Civil War Camp Food
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- Опубліковано 8 лип 2024
- Released from our Members-Only 2021 season:
Flour, cornmeal, salt pork, and hard tack…the monotonous staples of the Civil War soldier north and south. Learn about the rations available to the men in blue and gray, how they were prepared, and watch as our staff samples some…unique…wartime recipes born of necessity and ingenuity. Presented by historian Glen Kyle.
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I served in Vietnam for 2½ years, During my entire time in the army, I never had a good cup of coffee. Army coffee was made with coffee warehouse floor sweepings. Once, when I was in basic training, my commanding officer was so disgusted by the coffee, he ordered the cooks to throw out the whole 40-gallon batch and do it over again. I poured myself a cup from the fresh batch and it was even worse than the first.
Probably brewed Way too strong…..
The Air Force lived on bad, strong, coffee. 12 hour shifts on SAC alert in sub zero temperatures and you will drink anything.
When I was first deployed in Gulf War I, all the REMFs picked through the rations and sent all the less desirable stuff to the front. We lived for weeks on nothing but pulled pork K rations. Needless to say, we were not happy with the supply system.
Considering Americans think Starbucks is 'good' coffee, the thought of terrible American coffee makes me shudder
I depended on my own supply of coffee while I was in. I had a specific roaster that I ordered from and had shipped to me in Afghanistan and Iraq. That made me a popular guy in my company. I had to lock my coffee up to stop my peers from just coming into my hooch and taking it. My PL, XO, and CO were the only ones with access when I wasn’t around. I eventually contacted the roaster in Portland while I was on my 5th combat tour and they sent us three huge boxes full of ground coffee to show their appreciation and support. That coffee took care of the whole company for the last 4 months of that deployment. I refused to drink the coffee that our two cooks would make until they started using the coffee that was sent to us.
I liked the video and it reminded me of many things from years ago.
Many years ago I became a re-enacter (7th Michigan Mounted Cavalry) just so I could experience for myself, at least in a small way, what the soldiers themselves experienced. At our encampments I crushed the coffee beans in my cup & boiled it up, ate the hardtack and cooked the salt port that I had earlier loaded my haversack with. When not preparing food or eating it, I worked hard, very hard to keep the horses fed and watered and the ground under the picket line clean. The highlight of my "career" as a CW soldier was a huge re-enactment at Gettysburg, PA where if scrounged for food every day, took the time to keep my weapons in working order, slept on the ground, took care of the horses and their tack and slept on straw with all the camp bugs there in the heat and humidity. Oh yeah, participated in battle re-enactments too in that exhausting heat where guys dropped from the heat just as if they'd been shot. After the re-enactment was over, I was totally exhausted and I finally understood why Meade felt that he and his army "had done well enough" and didn't want to risk his worn out men any further. I really understood why the cavalry always had the most causalities from disease because of all that they had to do and the less than cleanliness they had to live with. Many things you have to actually experience in order to have any understanding of them.
I have to admit, been local to Gettysburg my whole life, and don't like it much either in the summer. In some ways PA can be almost as bad as GA.
Spent some time as a kid, crawling around in those devils den rocks. Glad I didn't find any snakes there.
@waynehendrix4806 exactly. If anywhere I were to have a war it would be california. I can't imagine trying to deal with the heat and cold of your states, bivouacing for days while under constant threat of attack. JEB's cavalry was in the saddle 20 hours a day on the gettysburg campaign.
One time, I delivered a presentation in the French language about hardtack and the contest that Napoleon ran that led to the canning of food stuffs for armies. The first French language cookbook about canning was a best seller in England despite it being written in French. The Germans tried delivering fresh bread every day and had tremendous difficulties in the wars with the Austrians mid 1800s because they couldn't transport it fast enough by train.
The civil war ration was a pound of hardtack and slightly more than a pound of salt pork. Today, people are much bigger so when you make it (and it is cheap to make), be generous and allow 2 pounds. Hardtack put in barrels in the 1860s were issued more than 30 years later in the Spanish American War. You won't find salt pork at the grocery store. So, use canned fish, sardines, stews and chillis.
They sell salted pork in the stores in Tennessee.
They have this stuff called SPAM. I'm sure it's not related to the emancipation of the slaves....ha.
Some of the union rifles were issued with Coffee, grinders built in to the Stocks
No, that's a myth
@@user-ot4mx3lq6v
No, sir, I’ve seen one
Correct. Sharp’s carbines.
@@sharpe67 🤣 That was a bunion file.
I went to a private school in Louisiana and we had a living history club that one of the history teachers organized. I was in the club for about 3 years and LOVED it. Everything we did had to be period correct. We could bring canned goods but anything else we brought had to be wrapped and tied in butcher paper or glass jars. We had to carry everything on our person though. Encampments were getting together with your buddy and buttoning together two tent halves and sleeping on a poncho with a wool blanket. Such an awesome experience!
