The average Confederate subsisted on bacon, cornmeal, molasses, peas, tobacco, vegetables and rice. They also received a coffee substitute which was not as desirable as the real coffee northerners had. Trades of tobacco for coffee were quite common throughout the war when fighting was not underway.
In this post
What do Confederate soldiers eat?
Tintype of soldiers posed eating hardtack and coffee rations,Tennessee State Library and Archives. Confederate soldiers were more likely to get cornbread or cornmeal than flour or bread. Corn was a local crop and easier to get. The main bread for most Union troops was hardtack.
How often did Civil war soldiers eat?
Union soldiers were issued 9 squares per day, with conflicting reports as to whether this left a man still hungry. Sometimes infested with bugs, this was still the most reliable food source that the troops had from day to day and it kept in all but moist conditions.
What did Civil war soldiers drink?
During the Civil War, a variety of alcoholic beverages were distributed as medicine in the forms of spiritus frumenti (whiskey) and spiritus vini gallici (brandy). Harpers Weekly sketch of soldiers taking a quinine ration. The whiskey was meant to help with the bitterness.
What did soldiers mainly eat during the Civil War what was it called?
During the Civil War one of the most common meals for soldiers was a cracker-like food called hardtack. Hardtack is made from flour, water, and salt. It could last a long time- there is even hard tack from the Civil War in the museum at Manassas National Battlefield Park today!
Did Confederate soldiers eat peanuts?
Confederate soldiers certainly augmented their rations with peanuts, as memorialized in the classic Civil War ditty “Peas, peas, peas, peas / Eating goober peas / Goodness, how delicious / Eating goober peas.” But African Americans had been boiling peanuts in the South for a long time.
Did Civil War soldiers eat canned food?
Federal troops were purchasing items in tinned cans and other tinned containers. Meat, biscuits, condensed coffee, fruit juices, and Borden’s condensed milk were all being consumed.
How often did Civil war soldiers bathe?
HyGiene: Soldiers were supposed to bathe weekly and wash their face and hands daily. Sometimes they did neither. This led to lice infestations – not to mention mice and ants – in the camps. Soldiers picked lice off one another.
What did Civil war soldiers do for fun?
Music was a popular diversion, as well—from informal singing around the fire to staged balls. Gambling prevailed in every conceivable form—from horse races to louse races. Games like cards, chess, checkers, and dominoes could be played for money or simply for fun, were quiet, and easily carried in a knapsack.
How did civil war soldiers get water?
Soldiers on the frontlines were issued Lister Bags to carry water. Created by Army Surgeon William John Le Hunte Lyster, the bags were rubber-lined, heavy canvas bags with a tight-fitting cover. Those not on the frontlines had access to water that have been filtered using a gravity-fed filter.
How much did Confederate soldiers get paid?
In theory, the soldiers of both the Confederate and the Union armies were supposed to be paid every two months.
Army.
| Confederate | Union | |
|---|---|---|
| First Lieutenant | $90.00 | $105.50 |
| Captain | $130.00 | $115.50 |
| Major | $150.00 | $169.00 |
| Lieutenant Colonel | $170.00 | $181.00 |
How much weight did a Civil War soldier carry?
In the American Civil War, a typical Union soldier might carry a total of 60 lbs. of equipment, including a ten-pound musket. By WWII, an American soldier could be carrying 75 lbs., which is why many wounded soldiers drowned during the D-Day landings in 1944.
What is Confederate coffee?
Here are 25 of the most bizarre things that people made what came to called “Confederate Coffee,” which, in most cases, didn’t contain any caffeine and in fact, was more of a tea. These ingredients were either dried, browned, roasted, or ground before steeping or dissolving into hot water to make “coffee.”
What did the Vietcong eat?
The only contribution made by the villagers is rice, of which there is a glut in the Mekong Delta—an area that is, in any case, practically controlled by the insurgents. For the rest of their food supplies, the Vietcong cultivate manioc, bananas and papaya trees and catch all the fish they need in the rice swamps.
What did civil war generals eat?
During the Civil War, the Union Army had two types of rations: “marching rations” and “camp rations.” Marching rations consisted of sixteen ounces of hard bread, also known as “hardtack”; twelve ounces of salt pork or twenty ounces of fresh meat; and sugar, coffee, and salt.
What do soldiers eat for breakfast?
Breakfast Meals
For breakfast, there will be eggs to order, scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage/bacon, pancakes/french toast, juice, milk, cereals, coffee, and fruits.
Why do they boil peanuts in the South?
Letters and memoirs from the Civil War tell us Confederate soldiers were without the basics of bread or meat, especially toward the end of the war. Peanuts were an available food and could be carried wherever they went. On the trail, soldiers roasted or boiled peanuts over campfires and added salt as a preservative.
What food is called a goober in the South?
“The ground pea of the South, or as it is sometimes called, the gouber or pindar pea,” said one patent application in 1848. “The earthnut, groundnut, goober, pindar or peanut” is how the Department of Agriculture phrased it.
Why would someone boil peanuts?
The process of boiling peanuts draws antioxidants from their shells. The boiled peanuts have four times the antioxidants of raw or roasted peanuts. Boiled peanuts have also been studied as a potential way to treat people with peanut allergies since boiling peanuts denatures proteins that trigger allergic reactions.
What did nurses eat during the Civil War?
Another nurse in Fredericksburg in 1862 reported that “in one day she had singlehandedly cooked and served 926 rations of soup, farina (a cooked cereal), tea, and coffee”.
How did Civil War soldiers make coffee?
Union troops made their coffee everywhere, and with everything: with water from canteens and puddles, brackish bays and Mississippi mud, liquid their horses would not drink. They cooked it over fires of plundered fence rails, or heated mugs in scalding steam-vents on naval gunboats.