, they clack... :)

Bob,

How does the fingernail test do? The softer paraffin will ribbon and the hard stearine will only come off in flakes.

When I mentioned the clack sound, it is like the toy clackers that was popular years ago. The sound is more high pitched than the clunking sound that paraffin candles make.

[Lone_Rebel87]

Now didin't there commanders tell them not to leave their coke cans lying around. :tounge_sm

Jordan Davis

[MBBursig]

Jason,

I think maybe it is a can of some of that Rice Pudding :rolleyes: ....

But on a more serious note its kind of amazing/ interesting to see what different types of debris and such gets left on the battlefield. Imagine what type of rations from haversacks and such were strewn about the place.

Matt

[Jim of The SRR]

I saw a post recently stating that the parafin candles of the 19th c. looked very much like the cheap emergency candles you can buy at the Dollar Store (10 for $1.00). The only slight difference was the tip of period candles would have been a bit more bell shaped. Again, this based on reading an old post and not based on any research I have done personally.

regards,
Jim Butler
The SRR

[Hank Trent]

I have seen several references to soldiers dying of heat strokes. Wonder how many were really heat strokes and how many were heart attacks? :confused:

While researching something else entirely (period hollow-earth theories), I came across the following, from http://koreshan.mwweb.org/teed.htm. Not a primary source, but apparently an uncritical summary of his condition from primary sources.

While on the march near Warrenton Junction, Virginia on August 1, 1863, he suffered sunstroke which led to paralysis of his left arm and leg. He was assigned to Ward 2, bed 71 at the General Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia where he was treated for sixty-one days until his release (August 7, 1863-October 16, 1863). He was granted a discharge from the army...

Sunstroke causing one-sided paralysis? Sounds like it could have been what we would call a stroke.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[2ndMDRebel]

Maybe it was the proverbial can of whoop-*ss that the rebels opened up on the 3rd corps?

-------------
Tom Metzger

[Lone Guard]

I've tried a few different hardtack recipes, and each one turned out poorly.
Some said to use different types of flour, some said to bake at different temperatures or lengths of time.
For those who make their own hardtack, do you know a recipe that you use and like well? If someone could please post a link that they like, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You.

[Kevin O'Beirne]

This has been posted before, but for any who haven't seen it:

HARDTACK

Ingredients:
• 4 cups of flour in a large bowl*
• Optional: 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar. (This adds some “air” to the finished crackers and makes them a bit “less dense”. It does not create big air pockets and the crackers will still turn out quite hard. This ingredient can be omitted.)** Mix with the flour in the bowl.
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda**
• 1½ teaspoons of salt
• 1 cup of water

Dissolve the salt and soda (if used) in the cup of water.

Mix all ingredients well. Roll out dough ½-inch to 3/8-inch thick with a rolling pin. Because original, issued hardtack was uniform, by far the best results are obtained with a hardtack cutter. If a hardtack cutter is unavailable, cut the dough into squares approximately 3 inches by 3 inches. Use a 1/8-inch diameter dowel to create sixteen holes in each cracker in a 4 by 4 pattern. A hardtack cutter is optimal.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 450 degrees. When done, let air-dry for minimum of twenty-four hours, preferably more, before the crackers are placed into a bag or sealed container. Yield: 9 to 11 crackers.

* Period hardtack contractors used a flour known as “cracker flour”, which can be simulated by mixing one part pastry flour with three parts ordinary, unbleached flour.

** This ingredient is a popular “reenactor addition” to the recipe that was not present in Civil War hardtack. This ingredient will help make your crackers slightly more palatable but, for increased authenticity, omit this ingredient.

[Lone Guard]

You know what, I didn't even search. I'm sorry.

[fedhead]

I use the recipe above without any additions and it is successful every time . The crackers taste fine as well

[Will Eichler]

Looking for help from the woodworkers. I've saved info on cracker boxes for some years now and am working on one based on the dimensions and information in the CMH article.

I'm used to working with dimensional lumber but have never wrapped or bent raw wood. Does anyone know much about the process? Any tips or advice to give?

Thanks in advance.

Best,

Will

[billwatson]

Not sure what you need, but from boatbuilding I know you can get a lot more out of wood that needs to be bent if you wrap towels around it and pour boiling water over it and let it sit for a few minutes. If you're bending a lot you'd probably be better off making a steaming rig of some kind, but for casual work, this does a good job, especially on smaller stuff.
Basketmakers also soak material sometimes to make it more pliable.

[J.H.Berger]

Will as far as I know cracker boxes were not held together by saplings, but barrels were.
Best
Jan

[AZReenactor]

Boxes were indeed bound with sapling banding.

Here is a nice image from the Syke's Regulars website (http://www.cwreenactors.com/%7Esykes/equipment/LOC_barrels_boxes.php).
http://www.cwreenactors.com/%7Esykes/images/LOC/Barrels_and_Boxes/62BH_03974u_1t.jpg (http://www.cwreenactors.com/%7Esykes/images/LOC/Barrels_and_Boxes/62BH_03974u_1.jpg)
http://www.cwreenactors.com/%7Esykes/images/LOC/Barrels_and_Boxes/62BH_03974u_2t.jpg (http://www.cwreenactors.com/%7Esykes/images/LOC/Barrels_and_Boxes/62BH_03974u_2.jpg)
http://www.cwreenactors.com/%7Esykes/images/LOC/Barrels_and_Boxes/62BH_03974u_3t.jpg (http://www.cwreenactors.com/%7Esykes/images/LOC/Barrels_and_Boxes/62BH_03974u_3.jpg)
If you look closely you can see the sapling banding around the ends of the boxes.

[Michael McComas]

Sam Doolin has reproduced cracker boxes wrapped with sapling. You might shoot him an email or give him a call. I haven't chatted with him in about a year, so I don't know if he's still in business or not.

Cheers,

Michael

[billwatson]

OK, got it.

Those are split saplings, split in half with the flat side against the box. Pretty ingenious. They are probably used very green and limber. You can split them with a knife, start at the butt and try to get as much as you can before it runs off to one side or the other. It seems like they ran the sapling all the way around the box and doubled it on itself for a little ways, so it has to be as long as it is around the box plus a few inches.

Wonder if any one kind of wood lends itself to this better than another? Hope it doesn't turn out to be one of the woods we don't have any more, like elm. I bet willow would work. It looks somewhat like hickory in the one photo, but it's really hard to tell.

[Will Eichler]

Bill,

I'll say thanks to Mark Jaeger for the following quote out of the 1863 US regs. I have a set but since he filled it typed it in during a discussion about the hardtack crates in the past, I can copy and paste.

"The dimensions for hardtack boxes, bacon boxes, salt meat barrels, etc. are stated in U.S. Army Regulations of 1861 (rev. 1863) on pages 301-302 in the subsistence section under the heading "MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS." An "average box" for hard bread was to be 26 x 17 x 11 inches, exterior in measure. "The ends of a box of this size should be of inch, and the remainder of five-eighths, stuff, the package well strapped with green hickory or other suitable wood."

I'm now looking for some hickory.

Best,

Will

[J.H.Berger]

Yes thanks Mark! MY errand!

[GrumpyDave]

Split the saplings green, birch works well, and tack them on with small period nails. Birch or any saplings should be easy to find, nails, well, that's another story.

[Will Eichler]

Dave,

I can help you with the second, or the nails.

http://www.tremontnail.com/

I haven't bought from them in years (big stock in the shop right now) but they were good when last I worked with them.

Mods, feel free to modify this if it in some way goes against our approved vendor rules.

Best,

Will

[billwatson]

Second on Tremont, they are terrific. I find myself using them in modern applications. :-)

[Hargis, G. 5 A-1]

Second on Tremont, they are terrific. I find myself using them in modern applications. :-)

Cut nails, like those from Tremont, hold better than wire nails.

Glen E. Hargis

[redroosterinalabama]

I have seen furniture, chairs, tables and bedsteads made here in Alabama from willow tree limbs. These are soaked and woven, bent & tacked to make many rustic articles. I suppose the thin branches would work for securing boxes.
mike boyd
redroosterinalabama

[Charles Heath]

Will,

You have received some good advice thus far. This is a good time of year to look for some hickory saplings, as the leaves are turning that distinctive rich gold (yes, like the 1970s kitchen appliances), and the hickory nut hulls are scattered on the ground. You can find images of hickory trees and leaves for identification purposes in several places on the Internet.

I have worked in shops that had a plethora of 18th and 19th century woodworking equipment, but if you are not so blessed, try the following cheats:

- If you can't find hickory, ash works well, white oak and willow, too, and so does common mulberry in a pinch. Elm doesn't like to split worth a dang (that's why it was used for wagon hubs in many instances), so avoid that and sweet gum.

- Cut a few extra saplings so you won't have to go back into the woods. For small wood like this a common pair of pruning loppers works fine for cutting and limbing.

- You'll want a small froe for splitting. If you don't have one, chuck a dull lawnmower blade in a bench vise, and a similar purpose will be achieved. Why dull? Dull will follow the grain. Sharp will cut the grain. Start the split with a cleaver or a hatchet to center the first inch or so of split. Pull the sapling like a Y across the vertical blade and hold your mouth right. Yep, it will run out one way or the other if you go to fast. The idea is to split a piece of stock with a semi-circular profile. Go slow. Have patience. Make your stock as long as you can, just for the fun of it. If you like this, you'll love making splints for chair bottoms and baskets. My advice is to keep your day job.

- A wood steamer is good for bending purposes, but a steam iron is more common, and as mentioned earlier, boiling water works in a pinch. Don't let the bands dry out for a few weeks before using them. The band may crack and splinter a little, but don't get excited. The real box bands did that, too. If you plan on doing this often, get a length of 6" PVC with a couple of end caps for keeping the wood pliable.

- Tremont is a great supplier. When they are gone, we'll miss them greatly; however, living where you do you MAY have an old time full service hardware store, and they MAY have a selection of small cut nails. Ask them.

- Once you have installed the split hickory bands, take that hatchet and make four cuts to open the box. Technically, you only need two, but when the wood dries out, you'll wish you had four. About half of our boxes are this way, and they bands last for several events. Why cut the bands? Well, if you are like we were the first few boxes....well, um, we forgot to put the dang crackers in the box first. :o If you do it correctly, there is a certain amount of joy in busting open the bands of a cracker box, or bashing the head of a barrel of salt pork. :wink_smil

- If you use a paper liner, only use that liner with crackers that are already molded, just for presentation purposes. Paper draws moisture, and encourages mold. If you happen to place the crackers on a concrete or soil floor, use scrap wood for dunnage, or just free pallet from the local plumbing supply house. This will save a bunch of crackers, and you'll notice this is also period advice.

- We tend to load up crackers before they have dried completely. This is a period practice we can avoid. Setting the crackers in the warm afternoon sun can be a big help, even after the normal 48-hour drying period.

- Setting the box on end at about a 70 degree angle facilitates loading the crackers, and you can achieve a very nice stack to the point of a market pack appearance. That sounds strange, but a full box of hardtack has a certain allure.

Good luck.

[Hank Trent]

Pull the sapling like a Y across the vertical blade and hold your mouth right.

In addition to all that Charles said, one secret to controlling the split is to bend harder on the side that's getting too thin. This will guide the split back to the center. Despite being experienced with woodwork himself, Thoreau ran into the same frustration watching an Indian split cedar roots for the first time, on a trip to Maine:

He split the end with his knife, and taking a half between the thumb and forefinger of each hand, rapidly separated its whole length into two equal semi-cylindrical halves; then giving me another root, he said, "You try." But in my hands it immediately ran off one side, and I got only a very short piece. In short, though it looked very easy, I found that there was a great art in splitting these roots. The split is skilfully humored by bending short with this hand or that, and so kept in the middle

Barrel hoops were traditionally pounded after being soaked; if you run into problems, that might add some flexibility. Also, if you can cut them when there's more sap in them, the better, since that puts you ahead on moisture.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[John Legg]

Hi all,

i was wondering what type of rice is authentic? was it issued as rations?

Thanks
John

[AZReenactor]

Hi all,

i was wondering what type of rice is authentic? was it issued as rations?

John,
Might I suggest you consider picking up a book and doing some reading on the lives and rations of soldiers. Heck, you don't even have to buy a book, just borrow one from your local library. At the very least try something like searching Google for "Civil War" rice rations (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22Civil+War%22+rice+rations). Or you might just go post your query on Szazbos forum, might I suggest the thread on period rice (http://www.cwreenactors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1805&highlight=rice).

Then once you've done a bit of reading and research on rice, why not come back here and share what you have learned?

[John Legg]

Taken from Hardtack and Coffee

http://www.civilwarhome.com/hardtackandcoffee.htm

I will now give a complete list of the rations served out to the rank and file, as I remember them. They were salt pork, fresh beef, salt beef, rarely ham or bacon, hard bread, soft bread, potatoes, an occasional onion, flour, beans, split pease, rice, dried apples, dried peaches, desiccated vegetables, coffee, tea, sugar, molasses, vinegar, candles, soap, pepper, and salt.

It is scarcely necessary to state that these were not all served out at one time. There was but one kind of meat served at once, and this.. . was usually pork. When it was hard bread, it wasnt soft bread or flour, and when it was peas or beans it wasnt rice.

Here is just what a single ration comprised, that is, what a soldier was entitled to have in one day. He should have had twelve ounces of pork or bacon, or one pound four ounces of salt or fresh beef; one pound six ounces of soft bread or flour, or one pound of hard bread, or one pound four ounces of corn meal. With every hundred such rations there should have been distributed one peck of beans or peas; ten pounds of rice or hominy; ten pounds of green coffee, or eight pounds of roasted and ground, or one pound eight ounces of tea; fifteen pounds of sugar; one pound four ounces of candles; four pounds of soap; two quarts of salt; four quarts of vinegar; four ounces of pepper; a half bushel of potatoes when practicable, and one quart of molasses. Desiccated potatoes or desiccated compressed vegetables might be substituted for the beans, peas, rice, hominy, or fresh potatoes. Vegetables, the dried fruits, pickles, and pickled cabbage were occasionally issued to prevent scurvy, but in small quantities.

[AZReenactor]

John.
Very good! Now you are getting the idea. There's some great things in books (some are even online as you discovered) waiting to be found.

[DougCooper]

Neill Rose (Ironscout) is a student of some the originial Rice varieties present during the war, including Plantation Rice from SC. He has often served or had it issued at events. Great stuff. Contact him through the forum for details.

Check out any number of Carolina's campaign accounts from federal soldiers. Those boys were a bit tired of it by arriving in NC.

[Vuhginyuh]

http://www.carolinagoldricefoundation.org/

[Charles Heath]

WARNING: DISABLE YOUR AUDIO
BEFORE
CLICKING THIS LINK!

If he likes that, then he'll love this:

http://home.att.net/~Cap1MD/Drill.htm

Note Viele's and H.L. Scott's in the bottom left corner.

[3alabama]

WARNING: DISABLE YOUR AUDIO
BEFORE
CLICKING THIS LINK!

If he likes that, then he'll love this:

http://home.att.net/~Cap1MD/Drill.htm

Note Viele's and H.L. Scott's in the bottom left corner.

Maybe I am missing something but what does this link have to do with the question asked about rice?

[Charles Heath]

Maybe I am missing something but what does this link have to do with the question asked about rice?

The two links referenced on that page provide excellent period cooking instructions, and once the questioner has his rice in hand, he may want to cook it in a period manner. A couple of other good tidbits are on that page, as well. Repops of Viele's is still available in paperback, and repops of H. L. Scott's in hardback can be found used now and then.

[John Legg]

Thanks to all of you for this information! :D

John

[Spinster]

Sigh. Chawls---your point started on another board fully illustrated on this one, re my studied ignorance of military matters.

That's a dandy reference. Looks like I'll be learning more about military camps than I ever thought a decent woman should know. That is the sweet rice receipt I've been using--it was just as good cold on Sunday morning at Perryville as it was hot on Saturday morning.

And I think we'll be fond of "cheap lemonade" as well.