I went to that school, too! We loved the soup made witb latrine water. Yummy for your tummy!
When things get rough and supplies get slim, it's eat what you can find or catch. My mother family ate a big barn cat during WWII, trying to survive the German occupation in the Netherlands. My uncle caught it.
My mother was in Berlin as the Russians invaded, she said the people gathered and butchered horses on the street.
Yeah. In Stalingrad, they ate humans.
I make that "cowboy coffee" everyday - 1/4 cup (heaping) of medium grounds to 1 quart water. Bring to a rolling boil for 3-4 minutes. Set aside for 2-3 minutes. Pour a cup of cold water into it which forces the grounds to the bottom. Pour and enjoy. You won't get any grounds in your cup until the bottom of the boiler. GOD Bless hat tip to "Cowboy Kent Rollins".
I discovered the adding of cold water to settle the grounds by accident a few years ago, yep, it really works.
Me too. I've always thought that stovetop/campfire coffee just tasted better. I used to use the percolator, but after seeing Kent's videos several years ago, I don't even mess with it anymore. To make a few more cups, I'll just add more water and a couple of fresh scoops of grounds to the existing coffee, then bring it back to a boil for a couple minutes. I dump the used grounds into my tomato beds for composting. No filters, no mess in trash can, and giant tomatoes in the summertime.
My coffee pot actually looks like a Civil War relic. Lol!
@@toddcunningham3213 Nice! If I am pressed for time, I use the Keurig "cup", put grounds in it, make 12 oz, add a teaspoon of instant coffee from Safeway, then use the same grounds for another 12oz (I know...cheating bit, but it is much faster out the door...lol). GOD Bless
We're out of corn pone, fat back, hard tack, fat pone, corn tack.
But obviously not corn squeezing, moonshine
Makes you appreciate c rations ('70-'73)
I never complained about C Rats
I also didn't mind c rats. In jungles, not SE Asia, I lived on them with a small handful of rice in the morning and rice and beans at night. We would loose a pound to a pound and a half a day. For two weeks. Then we had three weeks to gain the weight back. Fun at 18.
I remember ham and eggs came out of the can like jello spiced beef was ok,beef and potatoes OK fruit cake wasn't a fan,pound cake was dry you add the juice from can peaches that helped. Cigarettes were dry you went the end of the cigarettes to pull moister into tobacco.Kool aid helped the bad tasting water. Chow in the rear was really good and lots of it they took pretty good care of us on Post.😊
@@mikedavis4851 I had a Cav vet friend tell me the real name of ham and beans. I'm sure you know it also.
At Ft Benning during basic we were introduced Green Eggs and Ham. I know everything is OD Green but the eggs too???? Wasn't until I volunteered for KP, ate like a King (all left overs). The teen eggs were a result of cooking using aluminum pans.....oxidation I guess, didn't hurt you, if you were hungry.
If you are hungry, you'll eat anything..
I think if that were true, there'd be fewer people in africa...
Legend has it the troops haven’t gone to the latrine yet
If I was around at that time, I would think of trying to catch squirrels, rabbits, birds, anything besides the normal same ole ration food, that’s what went through my head, and I’m sure they probably tried that also, maybe even fishing
4:34 roasting dried cornmeal in a pan until it gets a dark brown also was a substitute. I’ve tried it and it tastes like coffee.
When I was in army we had rations and mre's. It was an opportunity for us to bond over complaints and the trading of food items. I think I was much more flexible with my eating requirements then when I was home. You become aware that you can not stop at a corner store for a candy bar and chips
AN OLD TRICK TO NOT HAVE GROUNDS IN ONE’S CUP. Let the coffee sit after boiling about 2 minutes, then put a small amount of water on top, and some down the spout. Not enough to cool the coffee. I put 1/3 cup over 24 ounces of coffee. 2 minutes later all the grounds are on the bottom. Of course don’t drink the very small liquid covering the grounds. Best coffee I have ever had, and I make it daily and pore it in a thermos, except for the very bottom liquid covering the grounds. It works, believe me.
I just take a funnel, line it with a coffee filter, and pour the coffee through it. I’ll try pouring some cold water in next brew..
I have a modern device, called - coffee maker. It works really well for me. Some use the Bucks of Star, but I hear it causes a huge line, and and empty wallet.
Very thorough and interesting, more than just a lecture. Soldiers' lives were hard. No doubt the officers were better off.
I can see why there was so much
diarrhea, salted grease would turn
anyone's bowels. How did they
clean up after an " episode?"
Bills coffee in the new MREs are awesome.
