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What The Soldier Ate

© Michael J. Swogger

Obviously the meat was not USDA prime and inspected. Soldiers often got shanks and necks included in their shipments, causing one officer to plead with the commissary to "not to start throwing in the hoofs and horns" (Robertson, 1984, p. 86). Additionally, it didn't take long for the meat to become infested with worms and other undesirables. One Federal soldier wrote that "yesterday morning was the first time we had to carry our meat, for the maggots always carried it till then. We had to have an extra guard to keep them from packing it clear off" (Robertson, 1984, p. 86). I certainly hope he was being facetious.

Next in line is the fruits and vegetable family. Well, the soldiers saw more vegetables than fruits, especially when foraging along the farmlands of the countryside. As stated previously, beans were the most popular of the vegetable rations. But when in the field, the common soldier had to stick to another vegetable matter--dried beans! Sometimes they did receive "desiccated compressed mixed vegetables: hard cakes of dehydrated and pressed beans, turnips, carrots, beets, onions, and more. The men called them 'desecrated vegetables' or-after finding the cake also contained roots, leaves, vegetable tops, and stalks-'baled hay'" (Robertson, 1984, p. 87). There wasn't a whole lot of variety in what these men got, but the beans often provided the only true nutrition they would get for months at a time.

For the Northern soldiers, the most common staple was hardtack. Made of flour and water and extremely hard (hence the name), this food took on the form of a large three inch square cracker that was up to a half an inch thick. Labeled "teeth-dullers," "sheet-iron crackers," and "worm castles" (since even their hardness still couldn't keep those little critters from settling in the soldiers' lunch), the men had often had to, like the meat, soak the hardtack in water before they could partake. Sometimes they fried the watered-down cracker in a heap of grease and called it "hell-fired stew" (Robertson, 1984). It certainly didn't take long for the men to grow very tired of this "meal." Unfortunately for them, it was often the best they could get.

The Confederates didn't have to deal with hardtack all that much, though their subsistence relied heavily on something equally as tough. The issue of cornbread was the most commonplace in the Southern armies. Now I know what you're thinking: "Corn bread doesn't sound so bad. That good wholesome southern cornbread is the best you'll ever come across." Well, while I don't contest the sweet taste of southern cornbread. But what you and I might be familiar with any soldier of the Confederacy would probably die for if he could substitute it for what he was forced to stomach. Army-issued cornbread was often over-cooked, hard, and wormy. Like their Northern counterparts, Confederate soldiers would often find themselves frying their ration in bacon grease and water.