John, the Carolina Gold rice link provided above is a heritage seed-stock, and available by mail order, along with some other period appropriate foods on the same site.

[John Legg]

Ok thank you very much

[Lone Guard]

Just be sure you cook your rice ALL the way through.
The extra couple minutes of waiting for the rice to finish cooking is a lot shorter than your trip to the sinks will be after that stuff finishes expanding in your stomach.

[Charles Heath]

That is the sweet rice receipt I've been using--it was just as good cold on Sunday morning at Perryville as it was hot on Saturday morning.

Yep, it is quite a bit different than the Jasmine rice commonly found by the 50 lbs. sack in this household. Since the close of the season is upon us, I'm batting around updating the foodstuffs vendor list again, explaining the period variety vegetables grown and provided for our events over the past few years, and wrapping some happy text around it all for the newsletter. We'll see how that goes.

[springkeeper]

The Carolina Plantation rice is very good and very easy to cook.

Carrie Craddock

[John Legg]

How much is it, i couldnt find a price on the site! its probaly there i possibaly just missed. i just skimmed through it!

John

[John-Owen Kline]

Order rice (and high quality corn products) from;

http://www.ansonmills.com/page22/page35/page35.html

[Spinster]

Mr. Legg,

The direct link to Carolina Plantation is below

http://www.carolinaplantationrice.com/

Pricing changes with volume, so look to your unit needs for a season.

These folks were most kind and accomodating in working with us last spring at Fort Moultrie, and I believe what I didn't cook up went on to Rich Mountain.

[John Legg]

Thank you all, ive found my answer.

i will be buying some, when i get the money. i just whiped out my wallet on a commutation jacket! :D

Thanks and Cheers,

[fortykin]

Gentlemen,

The following is some info I came up with while searching for info on dessicated vegetables the other night. The soldier that wrote this was posted in Indian territory in late 1864. It is by far the best description I have seen for "desicrated" vegetables.

"We never had any fresh vegetables at Julesburg; they could not be got to us. But there were issued to us what were called "desiccated vegetables." In the true pronunciation of the word the second syllable is long, but it was called by the boys as if it were dessy-kated, with accent on the third syllable. It was made of onions, cabbages, beets, turnips, carrots and peppers, steamed, pressed and dried. They were almost in the form of leaves pressed together. They were pressed, after they were dry, into cakes twelve inches square, and an inch thick. They were pressed so hard that they weighed about as much as wood, and came sealed up in tin cans about a foot square. They were intended to be put into the soups, and were largely used by us for that purpose. They were very nutritious, and it was convenient, when we went on scouts, for the boys to break off a piece and put it in a saddle-pocket. The boys would nibble at it as they were riding along; it was a kind of leguminous bread, and they ate about as much of it dry as they did by putting it into soups."

The following is the link to the site this came from:
http://www.kancoll.org/books/ware/ew_chap27.htm

t

[fortykin]

BTW, I forgot to leave my name on the last post.

Bill McCormick

[AZReenactor]

Bill,
What a great resource. Thank you for sharing.

I found several great books in the Kansas Collection (http://www.kancoll.org/books/) including The Prairie Taraveler.

Commerce of the Prairies - Gregg, Josiah (1844)
A Campaign in New Mexico With Col. Doniphan - Edwards, Frank S. (1847)
Report of the Committee of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society,
with the Act of Incorporation (1854)
Kansas: Its Interior and Exterior Life - Robinson, Sara T. L. (1856)
Six Months in Kansas - Ropes, Hannah Anderson (1856)
Governor Geary's Administration in Kansas - Gihon, John H., M.D. (1857)
The Prairie Traveler: A Hand-book for Overland Expeditions - Marcy, Randoph Barnes, Captain, U. S. A. (1859)
Went to Kansas - Colt, Miriam D. (1862)
The Lawrence Massacre - Cordley, R. (1865)
Memorial Book of E. C. D. Lines (1867)
Cattle Trade of the West and Southwest - McCoy, Joseph G. (1874)
My Life on the Plains - Custer, General George Armstrong (1874)
The Andreas History of the State of Nebraska - Cutler, Wm. G. (1882)
The Andreas History of the State of Kansas - Cutler, Wm. G. (1883)
Emigrant Life in Kansas - Ebbutt, Percy G. (1886)
Twin Hells - Reynolds, John N. (1890)
Extract from Marvels of the New West - Thayer, William M. (1890)
Kansas Exhibits of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition
A History of Lawrence, Kansas - Cordley, Richard (1895)
The Real Issue - White, William Allen (1896)
Some of the Rhymes of Ironquill (1896) [in progress]
In His Steps - Sheldon, Charles M. (1896, 1909)
Last of the Great Scouts - Wetmore, Helen Cody (1899, 1917)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Baum, Lyman Frank (1900).
Old Settlers' Tales - Crevecoeur, F. F. (1902)
Pioneer Days in Kansas - Cordley, R. (1903)
Legends of the Kaw - De Voe, Carrie (1904)
American Thumbprints - Stephens, Kate (1905)
The South Dakota National Guard Goes to Fort Riley, Souvenir Book (1906)
KANSAS: The Prelude to the War for the Union - Spring, Leverett Wilson (1906)
The People’s Reveille, Souvenir Book - Hill City, Graham Co., Kansas (1906)
The Indian War of 1864 - Ware, Eugene F. (1911)
Report of the Committee of the Kansas State Historical Society
on the Santa Fe Trail Through Kansas (1911-1912)

Santa Fe Trail maps:
Eastern Section
Central Section
Western Section

The History of Johnson County, Kansas - Blair, Ed (1915) [in progress]
Tales and Trails of Wakarusa - Harvey, A. M. (1917)
Howard Chase, Red Hill - Sheldon, Charles M. (1918)
The Martial Adventures of Henry and Me - White, William Allen (1918)
The Perry Home Cook Book (1920)
Life at Laurel Town in Anglo-Saxon Kansas - Stephens, Kate (1920/1936)
History of The 353rd Infantry Regiment, 89th Division, National Army, September 1917 - June 1919, - Dienst, Captain Charles F., et al. (1921)
The Story of a Kansas Pioneer - Anderson, Melissa Genett (1924)
The Last One - Maxton, Rosie Clem (1932)
The Pioneer History of Kansas - Roenigk, Adolph (1933)
The Grassland of North America - Malin, James C. (1946) (extract)
An Early History of North Lawrence (1961)
The Rath Trail - Rath, Ida Ellen (1961)
Wonderful Old Lawrence - Rowe, Elfriede Fischer (1971)
Autobiography of a Common Man - Beach, Milton
Sod Jerusalems: Jewish Agricultural Communities in Frontier Kansas - Harris, L. David (1984)
Do Tell: The Early Years - Dale, Don B. (1991)
Reflections from the Prairie - Schiller, George W. (1994)
The Cow from Grasshopper Falls - Brown, Mary Ann Sachse (illustrations by Roy Lee Brown) (1996)
A Prairie Wedding: Alonzo and Stella, October 21 1906 - Turner, Vern F. (1999)
The Abolitionist: A Saga of the Albert Gallatin Barrett family of early Kansas - Schiller, George W. (2002)

[markj]

I've got a tongue-in-cheek description that's equally good:

Madison IN Daily Courier, 9 October 1861:

"PRESSED VEGETABLES" -- A soldier writing from the Potomac about his "feed," says: "We get a substance for soup called "pressed vegetables." It looks a good deal like a big plug of "dog leg" tobacco in shape and solidity, and is composed in part of potatoes, onions, beans, lettuce, garlic, parsely, parsnips, carrots, &c. I acknowledge eating two China tin plates full without convulsions of nature, and can now speak the German language with fluency."
***

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Charles Heath]

This is when I really miss the lost data. :(

In the quest for a tin, Perfesser Tobey managed to find an image of part of one side of a tin in a relic book with the Chollet's label mostly intact. Still, the search goes on for that tin cube.

Don't know if I'll ever make enough dessicated veggies to feed 100 men again, but knowledge of the correct tin container would be a joy in itself. Some collector or museum has to have one of those jokers sitting around somewhere. One day, one day....

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Excellent descriptions of dessicated veggies are provided in Hardtack and Coffee and Corporal Si Klegg and His Pard.

[flattop32355]

Just be sure you cook your rice ALL the way through.
The extra couple minutes of waiting for the rice to finish cooking is a lot shorter than your trip to the sinks will be after that stuff finishes expanding in your stomach.

Provided, of course, that you are still able to move at all. :wink_smil

[Lone Guard]

Provided, of course, that you are still able to move at all. :wink_smil

Good point. I'm never going through that again, I don't care how hungry I am.

[Lawrence]

I'd like to say a quick thanks to everyone posting on this thread, there's been some nice specific links that have been posted which will be very handy for me in the months to come.

I'm wondering if someone might be able to offer some info that's a little bit different to what's been put up so far? I'm putting together an event out here in Australia come next April, and therefore I'm not able to access some of the wonderful products that have been linked to here. I looked through the google searches but didn't come up with anything that gave a description of what a common modern equivelent would be to period Civil War rice. Is someone able to describe the types of grain used?? Also, was it aromatic at all, or just nice and plain, straight up rice? The Carolina Gold looks kind of chunky like an arborio or something, was that standard at the time, or??? You guys have cooked with these more appropriate products, therefore I'm seeking some help!!

I would like to include a period rice as a part of the ration issue for this event, and would like to get it mostly right, rather than just going down the local store and picking up their biggest, cheapest sack of whatever!

Thanks folks,

Shannon Brown

[Charles Heath]

Shannon,

Take the time to email them directly, and inquire about the Carolina Gold rice description. The thousands of varieties of rice are typically categorized by length of grain first, and then broken down from there by less obvious features. For example, if the rice description is that of a short grained or pearl rice, then you'll know a little more about where to start at the local market. Their contact info is on their website.

You'd be surprised how many reenactors actually care about such details. ;)

[Lawrence]

thanks for the tip Charles, I'll get onto them ...

And I know you guys care about these things, that's why I like lurking around here so much!

Thanks mate,

[theknapsack]

I know I've posted this photo before, but it was lost along with the crash. So I'll post some cool details I've found in it. I'll leave it up to the board members to discuss.
Petersburg, Va. General view of the commissary department, 50th New York Engineers
CALL NUMBER
LC-B817- 7060

REPRODUCTION NUMBER
LC-DIG-cwpb-03676 DLC (digital file from original neg.)
LC-B8171-7060 DLC (b&w film neg.)
http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cwpb/03600/03676r.jpg
Attached are some good details from the image, in order:
1. Child or young man in non-regulation (civilian?) clothing
2. Man with Dark Blue (civilian?) trousers, vest, another with pet goats. Check out the uniform details!
3. Butcher and a spiffy looking soldier, plus barrel details (Beans and Onions, Beans highlighted)
4. One soldier with private purchase clothing (nice porkpie)? and an NCO with dark blue trousers.
5. Young Soldier with his sack coat tucked in and the collar folded in - like an overshirt. What is the cap?
6. (My personal favorite) Soldier performing Support Arms correctly at attention, plus notice the fully equipped tool-box on the ground behind him.

I've noticed more and more tucked sack coats as I do more photo research. Why do you suppose it is more consistent with soldiers who are working (or in engineers) than soldiers who are not. Can you find anymore details in this photo?

[ephraim_zook]

There is much more neat stuff in this image. When I began to perform a commissary role, I looked hard at the several images that I could find, including this one. There are some other things in here that I like.
1) Above/behind the man at support arms is a stack of soft bread loaves.
2) Above the bean barrel is a spring scale. In fact, scales are abundant. There is a platform scale to our right of the guy with the dog (or goat) and a balance scale in the background between the building and the shed on the left.
3) The meat saw doesn't look much different than those in use today.
4) To our left of the support arms guy is an open box of white things -- candles maybe?
5) The NCO leaning in the doorway is wearing commissary sgt chevrons.
6) And the feller at support arms has one impressive saber bayonet on his rifle.

I have a couple of other commissary or quartermaster photos which seem to have been made to indicate the relative abundance of supplies that the federal army had. I'll try to remember to post one in the near future.

regards
Ron Myzie
Reenactment Nutrition Specialist

[Charles Heath]

Riley,

That is also one of my favorite images, more for the exceptions than the norms. The Engineer Brigade has a number of good photographs, among them the church at their Poplar Grove camp, their "gingerbread house" headquarters, and their Rappahannock Station images are also good. Fans of Winter 1864, will enjoy the "50th breaking campt at Petersburg" image, as it will remind them of the end of that event.

One question that hasn't been answered about that image is whether or not it is a brigade commissary. The 1st, 15th, and 50th were in the Volunteer Engineer Brigade, although attached to different corps. The 50th was known in a good way for overbuilding just about everything, so it may just be the regimental commissary for their 12 companies. These 12 companies were broken into 2 battalions.

The fellow at support arms is guarding the rations. That is one of those "good ideas" found in a number of documents. To this day, food service items remain as one of those easily pilferable areas of supply.

Ron brings out some of the exceptions we normally don't see in the field. The fresh bread brought out via USMRR from City Point while still warm was such a morale booster that before the novelty wore off, this luxury was frequently mentioned in letters and journals.

The spring scale with the sharp hook is where it is for what reason? The meat is a clue. Most of us would recognize these scales for piscatorial pursuits. The balance scale has a different function. I can't help but wonder if they have a platform scale in one of those buildings. Thanks to the Fairbanks of Vermont, such devices had been around for around 30 years.

The meat saws have changed. Disposable stainless steel blades have been around for at least 30 years (Disston used to make some great ones), and more and more the ones hanging in shops (at least those inspected regularly) are of nonferrous materials. In the fleamarket collections along the way, I have seen old hacksaws still being used from time to time, but they were mostly decorative.

Candles would be my first guess, too. The image is just clear enough to reveal the individual rows of stearite candles, and they aren't packaged in 40 each packs of Star Candle 6s. That makes me wonder if the size and shape of the box may be soap. Remember when soap came in wood boxes? That portion of the image would be good to enlarge.

The containers add much to the image. Would that we could get barrels in that size and that style for a reasonable price these days. Look around, and do you see what familiar box is not there?

Their campsite remains as federal property to this day. It is Poplar Grove National Cemetery, and it is well worth a visit when in the Petersburg area. It doesn't receive a heck of a lot of visitation.

I can't remember if we beat this image to death on the Hard Case Boys Forum, but some good images with analysis are over there, too. Would we see such base of operations built by troops at most events? Probably not. Are similar purpose buildings represented at events such as Winter 1864? Yes.

[C.R. Henderson]

At least to my eye, the "familiar box" (or similar) looks like it is being used as a butcher's table. It appears as though the fellow has revitalized the empty container by fliping it upside down, sans-lid, and placed it upon the barrel creating a quite serviceable table. This way, no matter how hard he saws, the "table top" won't slide off the barrel head. Great image.

Chris Henderson

[theknapsack]

Upon a third lookover, I noticed some things in this image worth mentioning:
The Pockets of the man to the right are cut at a 45 degree angle, or curved, not unlike modern dungarees (image attached).
The Pockets of the man with his sack coat tucked in are what we call "mule ear pockets" Also the man to his right has a medal on (image attached).
The man in the doorway of the larger building is leaning on something, also there is a metal box with meat on top (what is the thing he is leaning on, and what is the metal box? image attached)
The man that I said had private purchase clothing, upon further close up inspection, probably does not. The slice of lining that is visible from the way he folded his collar reveals a striped (or plaid) lining, perhaps indicating that it came from Schulykill Arsenal.
The Butcher has on trousers where one can clearly see the split (vent) in the bootom of his trousers, and rather than over lapping like we see on most originals, it appears that it is just a split.
Most of the men, privates and NCO's alike, are wearing hat brass (with good reason. It appears as though the Commissary Sergeant and one of the men furthest right have full regimental insignia as well.
This image is constantly getting better, and I know there are people on this forum that have a better eye than I do. One thing that comes apparent in this image which is seemingly put down by the federal reenacting and living history community is the various types of pockets. Seeing different types of pockets is not uncommon in many LOC photos.
Check out the last attachment for a good example of pocket variation. Co G. 27th IL INF.