The Kush cornmeal grease mix is similar to the “Hellfire stew” the Union soldiers made: crumbled hardtack soaked and fried in grease, but not formed into cakes.
It must have been tough prepping food back then with those cars going by
😆 Beware the Buick.
Awesome Video thank you! Always love the food and the cooking. God bless love from Colorado.
Great lesson
Great job. Very interesting and informative. Thank you so much
Excellent! a real connection.
Reminds me of the Ranger pudding we used to concoct while out in the field when I served in the infantry. Improvise, adjust, adapt, overcome ‼️🇺🇸👍
Great presentation.
Amazing video
Professional soldiers were called lifers would get angered from hearing complaints about army chow or about c rations. They would remind us that the vietcong was living on rice and fish and other types of food. By comparison we had it made.
This video is so interesting, as are you!
Thanks guys! Awesome video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Fascinating
In most cases the north had better food . Both sides used corn meal. They would cook there meat and carried it cooked. The union where issued boilers to cook in. This guy is pretty good at showing what they ate. Thats why they got dysestery. Eating bad food. Most people where hungery
Takes me back
I remember when
Very informative. Always found the daily life of the Civil War soldier interesting and compare it to my own experience. By comparison, I was living like a King.
Great video. Keep up the good work!
Entertaining and educational. Great video!
Very informative
I remember Shelby Foote talking about that corn meal & salt pork grease wound around the ram rod. He had a different name for it. Sloosh or something similar. I think it may have been wound around a bayonet as well and cooked over a fire. Those who've eaten it said it's like so many fried foods, good when fresh, and never after it cools.
Really interesting and informative video - thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
So interesting. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Really like his positive attitude about the food. some looks were like ohhh this TOO salty, but say its a different choice from the usual
great vid
Their canning also lacked a knowledge of pressure and heat necessary to destroy spores of bacteria. A very precarious food source at that time we today enjoy with virtual safety.❤
Very interesting video.
You should do one of these on the Revolutionary War food.
Union general: Looks like this war won’t be over by Christmas. How are we going to feed this growing army?
Quartermaster: *glances at barrel of wall paste
“General, I have an idea!”
I recently read the diary of PVT Benjamin Smith, Union 51st Illinois Infantry. He said a soldier in his unit got a whole can of cherries and refused to share with his company. The man died. Speculation was that because he ate the cherries pits and all, that the cyanide in the pits killed him. Other soldiers felt he got what he deserved for not sharing his spoils.
One thing I like to point out is why these rations are monotonous in the time period in general the poorer your were the less variation you had in your diet in general with soldiers is they were limited on they ability to cook if you have a hearth and some basic cooking equipment you could prepare your basic ingredients in more varied way give more variety
We tried cooking some stuff in the steel pot we wore on our heads .We also used it to bathe and shave with it as a sink. 😮
Now that's food to die for
During that time the us had wild game , wild animals to eat in large quantities , small population ect.
Not in some places. Like battle fields.😮
I am curious about the Taylor Ham Roll, It was used by the Continental Army as salted, cured ham rolls in each battle during the war.
I read an article written shortly after the war and the author spoke about one guy in the unit who was very popular because he always seemed to have half an onion around mealtime
Don't eat onion before Guard duty you will fall asleep.😮
Beans and Salt Pork make an easy meal
Leather Britches.😊
Groovy.
I just woke up and thought hold on, when was I conscripted to being a member!
What specialty foods might a commercial civil war sutler possibly sell? I saw a Harper's Weekly picture of a sutler and it looked as though he had pies among his for-sale items. What kind of pies? Any other specialty items?
Civil War Sutler's would sell fresh fruit and veggies, as well as fresh baked bread and pies!
@@NortheastGeorgiaHistoryCenter As a supplement to salt pork and hard tack (and one would imagine the merchant sutlers would have sometimes better coffee as well) -- I'll take it!
I have a Sutler Receipt from my ancestor that states he bought Tea Cakes, Canned Oysters, Pies, and some uniform items. I looked up the Tea Cake recipe and made some, they were delightful cookies.
I Bet this was filmed in Helen. I recognize the clock chimes.
Have you heard of shloose??..cornmeal mixed with bacon fat,rolled out and spirited around a ramrod then cooked over the campfire..
Lbh….. if the apple pie was good the dude would have mentioned it….
LOL 😂
Lol yup they even had songs complaining about the food 🥘
Chickory is the root of the Chickory plant. You dig the root wash it dry it and grind it. Boil with water and enjoy.
My brother likes coffee with hickory I dont.😊
I bet there are some fast food restaurants within miles of all the battlefields today.
Salt pork kicks ass
In this video I see someone family members or decents everyone has a family members in fighting in civil war
Love me some fried kush for a bed time snack....
