This page captures various articles on period rations, recipes, and cooking on campaign.
Extract: Revised United States Army Regulations of 1861. Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1863.
Resources and References.
- Essential Civil War Curriculum: Federal Army Rations (By R.E.J. Myzie)
- US Army Quartermaster Professional Bulletin, December 1988. (By J. Britt McCarley.)
- NEW: MIchael Schaffner “Notes and Recipes for Hard Bread” (Aug 2019)
- NEW – “How to Make Civil War Hardtack (Without Breaking Your Teeth…or Spirit)” (28th Mass YouTube Video based on Michael Schaffner’s paper, above.)
- Charles Heath “Looks Worse Than It Tastes” Civil War Historian (2007)
- Modern chart of fruit and vegetable availability (i.e: In season) in Virginia. Helpful to know what might have been available, when to Civil War Soldiers campaigning in Virginia.
Recommended Read: “A Taste For War: The Culinary History of the Blue and the Gray” by William C. Davis (2003). “…A Taste for War looks at what soldiers ate during the Civil War, where they got it, how they prepared it, and what they thought of it. Leavened with first-person accounts of finding and preparing food, A Taste for War includes more than two hundred recipes drawn from soldiers’ letters and diaries and from the few cookery guides furnished them by their governments. The recipes are adapted with instructions for modern preparation that allow readers to recreate the distinctive flavors and aromas of the Civil War.” (Amazon.com link)
Civil War Digital Digest Videos – Well researched, short YouTube videos on a variety of Civil War topics. Following is a list of period ration and recipe related videos, with links.
- Union Civil War Rations (Volume 1, episode 2)
- Hell Fire Stew (Volume 1, Episode 5)
- Coffee a lá Zouave (volume 1, Episode 7)
- Beef Steak (Volume II, Episode 1)
- General Casey’s Stew (Volume II, Episode 6)
- Simple Dumplings (Volume II, Episode 9)
- How to Make Coffee on Campaign (Volume II, Episode 15)
- Preparing Salt Pork (Volume II, Episode 21)
- How to Roast Coffee (Volume II, Episode 22)
- Camp Soup (Volume III, Episode 1)
- Dough Gods (Volume III, Episode 2)
- What’s in your Haversack? (Volume III, Episode 6)
- Cornmeal Mush (Volume III, Episode 17)
- Hoecakes (Volume III, Episode 21)
- Bubble and Squeak (Volume III, Episode 23)
- Fry Meat and Gravy (Volume IV, Episode 7)
- Griddle Cakes (Volume IV, Episode 8)
- Why Pork? (Volume IV, Episode 10)
- Dry Cure Bacon (Volume IV, Episode 11)
- Cucumbers (Volume IV, Episode 15)
- Tomato Cakes (Volume IV, Episode 17)
- Rice Pudding (Volume IV, Episode 21)
- Fried Beef Steaks (Volume IV, Episode 23)
- Camburn’s Picket Stew (Volume V, Episode 19)
- Potato Soup (Volume V, Episode 21)
- Making Hardtack (2020)
- To Boil Hominy (Volume VI, Episode 16)
- Flapjacks of Slapjacks (Volume VI, Episode 21)
- Cabbage and Sauerkraut (Volume VI, Episode 22)
- Why Apples? (Volume V1, Episode 23)
- Sevey’s Salt Pork (Volume VI, Episode 26)
- To Fry Hominy (Volume VI, Episode 29)
- Plain Irish Stew (Volume VII, Episode 1)
- Coffee for Ten Men (Volume VII, Episode 7)
- Grove Sevey’s Coffee Recipe (Volume VII, Episode 14)
- Civil War Soldier’s Applesauce
- Confederate Biscuits – Civil War Rations
- Hardtack and Hardtack Crates – A Veteran Speaks
- Wade’s Fancy Coffee – Civil War Soldier’s Recipe
Gallery: Company B Cooking on Campaign