[flattop32355]

I've noticed more and more tucked sack coats as I do more photo research. Why do you suppose it is more consistent with soldiers who are working (or in engineers) than soldiers who are not. Can you find anymore details in this photo?

Am I correct that this individual has no suspenders on? Could be it's just the way he keeps his trowsers up.

It's also possible that removing them is a way to keep your buttons from regularly getting popped off while doing heavy labor.

In the other similar photos of tucked sack coats, can you recall if the men are wearing braces, or seemingly engaged in manual labor?

[Charles Heath]

Bernie,

Look through some period images, and you'll see tucked sack coats show up here and there, especially in cold weather images. I wonder if these same fellows tucked their overshirts back home, and if this was more common around men who worked with steam or water powered machinery in their pre-war lives than not.

[tomarch]

Can anyone do a blow up of the window on the left-hand building? I did a total double-take! from a distance it looks like a modern aluminum slider. Since one on my interests is period construction I would like to see if it's a wood slider, fixes glass or some other stye of window.

[theknapsack]

Can anyone do a blow up of the window on the left-hand building? I did a total double-take! from a distance it looks like a modern aluminum slider. Since one on my interests is period construction I would like to see if it's a wood slider, fixes glass or some other stye of window.

I'm not quite sure what you are talking about... could you explain? Here is what you asked for.

[tomarch]

Thanks. It's just that the "look" of the window surprised me(*). I'm used to seeing verticaly proportioned double-hung windows w/ narrow mutins . I haven't seen many period windows that are horizontaly proportioned and I wasn't sure if was an openablewindow or a fixed galss window.

* I know it's not a metal window, It's just that from a distance it bears a close resemblance to a modern alum. sliding-glass window.

[Charles Heath]

At least to my eye, the "familiar box" (or similar) looks like it is being used as a butcher's table. It appears as though the fellow has revitalized the empty container by fliping it upside down, sans-lid, and placed it upon the barrel creating a quite serviceable table. This way, no matter how hard he saws, the "table top" won't slide off the barrel head.

Chris,

A couple of ubiquitous hardtack boxes are visible, and the barrels to the left rear are about right for salt pork, but the box we don't see is the bacon box. The reason being the beeves were rations on the hoof at this time. The attractiveness of the federal cattle led to the infamous Beefsteak Raid.

Three details that didn't jump out at first.

1. The pitch of the roofs reflects architecture from "back home," where major snow and ice storms are the norm. I wonder if those shingles are white cedar or white oak?

2. The building to the right appears to be filled with bales of fodder on dunnage. Those large square bales were held together with a fairly large gauge wire, and that wire became bails for dippers.

3. That horse may be a saddled draft horse, or the soldier standing next to him is vertically challenged.

[tomarch]

I'm thinking that the shingle material is going to be whatever is local. The trees in the rear might be the same kind of pine you see in the framing of buildings of that period. They could have grubbed out the stumps in the area, cut them into "bolts" and then riven them into shingles. The building on the far right is covered with a much larger kind of shake as well. It's possible that there was some good cedar in the area they could have used.

I agree about the roof pitch, those roofs are designed for an upstate N.Y. winter!

[Charles Heath]

Tom,

Both white oak (the preferred shingle wood for that region) and Atlantic white cedar were available in that area. There would be no need to twist or grub out the stumps, as the shingle portion is the 18''-24" bolt of the trunk as measured from the buttress. I'm sure a froe was in great demand, and the native dogwood made for a good club. Now, there is a fatigue detail we don't see every day, and it doesn't take long for a man to have his fill making shingles.

Both white oak and whtie cedar were excellent for cooperage, and the white cedar was all but made extinct for this reason. The last broad commercial use of which was for ice cream makers. You are correct about the yellow pines in the background, the hearts of which made for excellent flooring that hardens over the centuries. It was also good for framing, and siding.

Considering the beauty of the Poplar Grove Church and their own HQs building, it is evident they had some experienced carpenters and joiners in the mix. All of whom, were, of course, good Union men. ;)

[Hagooder02]

I found this description of a ration issue in ‘Berry Benson’s Civil War Book’ (edited by Sue Williams Benson, University of Georgia Press, 1962). Benson was a private and served in Maxcy Gregg’s 1st South Carolina Volunteers. This book is a fascinating read and contains many accounts like this that are gems for doing first person.

When we first went into the army, we had scales for weighing, and measures for liquids, but long before this time the commissary of a company was reduced to dividing out to the men in a much more primitive fashion whatever rations were received from the Regimental Commissary.

The meat (usually bacon) was divided carefully into as many ‘piles’ as there were men, a ‘pile’ usually being one little flat piece about the size of a small cake of toilet soap. Having arranged the ‘piles’ on a long, the commissary would get some fair-minded member of the company to review with him their comparative values. Some colloquy as this would then take place:

“Don’t you think this here piece is a little too big?”
“W-e-e-ll, maybe it is. Where’ll I cut it?”
“About there.”
“Now where’ll I put the scrap?”
“Put her over here with this feller; it’s end and about the littlest one you got. But I say, here’s a right smart sized chunk; don’t you think it’s too big?”
“Well I don’t know; she looks pretty big, but if you’ll notice she’s got a dog-gone sight of a bone in her.”
“Yes, she has got a good deal of bone. Well, let her rip”
Commissary now bawls, “Come up men and get your meat!”
The men gather round in an irregular semi-circle of which the meat is the focus, all eyes fastened on the piece ‘with a dog-gone’ sight of bone in her.” Then the commissary says, “Well, who’s a-goin to call?”
Nobody answers. A pause. Then the commissary says, “How in the hell am I a-going to give you your meat if nobody ain’t a-going to call?”
One speaks up: “Well, I’ll call if nobody else won’t.” He walks off about three paces and turns his back.
The commissary touching a ‘pile’ with his knife, asks, “Whose is this?”
“White’s.” White takes it up and retires, balancing it up and down in his hand.
“Whose is this?”
“Mister Peagler’s” And so on until all are taken, and the little crowd disperses.

Flour, rice, meal, sugar, etc. were divided by measure. Knowing by experience that one man’s ration measured about so much in his cup or so many spoonfuls, the commissary call the men up one at a time, giving each his ration as near as he could guess, but taking care not to give too much. This care lest the supply give out before the end was reached, necessarily caused him to give too little, so that there would still be something left. This was called the “over-plus,” or in camp dialect, the ”overplush.”

Then the voice of the commissary was heard in the land. “Come up, men, and get your over-plush.” And when this was divided it, not unfrequently happened that a little was still left. But to share in this second “overplush,” some of the high and mighty, the proud ones of the earth, disdained, replying to the commissary’s summons, “Go to hell with your second overplush.”

Regards,
Bruce Blackmon

[Charles Heath]

This was called the “over-plus,” or in camp dialect, the ”overplush.”

The word "overplush" turns up in 18th and 19th century wills with a similar meaning in terms of surplus, too.

When we were cutting up meat while making a salt pork ration, Nic Ellis was laughing as I'd hold up pieces of meat with mostly fat or a big percentage of bone, and making remarks like "the fellow who gets this piece is going to say words about the butcher, for sure." Makes a fellow realize what living high on the hog really meant.

Good times.

[ephraim_zook]

Somewhere in the ration chapter of Kautz's Customs, he says, regarding adding salt to a recipe "a deficiency is more easily remedied than an overplus".

Ron Myzie

[ContinentalMorganGuard]

I have a 4oz tin can from the period, marked Parrish Bros. MANFR OF Essence of Coffee Baltimore, Md on the recloseable lid. I haven't done any research on the company, but it seems plausable that soldiers could have had individual cans of essence.

[billwatson]

"I don't know how much a quart of essence weighs (5 lbs.?), but it looks like Mark Mason has a good point. Individuals may not have been issued small containers of essence for personal use."

Interesting observation. This stuff is concentrated, it takes very little to make a cup of coffee. So how did they deal with the gap between what's almost a bulk-issue container and the reality that a tablespoon or two gets you your cup of coffee? What kind of container bridges the gap down to one man's ration for three days or whatever?

[Charles Heath]

Funny how a post over three years old can still be timely.

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8187

Imbedded in the thread linked above is a photo of a can of Hummel's Essence of Coffee from the Bertrand, so that dates it to April 1865, if not shortly before. That label is similar to the one Jarnagin sells. Yes, I know Jarny is not an approved vendor, and their price for a label and a modern tin is d-----d high.

That being said, the general size and shape of the repop tin compares favorably with the old blue or yellow label originals that could be bought at relic shows for a couple of bucks not that long ago. That size being 2 inches in diameter, and 2 15/16th inches in height with the lid and end on. Unlike the originals, the repop is not dipped tin, the ends are press on with rolled edges instead of one being soldered on, and the other being sans-rolled edge. The label is not quite tall enough to form the seal over the lid as seen in the image. Someone out there probably makes a good tin, and different labels, but they aren't well advertised. Thus is life.

One of these small containers will make a darn fine issue kettle of coffee. Play Goldilocks to see if you like it strong (small kettle), weak (large kettle) or if the middle nesting kettle is "just right." Black, hot, slightly bitter, pretty much sums up coffee to me, so you are on your own there.

A couple of thoughts about sources of supply for the tins is to take some time to hit the usual commercial container sources where the tins are priced around or under a buck. Second, having that safety edge on the lid is wrong, but it sure makes getting the darn lid off easier than the real thing. If anyone is actually interested, I can post a few links. Poor Ed Watson of the 33rd NCT is going through this tar making and containerizing process as we speak.

Additionally, Bob Sullivan may have labels on his CDs or separately. I haven't dealt with Bob in a long time, although he was happily enjoying the Rev War Yorktown a few months ago, so I can say we had a "Bob Spotting" as late as October 2006.

[BobSullivanPress]

Hello,

The tin that Jarnagin sells is quoted on his website like this:
----------------------------------------------
Similar to the Goldmark Cap Box above, but slightly larger, this coffee tin was developed in a cooperation with the Minnesota Historical Society from their originals furnished with label not affixed as the box is a common condiments box of the period.

2"diameter x 2 3/4" tall.
----------------------------------------------

The Minnesota Historical Society label is blue. Marc Benedict, with whom I have traded over the years, has a green label in his collection (and that's the one I reproduce), and the Bertrand has a yellow label. Now, before we all begin making assumptions about Type I labels, Type II labels and so forth (regular vs. decaf perhaps) we can simply infer that evidently George Hummel wasn't all that hung up on the paper color of his labels for this particular product.

I know Mr. Jarnagin is not an approved vendor on this site, but information is information, and then again, neither am I. :)

[Charles Heath]

Bob,

This counts as another Bob spotting. ;)

Who made the tin you are using for the Essence of Coffee container in the photographs on your website? The ends on that tin appear to be much better than the current alternative.

Mark was still using an original tin complete with label as recently as the 2005 Burkittsville event. That was a nice touch.

[edwardwatson]

Mr. Sullivan:

Are all the labels you've seen the same size or did they vary? Were the tins different sizes? Also, other than Jarnagin, can you suggest a tin can maker for the essence of coffee use? As always, I am greatly appreciative for any information to help improve my impression.

[BobSullivanPress]

Bob,

This counts as another Bob spotting. ;)

Who made the tin you are using for the Essence of Coffee container in the photographs on your website? The ends on that tin appear to be much better than the current alternative.


That tin is a Jarnagin tin that I bought about 25 years ago as part of his nested set. Pretty soon it will also be classified as a relic.

[BobSullivanPress]

Are all the labels you've seen the same size or did they vary?
Sadly, I didn't measure the things so I can't say for sure. They appear to be about the same size.

Were the tins different sizes?
Again, I can't say but all examples that I am familiar with appear to be similar in size. But don't get hung up on sizes and so forth. I'm working on an article on patriotic stationery for Civil War Historian magazine right now, and I could show you 10 original envelopes that on the surface would appear to be the same. Yet each one is slightly different in size, pattern, and flap style so when examined side-by-side, they are all different.

Also, other than Jarnagin, can you suggest a tin can maker for the essence of coffee use?

No. I keep looking for tin cans with removable lids for reenacting purposes, but can't seem to find them. Doesn't mean they aren't out there someplace, just that I can't find them.

[Utley]

I currently offer several different slip cover tins (real tins, not aluminum). I can do ANY size that a customer wishes, i.e. to fit a certain label. I do also have access to the labels that were from the Bertrand. Anyone interested, feel free to look at my current offerings on my website and / or contact me about custom tins.

Chris Utley
Carter & Jasper Merc.
www.carterandjasper.com

[Mrs. Buttrick]

For the last two seasons, the West Side Soldiers Aid Society has been using a recipe provided by the Milwaukee Sentinel for pickled potatoes, February 10, 1864.

Fill a barrel with well-washed sliced potatoes, and cover with spiced vinegar which has been previously scalded, mark “Potatoes in Vinegar”. These in addition to all the pickled cabbage and onions mixed, and horse radish, that can be possibly furnished, must be had at once.

We were under the assumption that these were needed and relished by the troops. Another Sentinel report of March 30, 1864:

LETTER FROM NASHVILLE
US Sanitary Commission
Nashville Tenn. March 23, 1864

Mrs. Colt—Dear Madam:

One consignment of your pickled potatoes reached here today. We had a barrel opened in the presence of a number of good judges who pronounced the experiment a great success. The potatoes were in a fine state of preservation, and the spiced vinegar gives them a fine relish. We regard it here as the most valuable kind of vegetable diet ever furnished to an army, and such, I doubt not, will be the verdict of all the surgeons and soldiers in the army when it shall be tested by their experience.

Your Society deserve the thanks of the whole country for the excellent manner in which these potatoes were put up, and for furnishing a new and very palatable article of vegetable food which will do more than anything else to preserve the lives and health of our brave soldiers in the field.

One barrel of these potatoes will be worth more than ten eaten in the ordinary way—and then the vinegar will have the same curative effect as the potatoes pickled in it, and will be of great value. Your achievement is a simple one; but it will be splendid in its results. It will prevent disease and restore health to the sick. The blessing of those ready to perish will rest upon your society and this will be a rich reward. I am glad my own beloved Wisconsin has taken the lead in so noble an enterprise.

We are receiving letters every day from the front, urging us in the most earnest manner to send forward vegetables, to save the lives of the soldiers. We do all we can, and go to bed every night with hearts aching over sufferings we cannot relieve. I am rejoiced to hear that the friends of the soldiers are doing so much in Wisconsin for their relief. We beseech them to keep on doing and to do more. Now is the crisis of the war. Let no man or woman at home be faint-hearted or inactive. The rebellion is in its last throes. Its expiring struggle will be desperate but the friends of the union should not relax their exertions or slacken their hands till it is dead and buried.

In a day or two I will copy and send to you some letters from regiments numerously signed, addressed to the Soldiers’ Aid Society and to the ladies of the Northern States. The soldiers are thankful, and their thanks you shall read in their own language.

Very respectfully, your friend,
E. Root.

Imagine my surprise, then, to read Fanny Burling Buttrick's account of her visit to the Memphis Sanitary Commission in her letter of July 15, 1864, from the Camp of the 39th Regiment in Memphis. Among other duties thatconsumed her days, she had been placed in charge of requisitioning supplies. Her correspondence with Lydia Ely Hewitt, President of the Milwaukee Soldiers' Home, is full of little barbs thrown at the USSC.

I asked them if there was great demand for pickled potatoes. They laughed and said that they were rolling them off and dumping them into the river every day! What a shameful waste of time and material. Who on earth started that humbug? Our boys are human if they are soldiers, and they can no more eat raw potatoes with the skins on than their parents can at home.

[MissElizabethBrandt]

All those potatoes I peeled this summer went into the river?!

I am aghast!

We'll have to find a new project....or we can keep on pickling potatoes.

[AZReenactor]

Can you share the recipe here? I'd like to try making some up so I can get a soldiers perspective on the matter.