😂
If you prior service folks especially the infantry are bored . Read up mess operations in the field, I found it rather interesting how troops are to fed in the field and in combat...
Ya’ll don’t know anything! My Dad told me once when I was getting picky about food that my great great great grandfather fought other returning confederate soldiers over vomit when a soldier got sick. He said “if they can’t handle it I can!” Starvation will drive men to unthinkable measures.
Very true, look at all the cannabilism stories over starvation, Donner party, Andes plane crash ect.
Hard tack you break with a round shot
I vote for MRE'S! Not C's or K's but MRE's!😊
I once tasted a american MRE and would prefere that camp food instead!
@@michaelpielorz9283People eat Hoover Hogs during the depression.😮
When he talked about visiting farms on the march besides the pigs and cows that could be taken he forgot chickens
Yes. Don't forget to elevate the chickens. And the eggs.
What kind of bags are you using for the flour and cornmeal to carry with you?
Sacks or Pokes.😊
I tried hardtack, it's not that bad
Cool American Civil war camping cook system. Do they have MRE?
Yep, maggots ready to eat.
Part of the near obsession with thing like coffee and tea probably had to do with the fact that boiling the water helped kill the things that made people sick, and before the days of antibiotics those water borne illnesses could have been commonly fatal. Beer was usually preferred instead of fresh water for the same reason but i could imagine that instead of giving troops large quantities of alcohol to consume alternatives like coffee would have been considered healthier and more productive.
I think in our modern times we take for granted that clean water is always a few steps away but for people back then their only option may have been a funky creek that their horses just finished crapping in and at the very least turning that water into coffee or tea would have made it somewhat less gag inducing as well as lessen the chances of something in that water causing you to drop half of your organs out your backside a few days later.
Caffeine is a good stimulate to get a little energy too
They didn’t have pocket knives back then
Nice video. I wonder if they were able to acquire food from the environment. Polk salad, wild onions ect.
I wondered the same. Surely, they scavenged fruits, vegetables or whatever
Ramps are delicious.
sucks! No peanut butter and Jelly! LOL
The meat you cook yes it's what you say
Whew, no thanks! Thank goodness we live in a society full of tasty, healthy food. Mmm, I'm getting hungry, guess I'll heat up a can of scrapple! 🤤
Smokin that confederate Kush
regards hard tack and royal navy tack you could do worse than watch films by big hearted Arthur Askey or his colleges -
Im quite certain they did better than that. Squirrel, rabit, duck, those boys on both side knew how to fish. But that coffee looked rough fo sho
MRE's and C Rations are 4 star meals .......
That's funny 😂
Talking about water and canteens I have always carried 2 canteens I go through water I carry a union and a confederate canteen if I need to explain for historical accuracy reasons one has water the other is something else seeing as I do a lot of confederate now days not too many people want to play the losers up north so I can say my issue one is water and the other is captured coffee in actually it's just 2 canteens of water but it gets the farb police off my back
stephan
tobowsky
Wait don’t you mean the United States against the Lincoln lead north, we had a total of 23 relatives fighting against the Damn Yankees
Yet the South still lost! Even on their battlefield.
I have mixed wild onion greens into my kush
I have high blood pressure and I cannot imagine eating salt pork for a long period of time.
Even with high blood pressure, it would not hurt you. It's only a few ounces per day, and that's all you get. You would lose a lot of weight, and your blood pressure would drop. Pure fat is not a problem, it's the volume of it that you consume every day, 7 days a week, with extremely limited exercise. If you drink a lot of water, your kidneys easily remove excess salt.
@@drengr2759 More than that, it's the ultra processed foods and high refined carb intake.
Doubt youd have high blood pressure back then youd march so many miles
Eating goobers peas. Mighty how delicious, eating goobers peas!
Peanuts.😊
If South woulda won we'd of had it made!!!
Don't think so.😊
Pork is pig meat? When did that start???
Roughly 4000 years ago
When did Hoover Hawgs start 😊
Leviticus Ch. 11, Matthew Ch. 5.
4 legged was ok to eat so idk what kinda meat 🍖
Most americans should have more camp food instead their beloved fast food(:-)
We eat pelican peckers down south.😅
Forget that I would have left and went out to California! I wouldn’t eat that shit!
So you know I am pretty much eaating confederate food. That’s not to promote violence but rather to say that food for body, not body for food. Those folks I must say better you know. They more calm more thoughtful more decent. And don’t turn it into another hate!
Ancient Romans were probably eating better for Christ's sake... Even sailors would have it better because they at least had a ton of liquor.
Where is the table where there is nothing. Many soldiers especially in the confederacy starved to death. Slowly and painfully. It was a horrendous war. Wipe that smile off your face and read a book.