[MissElizabethBrandt]

If I remember correctly, we just peeled potatoes and put them in a crock of vinager.

Mrs. Lynch will have the actual recipe.

I can't quite recall what actually happened to them after we were done.

[Mrs. Buttrick]

This is the recipe, plain and simple:

Fill a barrel with well-washed sliced potatoes, and cover with spiced vinegar which has been previously scalded…

We scalded about two gallons of cider vinegar and poured a generous amount over the potatoes as we peeled them into a five-gallon crock. I can tell you that within a short time, the ingredients in the crock began to produce a golden foam. It was nearly full to the brim with potatoes (about fifteen pounds) when we packed it, but by the next morning the potatoes had settled and were but half the volume. We thought we should not taste them until another week or so passed. I am embarrassed to say that the whole batch went, not into the river, but into the compost pile at the Trimborn farmstead instead. That was a mighty heavy crock to carry home without the advantage of a sturdy wagon.

This spring, I promise, we will taste some and invite the troops to do the same.

[AZReenactor]

Very interesting. I was curious about the term "spiced vinegar" being used. I've seen various reciepts for spiced vinegar and was curious what was being used here. I'll have to see about putting some together to try here in the far West. Vinegar is a handy restorative in the heat and I'm always courious about how it might be incorperated into the diet.

[VIrginia Mescher]

Very interesting. I was curious about the term "spiced vinegar" being used. I've seen various reciepts for spiced vinegar and was curious what was being used here. I'll have to see about putting some together to try here in the far West. Vinegar is a handy restorative in the heat and I'm always courious about how it might be incorperated into the diet.

Although I've heard of pickled potatoes during the war, I've not done research on them. If I recall in my reading, they were supposed to keep the men from getting scurvy. I looked in a great number of my period cookbooks and did not find any receipes for pickled potatoes.

Other pickled vegetables may have been a more palatable way to get vinegar into the men. Also, many vegetables taste better with some vinegar sprinkled over them or that could be just a "southern thing" that I grew up with.

Yes, vinegar is very restorative in the heat and the way we use it is as a beverage. Mike makes up a concentrate of equal parts of honey and cider which to make it easy to carry. Put the concentrate in a glass bottle, never in a tin canteen. When one is ready for a drink, mix 2 tablespoons (or more or less to taste) with 8 ounces of water. The common name for this beverage was called harvest drink, haymaker's switchel, switchel. Another version used raspberry vinegar as the base. The sweetner could be molasses, brown sugar or honey. We prefer the honey. Ginger may also be added, which settles the stomach.

[Charles Heath]

Vinegar is a handy restorative in the heat and I'm always courious about how it might be incorperated into the diet.

Aw, c'mon Troy, you darn well know the bottom feeders have been slamming us early and often for having pickled goods in our vittles. :)

The pickled potatoes really sound like a head start on something akin to German potato salad, and it is coming from Milwaukee. Well, that's probably 2+2=5, but it is worth a look up. Let's see how they taste in about a month.

Couldn't help it. Had to make some.

(Virginia won't tell you this, but you'll quickly learn your horse loves switchel concentrate, too.)

[rebinnj]

Yes, vinegar is very restorative in the heat and the way we use it is as a beverage. Mike makes up a concentrate of equal parts of honey and cider which to make it easy to carry. Put the concentrate in a glass bottle, never in a tin canteen. When one is ready for a drink, mix 2 ounces or more with 8 ounces of water. The common name for this beverage was called harvest drink, haymaker's switchel, switchel. Another version used raspberry vinegar as the base. The sweetner could be molasses, brown sugar or honey. We prefer the honey. Ginger may also be added, which settles the stomach.

I make this sometimes at home, and if I remember when I am camping. For just a cup full I use one cup water, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon honey, stir thoroughly.

[Mrs. Buttrick]

Can't help a little diversion on the observation about German influences. In the same collection of letters from Memphis, Fanny Burling Buttrick writes:


Tuesday, 2nd August
Evening

We have a fine young German boy in the hospital who has been very ill with dysentery but now convalescent. He heard there was a bottle of German mustard in the box and begged me to spread him one cracker and bring it to him. The Doctor was willing and I did so. He tasted it and beseeched me to sell him the bottle at once.


Virginia, your vinegar drinks have soothed many a weary soldier and civilian! I am grateful for your guidance on this.

[VIrginia Mescher]

[QUOTE=
(Virginia won't tell you this, but you'll quickly learn your horse loves switchel concentrate, too.)[/QUOTE]

I'm glad the horses have benefited from the switchel concentrate. I hope now I won't be start to be known as the "vinegar lady." Of course that might be an improvement to some of the other names I've been called.

I'm also glad that others have enjoyed the switchel beverage. It is a restorative and has helped many in the heat of the summer. Just keep passing the word so others might benefit also.

[VIrginia Mescher]

This is Virginia's spouse chiming in. The unseasonably warm temperatures must have addled her a bit (and we don't have any switchel concentrate made up right now for her relief!). In her directions, she should have said "two tablespoons" instead of "two ounces" mixed into a cup of water. I fixed her post so it reads correctly. At the concentration she stated, you'll be close to curling the hair on your toenails! And the water used for dilution should be cold. Warm switchel is unpalatable.

Michael (drinker of "manly strength" switchel) Mescher

[weed]

Guys:

Here are pictures of the original can of "Essance of Coffee" from my collection. It is 2 3/4 " high by 2 1/4" in diameter. I also included a "side by side" image of the "Original" with the one that Jarnagin used to ( I do not know if they still do) sold.

John W

[weed]

Sorry, I need to post the pictures of the "original can" twice. Again, the original can of "Essance of Coffee" it is 2 3/4" by 2 1/4"

The label is obviously a little differant than what the Jarnagin one is, is that a surprise?:rolleyes:

Weed

[paulcalloway]

John -
Have one of your lovely secretaries transcribe all that label-text for us eh?
:D
Great pics, bud.

[ContinentalMorganGuard]

The can I have that I posted about before is the similar specs as the other originals 2 3/4" tall by 2 wide. However I've noticed that all the originals everyone has posted does not have the embossed lid like mine, any idea if its a later period or not?

[Charles Heath]

A bit of trivia.

Roger Fenton writes to Grace Fenton -

When I got up I went down to the cliff and had another swim then came back, and got breakfast, cold pork, biscuit, and essence of coffee. After breakfast I went down to the sea again to see the soldiers bathe: They went in by regiments [ — ] fine fun it was to see their delight.

That is letter #17 assumed to have been penned circa 28-30 May 1855 while he was in the Crimea. The "Annie Grace Fenton letter-book, Royal Photographic Society Collection, National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford" can be found here:

http://www.rogerfenton.org.uk/showLetter.php?letterNo=17

So, much like Captain Marcy mentioning desiccated vegetables in The Prairie Traveler, this mention indicates Essence of Coffee (of some variety) was available to Europeans a few years prior to our Civil War.

[paulcalloway]

Horsford, E.N., The Army Ration. How to Diminish It's Weight and Bulk, Secure Economy in it's Administration, Avoid Waste, and Increase the Comfort, Efficiency, and Mobility of Troops. <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comhttp://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/ /><st1:PlaceName w:st=New York</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st=" /><st1:State w:st="on">(New York, </st1:State>D. Van Nostrand,<st1:State w:st="on"> </ST1:p</st1:State>1864), 10-11.

The desiccated vegetables furnished by the Government are serviceable in arresting tendencies to scorbutic disease, and in promoting and preserving the general health.The bulk of these articles in the ordinary merchantable condition, and their liability to spontaneous decay with changes of atmospheric conditions, render their transportation as raw material to any considerable distance, quite out of the question. The percentage of water is large. My determinations (Liebig's Annalen, 1846,) gave the following results:
White Potatoes........................74.95% water
Blue Potatoes...........................68.94
Red Beets.................................81.61
Rutabaga..................................82.25
Yellow French Beet..................83.28
Carrots .....................................86.10
Turnips......................................87.78
Onions.......................................93.78 As desiccated vegetables, the water is in large part removed, the bulk correspondingly reduced, and the liability to injury from variations of heat and atmospheric moisture overcome. Potatoes, cabbages, turnips, carrots, parsnips, beets, tomatoes, onions, peas, beans, lentils, celery &c., are thoroughly cleaned, sliced, dried in a current of heated air, weighed, seasoned, and pressed with the aid of a hydraulic press into compact forms, sealed in tin cases, and enclosed in wooden boxes. In this condition they are sent to the field. An ounce is a ration. A block on foot square and two inches thick weighs seven pounds, and contains vegetables for a single ration for 112 men. It requires only to be soaked in cold water, and then sufficiently boiled, with a piece of meat, to make a savory and every way delicious soup. If the meat be wanting, the vegetables may be served as soup without other ingredients. This ration is furnished in lieu of potatoes, rice and peas or beans.The proper officers may, within certain limits, vary the ingredients of the ration according to the Tastes of the men and the facilities for procuring supplies.

[Charles Heath]

Paul,

As a tiny footnote to the CW Centennial, Horsford's "The Army Ration" was reprinted as Library Bulletin, Supplement Nr. 1, July 1961 by the US Army Quartermaster Food & Container Institute for the Armed Forces, Quartermaster Research & Engineering Command, Chicago 9, Illinois. The Edwin Forbes cover image is that of a line of lads with mess gear in hand awaiting their feeding. Gee, those kettles look familiar.

If you have a can of Rumsford brand baking powder or Borden's condensed milk in your cupboard, then thank this fellow for his work with phosphates, and his keen interest in baking. Horsford is an RPI Hall of Famer, and was the wearer of a fine hat:

http://www.rpi.edu/about/hof/horsford.html

[paulcalloway]

Wish I had a cleaner copy but yes, you described the picture well.

According to Charles, the drawing was first published in 1876, as plate 20, in "Life Studies of the Great Army."

[calico_outlaw]

From the 1858 Scientific American

For every pint of spiced vinegar it is in-
tended to make, take one ounce of black pep-
per, half an ounce of salt, half an ounce of
ginger, a quarter of an ounce of allspice, and
if desired to be hot, add also a quarter of a
drachm of Cayenne, or a few capsicums.
Bruise the whole of these materials in a mor-
tar, and put them into a jar, or wide-mouthed
green glass bottle, tied over with a bladder.
Place this in a saucepan of water, and keep it
hot for three or four days, shaking it now and
then. If the maker has an enamel saucepan,
this operation can be facilinted by simmering
the ingredients together. Spiced vinegar is
used hot for walnuts and cold for cabbage.

Shawnra Greene

[Charles Heath]

Like a small child, I could not wait for Christmas, and had to try one of the slices of pickled potatoes this evening. In my humble opinion, this dish will not achieve the popularity of pie anytime soon.

[jacobite8749]

Spiced vinegar in the UK is used for pickling onions, gurkins, eggs, cabbage, anything really and does a good job. I am sure I have seen, both here and in Georgia, pickling spices in a packet and it does add flavour. If there are not a farmers market that would sell some UK produce. Vinegar was also issued in lieu of vegtables as part of a ration to fight off scurvy. Added to cabbage and greens makes a saurkrauat type of dish. I'd suggest frying the potatoes off, either diced or sliced, along with cabbage or greens, cornbeef and not bad eating

[Mrs. Buttrick]

Charles,

Now I am a little ashamed for being so quick to criticize the Sanitary Commission at Memphis. We'll put some young hands to work this morning at a local school, let the potatoes sit a week or so and then give them a taste test 1) straight from the crock and 2) with the cabbage and corned beef.

[jacobite8749]

Pickled cabbage and in particular pickled red cabbage, or beetroot even, are very tasty. Not knowing a lot about this (apart from the eating thereof) I imagine it was, and still is in some quarters, a way of preserving items from one season to the next. Possibley an older reciept for pickled potatoes is just that. I can imagine pickled new potatoes being used at Christamas for example.
To make a red cabbage, in particular for Czech food, you use vinegar to soak it and cook it in.
I'd be grateful to know what the young tastebuds tell us?

[Utley]

Jay and others,

I know this info was initially posted back in '04, but Frank Ellis is currently out of the business and is not making skillets any longer.

[Charles Heath]

Jay's message was deleted due to the advertising content in the sig block. While this is acceptable on other fora, it is not acceptable here.

Chris, thanks for informing us about the demise of F. Ellis' skillet business. He had a great number of satisfied customers if his word-of-mouth advertising was an indication of quality and service.

[tater]

thanks for the info

[Edwin Carl Erwin]

Leander Stillwell of Co. D, 61st Illinois Infantry, in his book The Story of a Common Soldier, wrote with a wry sense of humor regarding Federal issue dried vegetables.

"There were a few occasions when an article of diet was issued called "desiccated potatoes." For "desiccated" the boys promptly substituted "desecrated," and "desecrated potatoes" was its name among the rank and file from start to finish. It consisted of Irish potatoes cut up fine and thoroughly dried. In appearance it much resembled the modern preparation called "grape nuts." We would mix it in water, grease, and salt and make it up into little cakes, which we would fry, and they were first rate. There was a while when we were at Boliver, Tennessee, that some stuff called "compressed vegetables" was issued to us, which the boys, almost unanimously, considered an awful fraud. It was composed of all sorts of vegetables, pressed into small bales, in a solid mass, and as dry as threshed straw. The conglomeration contained turnip-tops, cabbage leaves, string-beans (pod and all), onion blades, and possibly some of every other kind of a vegetable that ever grew in a garden. It came in small boxes, about the size of the Chinese tea-boxes that were frequently seen in this country about fifty years ago. In the process of cooking, it would swell up prodigiously,--a great deal more so than rice. The Germans in the regiment would make big dishes of soup out of this "baled hay", as we called it, and they liked it, but the native Americans, after one trial, wouldn't touch it. I think about the last box of it that was issued to our company was pitched into a ditch in the rear of the camp, and it soon got thoroughly soaked and loomed up about as big as a fair-sized hay-cock. "Split-peas" were issued to us, more or less, during all the time we were in the service. My understanding was that they were ordinary garden peas. They were split in two, dried, and about as hard as gravel. But they yielded to cooking, made excellent food, and we were all fond of them. In our opinion, when properly cooked, they were almost as good as Yankee beans."

[Charles Heath]

Try hard not to laugh while reading this little missive from the ORs:


HDQRS. SECOND BRIG., THIRD DIVISION, SECOND CORPS,
November 21, 1864.
Capt. J. P. FINKELMEIER,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Third Division, Second Corps:

CAPTAIN: In reply to your communication received last evening I have the honor to state that on the 25th ultimo, the day before the last movement to the left, there was issued to the troops of this command one day's ration of codfish. It was nearly all thrown away by the men; I saw one brigade amusing themselves by throwing it at each other. I made inquiries in regard to it, and was informed by my officer that the men had no means of cooking it while on the march, and to eat it raw would make an excuse for straggling by constantly falling out for water, and for this reason the men threw it away rather than carry it along, not knowing when they would have an opportunity to cook it. I consider it, as a ration, lost to the men to issue it at such a time. The cause of the present deficiency in rations is partially owing to that issue. I would, therefore, respectfully recommend that no more salt fish be issued to this brigade while on the march or anticipating a march.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

B. R. PIERCE,
Brigadier-General of Volunteers.


Source: O.R.--SERIES I--VOLUME XLII/3 [S# 89]
UNION CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, AND RETURNS RELATING TO OPERATIONS IN SOUTHEASTERN VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA, FROM OCTOBER 1, 1864, TO DECEMBER 31, 1864.(*)--# 27

[ScottCross]

Mornin Ladies, oh excuse me General Pirece!:sarcastic

[Charles Heath]

Scott,

That was funny!

The confederates could have used fish as a secret weapon, but the old sticks in the mud didn't see fit to give it a try on a widespread basis:

MARIETTA, GA., October 24, 1863.

THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES,

Sitting at Augusta:

Called together as you are by the Secretary of War to aid by your actions and counsels the Subsistence Department, I hope good results may follow your deliberations. I have implicit confidence that our independence will be won by the valor of our troops, but not without much effort and privation. If there be a question about which there is danger, it is the supply of meat for the Army. While we held Middle and East Tennessee there was no danger. At present they are in the possession of the enemy, and it is now uncertain what supply of meat, if any, will be drawn from that quarter. This may interfere materially with your prices, and hence the propriety of embracing all our resources in this terrific conflict. We have men, arms, ammunition, bread, and clothes, and a supply of meat must be had, as we are resolved not to be subjugated. The infamous enemy who invades our country threatens to starve us into submission. God said: "Let the waters bring forth abundantly," and it was done. He gave to man dominion over the fish of the sea. In our rivers, lakes, and bays there is an inexhaustible supply of fish, which in our abundance we have never resorted to. It is the part of wisdom now to look to this providential supply placed beyond the reach and control of the enemy. If driven to the necessity the Army can be fed from the waters. In political economy supply and demand determine prices. The plan to diminish the price of meat for the Army is to increase the supply. As agents for the Government this becomes a legitimate question for your body. How is this to be done? The stock regions are mainly in the hands of the enemy, and in the cotton States we have not time to grow them now to meet what may become an important emergency; that is, a scant supply of meat for the Army. The most certain and ready resource, then, is to assume dominion over the fish of the sea. How is this to be done? I make the following suggestions:

First. By orders from the proper military department detail 10,000 men from the several armies, selected for their fitness for this service, such as disabled soldiers, new conscripts, and men over forty-five (if found necessary), who shall be placed under proper officers at the best fisheries to be found in the Confederacy.

Second. They are detailed as a permanent force to furnish an additional supply of meat for the Army from the waters, by all the appliances used for such purposes, to wit, traps, seines, floats and hooks, trot-lines, nets, spears, gigs, hooks, &c.

Third. The Government to furnish a supply of salt and the fish as caught to be scaled, dressed, and salted. This service can be rendered by women, either white or black, or both.

Fourth. A detail of rough carpenters should be made to make boxes and barrels, and quartermasters to superintend the transportation to depots, &c.

Fifth. Officers in attendance should make reports weekly to higher authorities.

The above is a sufficient outline of the plan. The object is to add to the supply of meat for the Army, thereby enabling you to control the price thereof. An experiment may show that it is economy in the Government thus to employ force enough to furnish half the meat required by the Army. It is the legitimate mode of effecting the price of what is to be bought. If this force should average ten pounds each per day it would give 100,000 pounds per day, which would be rations for an army of 200,000 men. We know that men can live on fish. We know that the supply in the rivers is abundant. We know that industry and system will get them out of the waters. It is too uncertain in the hands of individuals, hence the necessity of organizing a regular force to work at this alone by the Government. They are reliable meat growers. It develops one of the hidden resources of the Confederacy at a time when it is needed. The soldiers of the Army may become alarmed about a meat supply, as we are cut off from Tennessee and Kentucky. This should be relieved as soon as possible. Establish the fact that we have a supply of meat in the waters and our independence is won. We can't fail on any other question; we must not fail on this. Bonaparte passed the Alps when the world thought it was impossible. The supply is in the waters beyond doubt, large enough to feed the whole population of the Confederate States, and will we sit down and say we can't get out enough to feed 200,000 men? At many of the fisheries a large quantity of oil could be made--much needed now by the Army. The plan will not interfere with the field force, and its successful execution is recommended by the highest considerations. To insure success, however, I think that if the Secretary of War will give the orders and authority to General Gideon J. Pillow that he will put the whole plan into operation sooner than any man in the Confederate States. He is practical and of untiring energy and industry. He knows how such things can be done. He can direct matters in the Conscript Bureau and attend to this meat supply also. If these views meet the approval of the commissioners I hope they will in their official capacity urge its immediate adoption upon the Secretary of War. I think we have no time to lose.

All of which is respectfully submitted.
S. R. COCKRILL,
Nashville, Tenn.


The comments from Northrop were less than enthusiastic. Perhaps he did not like fish.


BUREAU OF SUBSISTENCE,

November 10, 1863.

Respectfully returned to the Secretary of War.

The writer says correctly that our people have not paid attention to fisheries in the lakes and rivers of the interior, of which the products would scarcely support the hands employed. The shad fisheries on the tide waters of the rivers have been attended to, and the supply has of late years been steadily diminishing because the fish caught were on their way up to spawn. The results of this business have not exceeded local consumption. It was conducted by plantation negroes and by Yankees. The writer has not shown from Scripture that the promised dominion over the waters and the fishes therein will confer on the 10,000 Confederate invalids and exempts the skill to fabricate all the appliances necessary to catch the fish or the judgment, perseverance, and hardihood requisite to use them successfully, even if the vast amount of cord needed was obtainable. Nor has it been shown that in the absence of these facilities and endowments the promised dominion will cause in the fish a due avidity to be caught, even if the season of the year will admit the present application of the plan. It must also be shown that the promised dominion over the waters will be admitted by Mr. Lincoln in favor of the Confederates, and induce him to prohibit hereafter the boat expeditions which have been used with great activity heretofore to break up the fisheries in the waters of Virginia and North Carolina. This whole subject has long ago been carefully considered, and but little fish has been secured during the past two seasons. The impossibility of getting seines or the cord to make them has restricted our efforts and they have failed. Professor Richardson, of Marietta, made long communications on the subject, and the reports of Major White, of Florida, thereon are conclusive. Landsmen often fail in their theories on marine matters from want of familiarity with little details which the experience of seamen alone furnishes. If Gen. G. J. Pillow can realize the results indicated this Bureau will be greatly benefited directly.

L. B. NORTHROP,
Commissary-General of Subsistence.


One can only imagine what the shad fisheries must have been like prior to the construction of so many dams ostensibly for water power. In recent years, a good number of those dams have been razed to permit fish migration for spawning.

[Ken Cornett]

Awesome Charles!

[Charles Heath]

Awesome Charles!

Ken,

Don't encourage me. ;)

For the "north of the Ohio" set, here's another fishy reference:

CINCINNATI, August 27, 1864.

Col. A. E. SHIRAS,
Assistant Commissary. General of Subsistence:

Letters of the 24th received. Beckwith reports 13th instant that he feeds daily south of the Ohio 300,000 individuals. One-half of these are probably citizens and not entitled to rations. I fear our troops must suffer and possibly be obliged to fall back if such persons are fed. Humanity might require that fresh beef and flour in limited amount be given, but no other part of the ration. The West is being rapidly exhausted of salt meats. They are very scarce, and mostly held out of market. General Eaton has been here. He ordered 5,000 barrels of pork here from New York. He also directed that corned beef twice per week and salt fish once per week be issued to troops north of the Ohio. If fresh beef is issued four times per week no pork or bacon would be used. General Eaton is now, I believe, in Saint Louis. After his arrival there he goes to Louisville. He as well as all Western commissaries is aware of the great emergency, but something should be done at once to cut off full supplies to persons not entitled to them, otherwise we will soon have nothing for the fighting troops. I will meet General Eaton again in Louisville. If Beckwith can come up the General will probably have him come also to Louisville.

C. L. KILBURN,
[39.] Colonel and Assistant Commissary-General of Subsistence.


Source: O.R.--SERIES I--VOLUME LII/1 [S# 109]
Union Correspondence, Orders, And Returns Relating To Operations In Southwestern Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, West Florida, And Northern Georgia, From January 1, 1861, To June 30, 1865.--#20

What's a few fish between comrades? :)

[Coatsy]

I could definitely picture that. But what about spearing watermelons? All in all thanks for sharing. This is the type of stuff that we need to be reading!

[Charles Heath]

Watermelons, and melons in general show up in various accounts. This letter is interesting enough just because it is a little something different:

SUNDAY, MAY 29, 1864.

DEAR LOUISA: I have seen our friend, M. Farin, the very day he arrived at home. I was going to the children's school, opposite, when he called me over to tell me that you were well, but Louly must still be sick, as he did not see her. I hope that the lady from Dayton who has bought a place in Canada, in the country, will take you to board with her on account of Louly's health, and perhaps she will board you for $20 a month in gold. No private house ought to ask as much as a hotel. Sister Anthony, from the Saint John's Hospital, will be in Detroit in a week or ten days from this time; will bring your flower molds and other little things for you. If Louly would come back with her she will take the greatest care of her. She could sleep all night in the sleeping-car, in one of the lower ones, not more than a foot from the ground. As Helen's school closes the 16th of next month, she could take care of little Louly with me, and I would bring her back to you before Helen's school begins again, as the fresh air of the country would restore her. We will soon have raspberries, and I have planted watermelons and cantaloupes. I have always thought her a delicate child. I will take every care of her. Louise Benham has left us for good; she is in L., but will be up on Wednesday for three days. She will write and tell you when to expect her at Windsor. If I had an old pair of Louly's drawers I could have them made, but if the old waist will do it will not be much trouble to cut and make them yourself. I have just received a letter from Albert while writing to you. He is well and in good spirits and likes the service very much. He is at present at Mound City, near Cairo; has sent me the Commodore Porter telegraph and a drawing of the Black Hawk, the flag-ship. He sends his [love] to all. Did you receive your boots and ----, which was sent to the express office at Detroit? Remember me to our Zena. I have commenced building the new rooms, but building is so high I fear I cannot do all that is necessary to the old home to make it decent and comfortable. Sissy, is there anything for you and Louly? Does she want a nice little sunbonnet with slats in it, as Jane Buscan has made one for Helen and Guy? I think one of white plaid muslin or a plain blue, yellow, or green French gingham, all one color, with a little riffle around it, will be nice for her. Write at once about it. Kiss Louly for me. Helen and Guy go every Sunday to Lindan Sunday school. Write soon. Do you not ---- or ---- , or does Louly?

Your affectionate mother,

A. L.

Write at once about the sunbonnet.

(This letter inclosed in an envelope addressed Mrs. Louisa Phillips, Windsor, Canada, inclosed in another addressed S. D. Elwood, esq., Detroit, Mich.)


Source: O.R.--SERIES II--VOLUME VII [S# 120]
UNION & CONFED. CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, ETC., RELATING TO PRISONERS OF WAR AND STATE FROM APRIL 1, 1864, TO DECEMBER 31, 1864.--#15

No word as of yet about the progress of the watermelon x corn hybridization from OCN R & D? :p

[calico_outlaw]

From the Sanitary Commission Bulletin:
Wherever I go, the surgeons say, "Send us all the vegetables possible. The men in the field must have them or die; but do not send pickled potatoes, they are a waste of money. And send no canned fruits, send them dried.

[Charles Heath]

Now I am a little ashamed for being so quick to criticize the Sanitary Commission at Memphis.

After letting the pickled potatoes sit for another few weeks to absorb the squeaky fresh goodness of spiced vinegar, the popularity of this item, in the humble opinion of this taste tester, is still not in any way shape or form going to surpass that of pie. Given the texture of a potato, this concoction does remind me of pickled watermelon rind, but without the sweetness of the latter. :tounge_sm

[boreguard]

Great reading old friend. My grandmaw who's 95 y.o. and still wide open, says that "fish fills people up quicker than anything 'cause Jesus feed thousands on just a few !" If the army had only new.

See ya in Vicksburg.

[Mrs. Buttrick]

I concur with Charles. After a couple of weeks our potatoes were disappointing--in taste, texture and color.

That the Sanitary Commission did not recommend them is not surprising.


From the Sanitary Commission Bulletin:
Wherever I go, the surgeons say, "Send us all the vegetables possible. The men in the field must have them or die; but do not send pickled potatoes, they are a waste of money. And send no canned fruits, send them dried.

The woman quoted in my original post was involved in a disagreement, to put it delicately, with Milwaukee USSC agents. We are searching for letters or documents to help us understand this disagreement. We do know that the women connected with the Soldiers' Home at Milwaukee had bypassed USSC channels in sending supplies to the 39th Wisconsin at Memphis, August 1864, and that feelings about their plans for a permanent home in Milwaukee were contested. Henrietta Colt, mentioned below in Fanny Buttrick's correspondence (Memphis, August 24, 1864), was the Corresponding Secretary for the Wisconsin Soldiers' Aid Society.

What think you of Mrs. Colt's letter? Of course, I shall take no notice of it but it may serve to amuse you and the other kind friends who sent that glorious box -- the real secret of the old lady's excessive irritation. She is a weak and foolish woman. Yet in some respects superior to the rest of her sex as one meets them in everyday life.

Fanny's correspondence is forcing us to reexamine our assumptions about Wisconsin Soldiers' Aid Societies. Now, if we can only track down some letters by Mrs. Colt!

We'll be working on preparing horseradish in Spring, but will keep preparing the potatoes. We can't let our privileged knowledge of their outcome interfere with our zeal to do our part.

[Charles Heath]

After a couple of weeks our potatoes were disappointing--in taste, texture and color.

Oddly enough, the color improves after a while as the potatoes move through a blue/purple/brown phase back to a cream color. I was surprised to notice this last night.

You mentioned horseradish in your post, and while eating the potatoes I was thinking about how much they'd be like a mild condiment for cold roast beef if minced and spread about like a thick horseradish paste. Pickled beets are good. Pickled eggs are good. Kraut is good. Pickled beef tongue is excellent, so what did they do to make these confounded pickled potatoes edible?

The administration of pickled potatoes could really pep up those anti-scorbutic issues at events. :eek:

[BobbyHughes]

Comrades,

I thought I saw an article on this august forum about double smoked bacon for use in the field, but nothing came up on the search func.

So here goes, anybody down here in the Hotlanta area know of a source??? any help is greatly appreciated

[Foggy Bottom Jim]

This isn't specific to your area but I have had good luck at better delicattesens finding double or "twice" smoked bacon. Some of the places I have found the pork have called themselves "The International Deli" and "The German Deli".

Hope it helps.

Jim Reynolds

[Charles Heath]

http://www.yellowpagecity.com/sys/pageserver.dll?b=2503&p=0&s=0&f=hi37046&gp=&go=butcher

Try the Atlanta yellow pages. Granted, there is not much in the metro area in terms of German food and food service supply, but you may luck out with a few phone calls.

[Bob 125th NYSVI]

Any good pork store may also carry the product.

I'm lucky enough to live in an area where I have both German deli's and an Italian pork store that makes its own smoked bacon.

One thing though you should probably order enough for several reeanactments at one time. A couple of times I've tried to get it the week before and the store is out. They're making more but it takes several weeks if done right.

[flattop32355]

Check at a specialty meat/butcher shop. If they don't sell it, they may know someone who does.

Double smoked keeps well over a weekend and can be frozen and thawed without perceptible detriment, so you can buy in bulk.

It fries up well, with enough grease to cook eggs or potatoes afterwards. It also boils well for a mucket/skillet meal with vegetables and water thrown in.

Nothing beats a meaty chunk of it, though it's easy enough to get some with mostly fat, so look at the piece they'll be cutting yours from before they cut it. In Columbus, Ohio, it goes for about $5.00/pound. The fat-soaked wrapping paper makes a good fire starter.

It ain't quite Chawls Heaf's salt pork, but it runs a good second to it.

[Garrett Silliman]

Robert,

If you're ever down in the Decatur area, try the DeKalb Farmer's Market. They have a huge selection of locally produced smoked/cured meats. Good Luck,

[Rob Walker]

Many small butcher shops will make it for you if they don't carry it normally. There are even a few larger places like Karl Ehmer and the like that can get it. If you let them know in advance that you require twice or even triple smoked bacon, many places will have it done for you in just about any quantity but I have found most would rather you order no less than a pound. Last year we ordered 30 lbs from a butcher for local event and had no problems getting it.

[brown]

I second Garrett's suggestion of the Dekalb Farmer's Market. Of course, it's amazing-ness goes beyond just meat and the 19th century, but it is well worth a look for double smoked bacon.

[Cottoncarder]

Oddly enough, the color improves after a while as the potatoes move through a blue/purple/brown phase back to a cream color. I was surprised to notice this last night.

You mentioned horseradish in your post, and while eating the potatoes I was thinking about how much they'd be like a mild condiment for cold roast beef if minced and spread about like a thick horseradish paste. Pickled beets are good. Pickled eggs are good. Kraut is good. Pickled beef tongue is excellent, so what did they do to make these confounded pickled potatoes edible?

Hummm? Think perhaps there might be an assumption regarding first par boiling the peeled potatoes rather than putting them in the crock raw? Maybe its one of those things that every mid-nineteenth century cook was assumed to know. This would certainly improve the texture, color and consistancy and help them to absorb the spiced vinegar.:confused:

Mr. Heath, by the time you work your way down to the bottom of that crock with your tastings, I know I will laugh myself silly many times over with your naratives.:D

[Charles Heath]

Hummm? Think perhaps there might be an assumption regarding first par boiling the peeled potatoes rather than putting them in the crock raw?

Barb,

Way down in the original instructions, "well-washed sliced potatoes" appears to indicate a clean, raw, potato, but par boiling the little spuds whole may be a good variation on the recipe, which brings us back around to pickled eggs or beets once again. With vinegar flavored potato chips being all the rage in today's marketplace, and fried potatoes with malt vinegar being still common, there may be a reason such concoctions have survived as long as they have. Mmmm, good. A question that hasn't been posed it why pickle potatoes in the first place. Perhaps it has more to do with potatoes not faring well in temperature extremes and the slow speed of period modes of transportation than taste.

Now, if you think the tuck or not to tuck debate is something to see, just wait until the "pie- vs par-" boil conflagration erupts. :wink_smil

[BobbyHughes]

DeKalb Farmers Market... okay, got it... thanks for all the help boys! Just the info I needed.

[jacobite8749]

Well-washed sliced potatoes does appear to indicate a clean, raw, potato, and then pickled, and i assumed was just for storage! I have eat raw spuds (why?) and recall them being quite awful, but pickled raw spuds??????????
However, I had also assumed that you would perhaps fry them or at least cook them prior to eating. Fried spuds with a hint of malt vinegar..........mmmmm sounds like chips (frys).

My samples are not pickled enough yet to try but will fry mine.

[Cottoncarder]

I does seem as though something has been lost in translation here if the raw product is so gag-nasty. Either that, or taste buds have gone through some serious mutations in only a few generations.

Mr. Hopper your interpretation does sound quite appealing. Oh my, fried up with a little onion and I think they would be quite tasty.

[Becky Morgan]

Barb,

A question that hasn't been posed it why pickle potatoes in the first place. Perhaps it has more to do with potatoes not faring well in temperature extremes and the slow speed of period modes of transportation than taste.

I don't know what anyone else's luck is with keeping potatoes, but they sprout quickly around here even when kept in the proverbial cool, dark place. Pickling would guarantee no sprouts and less waste. OTOH, if storage was the problem, why not simply dry them?
I have never tried to dry potatoes, although I have dried apples, beans, berries and, of course, grapes. Has anyone else desecrated any vegetables?:)

[Hank Trent]

I don't know what anyone else's luck is with keeping potatoes, but they sprout quickly around here even when kept in the proverbial cool, dark place. Pickling would guarantee no sprouts and less waste. OTOH, if storage was the problem, why not simply dry them?
I have never tried to dry potatoes, although I have dried apples, beans, berries and, of course, grapes. Has anyone else desecrated any vegetables?:)

Just a thought... Did y'all notice in the first post, the comment that the pickled potatoes had their skins still on?

For what it's worth, we've kept potatoes here (Ohio) until about February, when they really start trying to grow in earnest. You do have to "sprout" them occasionally, and a certain proportion "die" and go bad.

Also, don't know if anyone's run across this yet, but here's a recipe from 1872, in To-Day: The Popular Illustrated Magazine. Though it's only a few years later, the Saratoga chip fad would have started, and I don't know if that had any influence, especially considering the "beautifully crisp" comment, when crisp potatoes had become all the rage.

PICKLED POTATOES.--Wash and peel some potatoes, cut them into long thin strips and pass threm through two or three waters; drain them upon a coth, and then sprinkle them wtih fine salt. Let them remain for an hour, rub them dry in the cloth, and put them into a cold pickle of spiced vinegar, to which a clove of garlic bruised or a sliced onion has been added. If well done, and the potatoes be of the proper kind, this pickle is beautifully crisp, and will take any flavor communicated to it in the vinegar, such as that derived from a mushroom or two. A few slices of boiled beet root will give it a fine red color.

Obviously there's a difference between making something in small quantities for your family table, and shipping out the maximum amount of anti-scorbutic veggies to soldiers who'll never get to praise or curse you in person, and I wonder if the care in preparation accounted for the difference between good and bad pickled potatoes.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[jacobite8749]

"I don't know what anyone else's luck is with keeping potatoes, but they sprout quickly around here even when kept in the proverbial cool, dark place".

Quite some years ago we grew potatoes (30 or so). My grandfather advised me to keep some new potatoes and bury them in a box covered in sand. We had new potatoes for Xmas day every year after that. However, with a global market such ideas are forgotten.

[Becky Morgan]

I need to try something different to keep them, for sure. We're also in Ohio. I'm lucky to keep potatoes unsprouted for two weeks most of the year and a week in springtime. I bought one of those plastic-wrapped microwave sweet potatoes a week ago, started to ook it yesterday, and found sprouts popping out. I'm going to plant that one.

Obviously, *something* worked better ca. 1860. My neighbor's house was built about 1850 and still has its deep, cool basement, although she did have a concrete floor poured. Her canned goods do very well down there--but her potatoes and onions don't. I wonder whether modern varieties are bred without much regard for keeping because it's not generally necessary.

[Hank Trent]

For what it's worth, the way it worked for us is to put the potatoes in a mouse-proof wooden bin in a dry-laid cellar with a plank floor over dirt, so it was fairly damp and cold. We tried burying them in sand, and also burying them in a straw "nest" in the garden, and the main problem was that you couldn't get to them to sprout them easily, but they still kept those ways for the coldest part of the winter. This was a few years ago when we had a garden, and we planted them as late as possible and left them in the garden as long as possible, then dug them at the end of the season, didn't wash them, and put them in the cellar. The variety was the Pink-eye. Haven't tried it with store-bought potatoes, so I don't know how they'd do.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Charles Heath]

Haven't tried it with store-bought potatoes, so I don't know how they'd do.

Hank,

Commercial, store bought, potatoes should do just fine, as they are sprayed with both a rot inhibitor and an anti sprouting agent. The latter is known as CIPC (1-methylethyl-3-chlorophenylcarbamate) and does an excellent job for five to six months, which is why potatoes in those warm kitchen spud bins tend to look good well after home grown potatoes would have succumbed to the urge to sprout. Approximately half the potatoes grown in the US of A are treated in this manner.

Two of the steps most gardeners miss is letting the skins mature in the ground after the vines die back, and curing the potatoes in the sunlight for a couple of hours. The first step yields a tougher 'tater hide, and the second kills off a number of skin borne problems, especially where harvesting damage occurs. My guess is many gardeners skip the sun treatment, as overexposure turns the potatoes green, and the developing alkaloids are not pleasant for the digestive tract.

Modern information, for sure, but perhaps useful for those who grow their own.

[Hank Trent]

My guess is many gardeners skip the sun treatment, as overexposure turns the potatoes green, and the developing alkaloids are not pleasant for the digestive tract.

I thought that step was called "Whew, finally got all these potatoes dug. I'm going to take a break before I carry them to the cellar." :)

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Charles Heath]

I thought that step was called "Whew, finally got all these potatoes dug. I'm going to take a break before I carry them to the cellar."

Hank,

That, too!

Last year was so incredibly dry and warm that we planted the early potatoes on February 27th, which is about five weeks ahead of schedule for these parts. It was a good growing year, the yield was excellent, damage from insects and disease was minimal, and the potatoes were ready by mid-June. Harvesting potatoes manually is hard work if the ground is dry and hard as concrete, but it sure is fun to see what comes fom the ground with each pull of the potato hook.

In between the hooks and the modern mechanical harvesters, people in this region used potato plows, which are essentially furrowers (bull tongue or V type) with wings of long fingers of wrought iron laid back at a gentle angle so the potatoes rise over the plow, and fall off to each side of the hill ready for pick-up as the plow moves along. Some of these plows cut a 14"-18" path exclusive of the wings, so they aren't for the faint of heart.

[WestTN_reb]

We always used a horse drawn, slat bore Chattanooga Plow when we harvested sweet potatoes. Is that similar to the plow you're talking about?

[Charles Heath]

Is that similar to the plow you're talking about?

John,

Not unless you welded a right and left slat plow down the middle, and did a little grinding to make a furrower. I'd hate to lift such a monster from the furrow it would make. :wink_smil

Although the slats on your Chattanooga Plow are designed to lessen the grip of clay and other sticky soils, they do work well for harvesting shallow growing sweet potatoes. The slats allow the dirt, small stones, and small trash to pass right through. It's a nice side effect. I've often wondered if they made those slat moldboards for kick/turning plows. These fingers on the local potato plows extend as much as 3 feet behind the furrower. They are kind of odd looking, to say the least.

I have used a wooden beam 1890 Oliver for the same purpose in the sandy loam we have here. Once scoured well, it moves nicely through the soil and a single mule or horse can pull it with ease. It gets under the sweet potatoes and gives them a gentle lift and flip, although for turning the soil it would be running a tad too deep. As much fun as it is fooling with the animals, the task is a lot more enjoyable on the tractor unearthing three rows at a time.

This area is very rocky, with a thick layer of sandy loam above a yellow clay situation well below the plow line, so we don't see many slat plows here, walking or otherwise. The last one I saw was a two bottom on Jeff's place at the Payne's Farm event down in Virginia. His family provided the water refill for that event. That slat plow was either a Ferguson or Dearborn, if memory serves me and it was in darn good shape with the coulters in place, and it may have even had the jointers still installed. It was very nice. I looked at it enough that Dusty started kidding me about it.

[ContinentalMorganGuard]

Yesterday my father purchased a clear glass bottle, that had embossed on the bottle Essc. "Camp coffee" and chickory. It also had the manufactuer name on the side, which escapes me now. My question is when does it date from? It was purchased from a dealer in Cvil War items, for what thats worth. Once I get a picture I'll try to post it if needs be. I know in ealry conversation on this thread it was determined or was the going opinion that essence of Coffee was in either large cans that served 100 or small tin cans that held 4 oz. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Dignann]

Robert,

It appears to be a Scottish thing. If you check eBay, you'll probably find similar bottles to the one your father purchased. A couple common ones are embossed "SYMINGTON & Cos ESS COFFEE & CHICORY EDINBURGH" and "PATERSON'S ESS CAMP COFFEE & CHICORY GLASGOW." The sellers are claiming that they date from around the turn of the twentieth century.

McCormick Foods of Scotland still makes a similar substance, under the brand name "Camp (http://www.sybertooth.com/camp/)."

Eric

[ContinentalMorganGuard]

Now, that you mention it i think it might have had a city of manufacture like Glasgow, now that you mention it. It did not claim to be Civil War just late 19th century. So, I guess the next question is was the stuff in the bottle the same as CW essence?

[markj]

To add an additional point, "essence of coffee" was nothing new when the war began. Variants of this product had been on the market for over a decade previous. While going through a Lafayette, Indiana newspaper I recall seeing a "Hummel's" ad from 1853, which mentions a prize it had won the previous year at a major trade fair.

To wit:

New York Times, 15 October 1851:

ALDEN’S MAGIC COFFEE.—This nutricious pre-
paration from pure Coffee, combined with sugar and
Cream, may be made ready for use in One Minute, by merely
adding boiling water. One teaspoonful of this paste will
make a cup of high flavored, clarified coffee, sweetened and
creamed. Put up in one Pound cases.
ALDEN & WILKINSON, Proprietors, 11 and 14 Wall-st.,
And at T. HOPE & CO.’S, 132 Chambers-st. o9-2t*

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[lthull3rdla]

tried my best to do it the right way last weekend. I obtained some beans, already roasted ( hey, one step at a time right? ). Made by Community Coffee, so I was supporting Louisiana purchasing this. Put those beans in a tin plate and woke up the entire camp grinding them up with my bayonet socket. Tossed them into my then unmelted coffee boiler, covered them with ample water and 'let er rip'.

After half an hour I had coffee you could read a newspaper through. This won't do. So I put it back on the fire and biled it some mo. Took it out and let it steep. It was a little darker.

Had NO FLAVOR at all!!! what did I do wrong here? And that story about tossing a little cold water on it to sink the grounds down to the bottom of the cup? yeah right.. LOL

so fellers, how do YOU do it?

thanks in advance

Ronnie

[AZReenactor]

Coffee was too weak, eh? I suggest you simply make it stronger?

Most likely you became impatient and didn't grind enough coffee. I've seen 'two great spoonfuls' to each pint of water identified as a common measure in period receipts.

See the discussion on Coffee: Green or Roasted (http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3072&highlight=coffee) for Charles Heath's article on how to prepare coffee (http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showpost.php?p=17206&postcount=6).

[Silas]

Per Chawls quoted article:
Coffee makers generally fall into two camps. The boil-then-add camp, and the add-then-boil camp. The latter works well enough for me, but some folks do like to get the water boiling before adding their coffee. I'm sure the boys of '61 argued the same thing with the same enthusiasm as any Liliputian egg-end debator.
Being a card carrying member of Starbucks nation - downtown Seattle chapter - and having reviewed one of the thick, employee manuals at Starbucks about different ways to make coffee, I'm in the boil-then-add camp. That is the recommended method by folks who make a living producing coffee. Must be something to it.

Also remember that good beans make good coffee. Those who tasted the coffee I boiled atop Rich Mountain got some great beans that you cannot purchase from behind the lunch counter at Woolworth's.

Don't be shy when adding grounds. If you're trying to stretch it, you're going to make two pots of lousy coffee. Make one strong one and enjoy. Life is too short for lousy coffee.

[tsgalloway]

Good call, Silas. I've had a cup or two of your coffee.

[cprljohnivey]

I know about the period referenced to using the bayonet to grind the coffee. It has never made much sense to me. I prefer to put the coffee in a poke sack and smash in on a rock or fire wood log. Then dump the whole bag into the mucket to boil. Quick, Easy, No Mess, No Fuss, and no grinds in the coffee. Only draw back is a wet poke sack. Solution to that is to tie it on the back of the knapsack and let it dry on the march.

[Chuck A Luck]

...Put those beans in a tin plate and woke up the entire camp grinding them up with my bayonet socket. Tossed them into my then unmelted coffee boiler, covered them with ample water and 'let er rip'...

Had NO FLAVOR at all!!! what did I do wrong here?

I propose (also) that you perhaps did not grind them enough -- probably because your messmates were hollerin' at you about all the racket you were making. I gave up on trying to grind beans in my tin cup or canteen half -- makes too much noise, doesn't create enough grounds, and the beans pop out & escape. Can't have that happening.

My solution is to grab enough beans to make a couple cups of coffee (this'll really vary depending on taste, but a decent handful -- I use a boiler can to boil in, too -- I detest scorching my lips on the side of a tin cup heated in the fire), pop them in a small poke sack (or even folded up piece of cloth), find a hard (& preferably flat) surface, and pound away at them. You can smash them with anything heavy & (again, hopefully) flat -- rock, shoe heel (yes -- there's a purpose for those heel plates!), or even the hilt of your bayonet. In my spare time I've even made myself a small "coffee grinding bag" out of a small piece of scrap canvas.
I've found using this pound-the-beans-in-a-sack method I can quickly smash the beans to a nice powdery mix in a minute.

I then fill my boiler can with water, dump in the ground coffee, and heat. It comes out dark & rich.

[Chuck A Luck]

Only draw back is a wet poke sack. Solution to that is to tie it on the back of the knapsack and let it dry on the march.

Solution #2 is to quickly dry the wet poke sack by the fire. I see Mr Ireland & I use the same method to reduce our beans to dust. Bully!

[ElizabethClark]

Fellows, I have a question--the "grind in bag, dunk in water" method sounds slick, but what do letters and memoirs mention about methods for in-camp, individual coffee prep? I know for home-prep, coffee grinders are available in the period. What were men who could be reasonably used to coffee grinders at home doing while they were in the field, as documented in the period?

[1stMaine]

Comrades,

Since I posses a somewhat impatient disposition regarding the morning's coffe, I have taken to purchasing my beans already ground. The sutler is more than happy to do the grinding for you, as well, so my ration is much easier to prepare.

I also boil the water first, then add to large spoonfuls of grounds, let it continue to boil for about a minute, then remove to cool.

The best article I have ever purchased is a small period strainer. I carry it in my haversack, and use it to strain the dregs from my coffee. You'd be surprised how popular such a small device can make someone, especially early in the morning.....

Respects,

[coastaltrash]

After working in a Coffee house and book store for 3 years, reading and completing about 3 different manuals to make coffee I can tell you that just about any good medium roast coffee will be right on the money. At home and in the field I use Community Medium roast which is probably a little too strong for our northern brothers, many roofers use the grinds (post usage naturally) for tar substitute. Beans amount to absolute squat if you don't have enough of them in the pot to start with (for those who want to know most coffee houses suggest .13 oz of coffee for one of those large pots you drink out of at work. It doesn't go up or down by the roast of the bean.

If you have a problem with waiting on coffee, I suggest mastering the craft of Essence of Coffee. Get the water a little warm and BAM, you are in business. Being from Gulf Coast Mississippi, I can tell you, there isn't a bean at Starbucks or Joe Muggs or PJs or any of the other ones that is better than good old Community Coffee WHEN MADE RIGHT.

[Andrew Keehan]

I would agree with others that you probably just didn't use enough coffee. I have made rather impressive brews with coarse butt-ground coffee. You just may have to use a bit more. Also, whether you add cold water or not, if properly brewed the grounds will settle to the bottom eventually.
This reminded me of the process Billings describes of mixing the coffee and sugar rations together in the same bag when issued. It's not clear whether he is being issued whole beans or ground coffee. I guess I assumed it was already ground, but I suppose you could grind your coffe with the sugar in the bag. I wonder if the coarse nature of the issue sugar would actually help you get a finer grind to your coffee?

[Rob Weaver]

I have a recipe for what the cookbook calls "Essence of Coffee" which is nothing more than coffee brewed with 3x the usual amount of grounds. It's recommended to be distilled into a bottle. I've done this when I expect to be drinking only 3 or 4 cups of coffee a day.

[lthull3rdla]

Here Here Patrick! I agree, if it aint Community it aint coffee. I like the dark roast though. I like all the suggestions. I think I'll try the 'smash it in the poke' method next time.

Patrick I found a bag of community dark roasted beans, u nground, at a local grocer. Ground in our home grinder it makes a wonderful pot of coffee.

I suspect I did not use enough in camp. I'll not make that mistake again!

thanks for all the help fellers!

Ronnie

[wmkane]

Hey Gang,

Ok, I _believe_ I am posting this in the right forum . . .

Our group is looking into doing a more formal commissary than what has been done in the past. I'm looking for information and ideas about how this might be run, and how authentic a commissary is.

Also, I'm looking for resources for meals that would be authentic and proper to serve to the entire group. Would an officer's commissary look different than the NCO's? Would this look different than the privates?

Any and all relevant information would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill Kane
26 N.C. Co. G
www.26nccog.org

[Kevin O'Beirne]

As to what rations were served to soldiers, that's an easy enough subject to research, whether you read Hardtack and Coffee or Co. Aytch or Billy Yank and Johnny Reb or any of the many other usual, reliable, oft-quoted sources for this topic.

The rest of this post applies to Federals, but I suspect it MAY also apply to Confederates.

Commissioned officers did not have a "commissary" per se because officers were responsible for their own rations; often several officers formed a mess and jointly purchased food and the servant to prepare it.

As for a "company commissary", well, there wasn't any such thing. A REGIMENT often had a Commissary Officer (or, at least, someone who served the job, whether it was a dedicated Commissary or if the job was done by, say, the Quartermaster Officer), who could have a Commissary Sergeant to assist him:

Commissary Sergeant – Assisted the Commissary Officer with the procurement and distribution of rations, and assisted the Regimental Clerk with commissary-related paperwork. The Commissary Sergeant had direct charge of the commissary stores and directly superintended their issuance. If his duties were heavy, other men could be assigned to assist him. Sources do not state whether the Commissary Sergeant was mounted, and arguments can be made either way. On the march it is unclear whether the he was supposed to be with the battalion or its wagons.

Commissary – A commissioned officer (lieutenant) responsible for the procurement and distribution of rations to the companies. He supervised the Commissary Sergeant and was responsible for the battalion’s commissary stores. He could also be responsible for purchasing food for the battalion. His duties could be merged with those of the Quartermaster. Sources do not state whether the Commissary was mounted, and arguments can be made either way; on the march it is unclear whether the he was with the battalion or its wagons.

At the COMPANY level, positions of note relative to procurement, distribution, and preparation of rations IN CAMP include:

Sergeant – The Sergeant’s “official” duties were to serve as a file closer, help lead guard details and pickets, lead fatigue details, lead a section, and assistance the Orderly Sergeant as assigned with company commissary and ordnance duties. Officially, there was no such thing as a “company commissary”, “company quartermaster”, or “company ordnance sergeant” in the Federal army; these duties were handled by the Orderly Sergeant or, at his discretion, assigned to the company’s complement of “regular” sergeants. While an infantry company had need of commissary and ordnance-type duties, because companies rarely had many assets that are not the property of the army, regiment, or the individual soldier, the need for company quartermaster duties was very small in most situations—and remains so in reenacting.

Cooks – Each company of volunteer and regular infantry was allowed to hire up to four colored “under-cooks”. In addition, men of the company could be detailed on rotations (ten days, per Kautz) to serve as the “head-cook”. If the company numbered thirty men or less, one head cook was used and, if more than thirty men, two head cooks could be detailed.

In Hardtack and Coffee (pp 122-123), John Billings offers the following commentary on how rations (in this case, coffee) was distributed--this would be used more, I believe, for distributing rations for the soldiers to cook themselves:

“[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 hope some of the above is the type of info you're looking for.

[Charles Heath]

Now, now, boys, we all know Community Coffee isn't an approved AC Forum Vendor and we can be...okay, you twisted my arm. Don't tell anyone they have care packages for those souls so unfortunate as to live outside the designated coffee-chicory belt of the known world:

http://www.communitycoffee.com/ccc/

Ronnie, I strongly suggest you find a man's man to help you with such mundane chores as boiling coffee, making your meals, and keeping your shoes shined. Boiling water is obviously a more complex task than people let on! :tounge_sm

(If Troy can find that tired old coffee post, perhaps he can figure out what happened to the infamous Tolstoy-length bacon post.)

[Charles Heath]

Bill,

You can find much of the information you seek in Kautz' pages 152-171, and while it reflects late war federal practice, much of what is written therein is a good starting point. Craighill adds some good info on pages 240-253. Sanderson's work is linked to this forum, as are a couple of other documents, such as H.L. Scott's and Horsford's. The Soyer's and Viele's would be good additions someday, if they are not already linked.

Any number of AC Forum members have served as "commissary" for confederate food service operations at the company and battalion level. I hope they chime in on this thread. It's good to put "commissary" in quotes when discussing reenacting, as the functions of planning, purchasing, transporting, preparing, serving and clean-up are a combination of modern and period activities. Most of the work is actually off the field before the event ever begins.

Something you might want to consider is attending a few of the events where these activities occur.

[coastaltrash]

It's always great to get a phone call the night before leaving an event and hear someone say "Hey can you make 27 bags for the commissary real quick?"

[Charles Heath]

Pat,

I think I can top that, but I just don't know if the Fort "RB&R" Gaines or Fort "One Kettle" Granger story is the funniest. Both involve Tim Prince....

[Silver Spring Guards]

I to am interested in this. Thanks for bring it up.

[lthull3rdla]

now Charles LOL

hey I made successful campaigner coffee yesterday. I ground up those community beans very coarsley. Built a small fire in back yard ( I could have done this on the stove but you would have fired me ) and got my water boiling nicely ( see, I CAN boil water LOL ) and then threw in the grounds. I moved the coffee off to the side so it didnt' boil over and let it stew for about 15 minutes.
Man, what great coffee. Nice and black and strong enough to float a ten pound parrot bolt !!! Put some real zing in me! Nothing like a caffeine high!
Today Im going to experiment with putting it in a poke and trying that.
btw, I will be at Shiloh. Unfortunatly, I have to officer. And I have NOT got my officer impression improved yet. But I'm working on it. Need a new frock..

see ya there

R

[ephraim_zook]

As Charles suggests, much of the "Commissary" work is done before the event. And I regard myself as an apprentice compared to Charles's experience.

I just made up a reminder list for myself of what needs to be done before the next event at which I will be the Commissary of Subsistence. Here's the list so far:
1) Get a rough budget from the event organizers. (Or your own organization)
2) Finalize the federal menu.
3) Coordinate menu with the rebs. We typically purchase jointly for both sides to obtain the best quantity pricing.
4) Work out quantities needed / person based on duration of event and the ration tables. This is relatively easy. The ration tables tell how much each man should get per day; figure out how many days you are feeding them for -- probably 1½.
5) Decide who is purchasing what.
They will then
6) Get preliminary prices.
Produce prices will change before the event. Costs for coffee, sugar etc will stay pretty much the same.
7) Adjust menu if we can't stay within budget.
7) Determine a cut-off date for registration that allows us time to order perishables.
8) Reserve a rental truck.
9) Arrange for period containers, crates, etc.
10) Sew sacks for coffee, sugar, etc. Most of these will be lost in service.
11) Order the rations.
12) Arrange for overnight storage of rations on site if need be.

====================

On arrival at the site: We usually arrive on Thursday before an event that starts on Friday evening.
1) Store rations if need be.
2) Set up a physical commissary facility. This may be simply a fly and a pile of crates and barrels.
3) Repackage rations and discard modern packaging.
4) If you have purchased for both Fed & Reb sides, divide the rations for quick distribution to the "other guys".
5) Set up for ration issue.
6) Start period paperwork -- take inventory, etc.

======================
A scale and measures are essential to issue correct quantities. They should be part of the commissary equipment, along with sharp knives and mountains of clean rags.

Now you are close to ready to issue rations. And in all likelihood, once that is done, you are technically unemployed for the rest of the event.

Feel free to contact me.

Ron Myzie
"Reenactment Nutrition Specialist"

ps -- A speadsheet is your best friend for pre-event planning. Save them from event to event, adjust them using actual data (from the period forms you used at the event.)

[coastaltrash]

Ronnie,
I think you're talking about the mainstream Shiloh event in a few weeks, Charles is talking about the Campaigner Living History at the actual park in April hosted by Jim Butler.

[PogueMahone]

I never learned to make a decent cup of coffee in the field. Now I drink tea. I have yet to make a bad cup of tea.

I buy the loose leaf tea, which is getting harder to find, but I usually can get it at the health-conscience grocery "Wild Oats". Also, we have mint growing in the backyard in a small plot and I regularly pick some and dry it. I'll grind up a few mint leaves into my tea leaves and it makes a great cup of tea! Fresh and minty!

[Charles Heath]

Bill,

In addition to Ron's excellent checklist, one of the more enjoyable tasks is to research what the boys of '61-'65 were actually eating during the particular campaign, scenario, or vignette being portrayed at the event in question. Sometimes, you luck out and learn exactly what they were consuming, and at other times partial information leaves a trail of teasing suggestions. You may find yourself (sing it, boys) with pea bread, rice, corn meal, stinky cheese balls, turnips, soap, cabbage, rutabagas, cocoa, mutton, jerked beef, poultry, sutler stores, green corn, chicory, parched corn, fish, melons, squash, hominy, beets, buckwheat, apples, pumpkins, shoats, melado, candles, pinole, venison, pemmican, tomatoes, goats, limes, barley, rabbits, fresh beef (both Kosher and on the hoof), molasses, and all manner of fun items in addition to the usual fare.

The ration tables will drive you insane (yes, this could explain a lot of things) if you try to issue the individual items as they are listed without reading between the lines. Over the period of a year, it makes sense. Over the typical Friday-night-to-Sunday- afternoon event, the numbers make little or no sense. That being said, one of the sets of numbers I live and die by is the 50/80 rule. The weekend is 7 modern meals long, so cut that by half (50%) into 3.5 meals, and the actual headcount is 80% of whatever the given forecast at best. If you have a better handle on your own group's reenactor math, then use it. It is better to have too little food than too much. Run out of food? Just add more water. That IS a period solution.

Ron spoke more to issuing food at the battalion or brigade level (depending on your TOE for the weekend), and I'll get around to that eventually. This is more about working from the bottom up.

The army fed twice each day, and we feed three times each day. It's just the way it is. Try to feed twice a day, and you'll see why folks get grouchy in a hurry. On top of that, what the army fed in garrison and the field, or marching, ration is two different things. The funny part is th field ration was expensive back then, and it is expensive today, too. Reenactors tend to waste food like crazy. One of the reasons for this is the Friday AYCE pit stop on the way into an event, and the Sunday AYCE gorging on the way home from an event. Not all events work this way, and when you have people on site on Wednesday-Friday at an event, they'll appreciate something to eat during the last big meeting before the event commences, but as a rule of thumb, just skip the Friday meal -- with some exceptions.

One exception is the Friday night ration issue. You've worked six months to put together something worthy of a Billings or Hinman essay, only to see it handed out in the dark in 10 minutes to 100 hungry, famished, starving (fully bloated from Cracker Barrel's big feed two hours earlier) reenactors. Yep, no one gets to see those tiny little Tremont nails in the carefully split hickory sapling wrapped around the hardtack box. Sigh.

Another exception is the officer call Friday night. Have a cook dedicated to this, as you'll be too busy handling the little crap that needs to be done during the day on Friday to fool with it. Something well worth eating, cigars, maybe some libations, and you knock out the big meeting, and the boys get a little something to start the weekend. Someone who wants to have fun with this can have a good time, even with the typical reb shortages in place. Planning a few surprise treats can pay dividends during the weekend, if you have time to take a little something over to officer country.

Feel free to sleep in until 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Be ready to serve at 6:00 a.m., and when you hear the bugler toot his first notes, you know it is time to get the food out on the serving line. Why so early when the army "day planner" tells us 7:00 a.m. was breakfast? At most events, feeding the men immediately after first roll call frees up everyone for a good interpretive day. It also eliminates the 81,971 "when is breakfast?" questions if you feed the mules right off the bat.

Saturday morning finds most of the lads still full from whatever it is they ate too much of on Friday. Serve absolutely the cheapest stuff you possibly can when in a camp situation, so by the time the next meal rolls around, they'll actually eat it. Watery corn mush, for example, is very cheap, filling, and generates a lot of hoots and hollers. Just tell them it is mule feed, and they'll get over it sooner or later. Make sure you have coffee. If you don't have something with some kind of caffiene, about half the company will be a walking Excedrine (not an approved vendor) commercial by about noon. This mule feed is a real departure from the typical [deleted due to farb content] mainstream breakfast of [even more farb content] and [turbofarb content] as seen at "those other" events. If you have spent more than 25 cents per man by the time breakfast is over, then you are already over budget. If they complain, then serve 'em cold farina in the form of white hockey pucks.

If the event design permits it, your life is much easier if you can just hand the boys hardtack, meat, coffee, and sugar. Let them figure out what they want to eat for breakfast based on that four-item extensive menu.

What is for the mid-day meal? If you have to give them rations for a walk in the park (typical NPS LH event) to be consumed later at some point where no fire is permitted, cook up something they can eat on the march and issue it at breakfast. If they eat it with breakfast, that's their choice. Pre-cooked corn dodgers, boiled meat, and some odds and ends work well for this. Sometimes it is fun to give the officers a separate ration (as if privately purchased) of something they can eat that is demonstrably different from what the enlisted folks are having. The proverbial plowman's lunch works well here for the officers. Their food will be a punch in the budget, and you'll find hardtack (yes, the rebs had hardtack, too) will end up being as expensive or moreso than meat, or at least labor intensive.

About this time, you are wondering why hardly anyone has touched their food. Make sure the commander has issued a flat haversack order, if you are going to issue rations. Feel free to make an exception to this when it comes to experimental rations that a good number of folks might not know how to prepare or even want to eat. For example, if you are at a certain living history in Vicksburg, and you are portraying a reb, and you have a piece of hot, steaming, gray, meat that is obviously not beef, pork, or poultry, then a man may draw the logical conclusion and decide he may be too timid to eat that meat.

By Saturday night, most everyone is too mad at the cook to want to visit the cookhouse. This is where and when you can spend a good 50 to 65 cents per man and tie the big feedbag on. Now, I'm sure you are looking at that number, and wondering why folks can be fed so cheaply. The simple reason is we feed too well at most events (some folks complained Payne's Farm was "skimpy!" ) and a good weekend typically finds all manner of donated food about. Some of that food is period, and some of it you have to look the other way when it shows up on the doorstep. Serve it, and genuinely appreciate the fact someone thought enough to bring along a little something. Take the hit after the event, and don't worry about it.

Sometime when you are bored to death with the menu items, grab 8 gallons of water, 8 lbs. of potatoes, 2 lbs. of carrots, 2 medium cabbages, 2 cans of tomatoes, 2 lbs. of meat, 1 pound of cornmeal, 1 onion, a pinch of salt, and see what happens. They will eat and enjoy. Don't forget Gouge's Law: Put the cabbage in last. This feeds 40 or so people. Feeds 50 if you add more water.

Sunday morning finds the sleepyheads looking for coffee. Make strong coffee for the ride home. You won't be making a noon meal, so start cleaning up as soon as you can get a detail together. Throw together some leftovers and boil the heck out of them. The boys will usually stare into the pot and choose to hold off until the ride home. Unless you fix Neill Rose's receipt for rice pudding, and in that case they'll fight each other for the last grain of rice.

Part of the above is tongue in cheek, but only part of it. It is mostly about cooking, and at the company level, such as at living histories, you can have a good time keeping the lads fed. At a recent event, we joked about having reinvented the free Saturday night meal, as the boys stumbled through the woods and happened upon a little cabin fixing supper for a group of visitors. Sure am glad the neighbors didn't show up, because the troops ate it all. At another event, the rations issued to the rebs really were skimpy (coffee and a few pieces of hardtack) and they picked up rations after over running a federal commissary. I can tell you the rebs ate well that day.

Without a doubt, the handiest three things you can own are a set of sheet iron (mild steel these days) nesting kettles. After that, the serving basins are a big help. In actual practice the basins are used for kettle lids, and food prep, than serving. Neither the basins nor kettles are tinned and soldered for a good reason, too. Serving utensils are not cheap new, but are plentiful and reasonable in the used market. A serving fork, a couple of ladles, strainer/skimmer, and a spatula are useful. You really don't need a bunch of flea market crap hanging about, but a good skillet is useful. The originals are cheaper than repops these days, and outside of the handle rivets being loose or a hole being worn in the business end of the pan, not much can go wrong with them.

Boxes are your next good investment. It is most unfortunate Gary Remy's operation got whacked by Katrina, but Maki's Boxes is still in business, and the latter produces some excellent wood products, as well as some tin items found nowhere else. Neither of these fellows are approved AC Forum vendors. Neither is WK Osman for that matter. Obviously, a hardtack box or two, a bacon box (these are big) and some smaller boxes, such as the tomato, peach, oyster, or candle boxes are good. I find the civilian boxes are easy to go reb or fed. Boxes are good for the serving line, too. People really don't like to eat food off the ground. Barrels are nice. The price of new cooperage has gotten to be silly, but it can be had. Used cooperage can be risky for the usual reasons beat to death on this forum and others. Hardtack came in barrels as well as boxes, so there is another reason to have a few functional barrels around.

A few buckets are handy not only for toting water, but for clean up as well. I keep an old rusty bucket for the slops, and the cleaner buckets are for fresh water, soapy water, and coffee. Some individuals have trouble telling the difference between the three, and they know when they have selected the worst of the three choices. After all of this junk is loaded up in the truck, a few barn boards, an old door, sacks and crates are pretty much the rest of the load before the food is added. The tools you have on hand to feed a company of 30-60 men will also feed 300 with ease. After about 300 men to feed, an additional set of kettles are useful for consolidated messes.

Yes, it is a heck of a lot easier to issue the food to the individual companies and let them deal with the prep, just as it is easier at the company level to issue to the individuals to cook around a crowded firepit. Of course, that doesn't figure in the good old army paperwork....

[lthull3rdla]

Tom
yes I figured that out. Our unit is going to the mainstream event. I would love to go to the one in the park but unfortunatley I have plans for that weekend that will not allow me to attend. Would have loved to have met some of you fellers. Another time though.
Ronnie

[Silas]

I borrowed an employee manual today at the local Starbucks and copied the below about brewing coffee.


Section Nine
Brewing and Selling Coffee

Good coffee starts with great ingredients and the right recipe. Coffee and water are the only ingredients, and to learn what to do with them, you need only the Four Fundamentals : proportion, grind, water and freshness. Understand and follow the guidelines for each of them and you're on your way to brewing a great cup of coffee.

Proportion

Use the Right Proportion of Coffee to Water

This is the most important step in making great coffee. The recipe for great coffee is two tablespoons of ground coffee (10 grams) for each six fluid ounces (180 milliliters) of water. Starbucks did not invent this brewing recipe ; the standard is based on consumer research done in the 1940's by an organization called the Coffee Brewing Center. The standard coffee measure was introduced in 1945, twenty six years before Starbucks opened its first store in 1971.

Coffee is made when hot water extracts, or pulls out, the flavor components in the ground coffee and mixes them with water. The proper proportion allows the extraction of the coffee's full flavors and yields a rich, aromatic cup. Keep these proportions constant, regardless of the quantity you make. The best way to make a "weaker" cup of coffee is to add hot water to properly brewed coffee.

Using Too Little Coffee Makes a Bitter Cup

For a variety of reasons, any people attempt to make a weaker or milder cup of coffee by altering the proportion of coffee to water, most often by using significantly less coffee. Though this approach may be intuitive, the result is usually thin, very bitter tasting coffee - the very thing most coffee drinkers wish to avoid.

The improper dose of coffee means that more water passes through the grounds, continuing the extraction process long after the desirable flavor components have been pulled out. This is why we recommend diluting full-strength coffee if a milder cup is the target.

A pound of coffee makes about 45 six-ounce cups of well-brewed, full-strength coffee. This equates to about 22 tall or 17 grande cups of coffee.

Grind

Different Brewing Methods Require Different Grinds

All commonly used methods of brewing coffee basically work the same way : hot water passes through ground coffee. Among the many variables, the grind of the coffee (the size of the individual particles) is enormously important. The fineness of the grind determines how much time the water and coffee are in contact, which in turn determines exactly what is extracted from the ground coffee.

Simply put, if coffee is ground "too fine," then the water stays in contact with the coffee for too long, resulting in over-extraction. If the grind is "too coarse," the opposite happens and the coffee is watery (under-extracted). The correct grind is an function of the brewing method. Three basic brewing methods are dominant :

- Drip coffee, which uses paper or mesh filters, either flat-bottomed or cone-shaped. The cone-shaped filter uses a finer grind.

- Espresso : Starbucks sells only pump-driven machines, but other types exist and are addressed in the grind chart in this section.

- Coffee press : Starbucks recommended brewing method, the coffee press requires a coarse grind.

Grinding Finer Doesn't Save Coffee

Among the most common errors people make in brewing coffee at home is grinding coffee too fine. This practices is rooted in the belief that a finer grind will mean more cups per pound. The result of this practice is indeed more cups per pound, but all the cups are bitter and over-extracted. As noted earlier, an overly fine grind allows the water and coffee to stay in contact for too long.

Grinding Coffee

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Coarse

This is the recommended grind for coffee press, cold-water brewers (such as Toddy), open pot and percolators.

Water

Heat Water to Just off the Boil

Water heated to just off a boil (195 to 205 degrees F ; or 90 to 96 degrees C) is perfect for extracting the coffee's full range of flavors. Any cooler, and the water can't adequately do the job. Automatic coffee makers heat the water for you. Make sure the one you use gets the water hot enough. If you use a kettle to heat water, bring the water to a boil, remove the kettle from the heat for a few seconds, and then pour the water onto the coffee. When brewing coffee in a coffee press in your store, use water from the hot water dispensing spigot on your store's brewer.

[ ]

Brewing in a Coffee Press

All stores should have several coffee presses on hand and ready to use. The procedure for brewing in a coffee press is :

1. Add into the coffee press the correct amount of coarsely ground coffee :
- 8-cup press : .12 lb. (54 g) or 5 scoops
- 12-cup press : .18 lb. (82 g) or 8 scoops
- One scoop equals = 2 tablespoons
2. Add water from your coffee brewer's hot water source, and stir to make sure all the grounds are wet.
3. Place the plunger assembly loosely on top to hold in the heat.
4. Using a timer, steep four minutes.
5. Pointing the pouring spout away from you and holding the pot by the handle, slowly press the plunger down with your other hand to push the grounds to the bottom of the pot.
6. Serve immediately, as the coffee maintains its superior taste for only 20 minutes. Set a time for 20 minutes if all of the coffee will not be consumed immediately.

Coffee Freshness : At Home

Encourage your customers to think of coffee as they do fresh produce or a fresh loaf of bread. Both can be fantastic if fresh and terribly disappointing if not. As with produce and bread, there are some simple things to keep in mind that will help maintain the quality and value of fresh coffee.

The enemies of coffee are oxygen, light, heat and moisture. Once a FlavorLock bag has been opened, which exposes the coffee to air, it should be stored in an opaque, airtight container at room temperature for the best way to keep it fresh and great-tasting.

Use Freshly Ground Coffee

For the best results, coffee should be ground fresh just before brewing. Whole bean coffee stays fresh longer because there is less surface area exposed to oxygen. By grinding beans each time you brew, the freshness is preserved.

Drink Coffee when Freshly Brewed

Once brewed, the flavors in coffee are very fragile. Brewed coffee is best held in a thermal carafe. Coffee left on the burner of a home machine will begin to taste bad after 20 minutes. Coffee should never be reheated.

Based upon the above from the employee manual, my suggestion as that you commence boiling your water. While the water is heating, grind your beans. I'd pulverize them as much as the socket to a bayonet will allow. If you still see beans, you need to grind it more. By the time you're tired of pounding that rio, the water should be nearly ready. Add the grind to the boiled water and stir. It should froth to the top rather quickly. Use of a boiler with bailing wire is recommended. Remove from the fire, stir once, cover, and let sit as long as it takes the grounds to settle. Strain it into a second vessel by slow pour and the assistence of the blade of a pocket knife. Drink it.

[coastaltrash]

Hopefully you're using a poke sack for this and not just smashing beans up in a cup.

Congrats Silas, you're now able to work at a coffee house. Still have my manuals which says .13 but I guess it really doesn't matter. Coffee is like anything else in life, different strokes for different folks.

[Silas]

No bag. Just bayonet and cup. At Corinth, I was crunching beans when I noticed that Old Cremonia was plucking some tune on his banjo. I listened for the beat, then stepped right in. He noticed and we played a right fine tune together. I banged out two songs before the beans were too fine to continue making music.

The beans weren't pulverized into a powder, but into an even, coarse grind. Made good coffee that day.

[rebinnj]

If you have a problem with waiting on coffee, I suggest mastering the craft of Essence of Coffee. Get the water a little warm and BAM, you are in business. Being from Gulf Coast Mississippi, I can tell you, there isn't a bean at Starbucks or Joe Muggs or PJs or any of the other ones that is better than good old Community Coffee WHEN MADE RIGHT.


I have tried the Essence of Coffee for the first time this Februrary when we had drill. It is fast and easy and not bad.

[Charles Heath]

...six-ounce cups....

Six ounces?

I see the Anaconda Plan has once again strangled the importation of coffee into the Seattle metro area. Do you need care packages? How about blockade runners sailing through the Straits of Juan de Fuca? Maybe Holly_Mule pressed into service by Juan Valdez trippin' over the Cascades to bring some beans out that way?

Yes, this is The Sinks.

[Silas]

Six ounce cups are those fragile objects from your grandmother's china cabinet which get used on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The remainder of the year they take up valuable cubbard space - unless they're hanging by hooks then they take up less space.

I typed what I read from the Starbucks manual and passed it on. Multiply by two - or have your mule tap out the math for you - and you've got a more reasonable 12 ounce vessel. Add six more hoof taps to the twelve and you've got my preferred size.

[Old Reb]

I like Coummunity dark roast. It is strong. I like it strong. Good coffee should have the look of used motor oil and have a bite to it. When playing soldier, I fill a poke sack with beans and then bash them up with a rock or something hard, add a couple of hands full into a boiler filled with water and boiling in right good 'until it is kind of murky looking. A little Jack Daniels will smooth it out a bit. Starbucks? Not for me. There is also Nakatosh coffee which is a knock off of the original Nakatosh coffee which was mostly chicory, but the new version is sort of weak and not fit for a Louisiana fellow to drink.

[BenjaminLDavis]

To add to the issue: what about roasting/parching green coffee beans?
I have made a lot of coffee in the field, but just last month acquired some green
beans I plan to use this season. It is a first for me - suggestions? Pitfalls?
I have heard this can be tricky, with many of the beans burned or uncooked.
How did the men in the field overcome this process?

[Amtmann]

Nothing really tricky to it. Just watch what you'r doing and don't try doing it over a roaring fire.

BTW, I NEVER grind up the beans. Boil them whole. Less mess.

[Charles Heath]

It is a first for me - suggestions? Pitfalls?
I have heard this can be tricky, with many of the beans burned or uncooked.
How did the men in the field overcome this process?

Madison Avenue's term "slow roasted" has real meaning in this instance. Use dull cherry red coals, and your choice of mess kettle, skillet, canteen half and s-l-o-w-l-y roast those green beans to a nice brown. As they turn from grean to brown you will note the oil moving, the wonderful scent (not unlike roasting peanuts at home), and how the beans change from a rubbery texture to a more crunchy appearance. Preparing enough for a cup of coffee doesn't take much time at all; however, being detailed to roast fifty pounds takes a little longer.

Yes, you can do this at night, provided you develop an ear for the bean.

[huntdaw]

A pound of coffee makes about 45 six-ounce cups of well-brewed, full-strength coffee. This equates to about 22 tall or 17 grande cups of coffee.

Not being a coffee drinker, I am not that familiar with Starbuck prices but it seems I have heard that one can pay about $3 for a cup of coffee there. 22 cups from a pound: $66 per pound of coffee. Now there's a profit margin!

[wmkane]

Mr. Myzie and Mr. Heath,

Thank you both for your lengthy and though provoking posts. I am beginning to discuss these ideas with my pards. I particularly like the ideas involved in feeding the troops minimallly.

Bill Kane

[Silas]

In an effort to keep the discussion about brewing coffee in the field and not about the good or bad of modern companies which brew it, I've sent a comment offline to Mr. Comer.

I'm always interested in good coffee and ways of making better coffee.

[Rob Weaver]

At many of the events in which we participate, the emphasis is on the active campaign: marching, fighting, etc. From the descriptions I've read, I get the impression that roasting beans was something that was done before the actions we portray began. Is it possible that we're beginning to over-represent the coffee preparation thing?

[Moonshine]

Good advice from Mr. Heath (above post) and make sure you CONTINUALLY stir the beans around so they don't scorch or burn. You'll almost be doing the same process as popping corn in those old foil containers that grew in size as the kernals popped: back and forth motions and side to side...only take it slow. The key is be patient and keep the beans moving. Use a spoon or stick to stir those beans around.