16 Civil War Recipes Made for Soldiers (2024)

FAQs

What was a typical meal for Civil War soldiers? ›

These rations allotted just over a pound of meat, likely beef or pork, just under a pound of "hard bread," and a small collection of dried vegetables. The most common form of hard bread, was called hard tack, a basic wheat biscuit that did not easily decay and could survive a rough march.

Gail Borden's invention of condensed milk was very helpful for the Union army. Soldiers would also regularly drink coffee, however it was not always entirely coffee beans. Dandelion root served as a supplement or Ersatz good when coffee beans were scarce.

Coffee, hardtack, and salt pork comprised the majority of a Civil War Soldier's diet. While these items may seem crude by 21st century standards, they met the nutritional needs of Soldiers at the time.

During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, soldiers were given two meals a day. This was usually simple, slow-perishing food like salted pork or boiled beef, along with some bread.

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.

Civil War: Canned foods were first used as rations. Canned condensed milk, pork and beans were sometimes fed to Union soldiers. For meat, cattle moved with the troops before being slaughtered.

The two sides ate a different mix when rations were plentiful. A Union soldier's haversack would have contained salt pork, fresh or salted beef, coffee, sugar, salt, vinegar, dried fruit, and vegetables. And if in season, they might have fresh carrots, onions, turnips and potatoes.

How were Union and Confederate soldiers fed during the American Civil War? Troops in the field were issued raw salted meat, pickled/dried fruits vegetables, hardtack, coffee, rice, flour maybe, etc. (In the South Coffee substitute, and corn meal.) and whatever they could beg, borrow, or steal from the locals.

A ringing statement, for which unwitting support can be found from no less than the beau ideal of the Confederacy. Lee, who loved his black cook's fried chicken, once said that all he wanted was "a Virginia farm — no end of cream and fresh butter — and fried chicken.

The southern soldier's diet was considerably different from his northern counterpart and usually in much less quantity. The average Confederate subsisted on bacon, cornmeal, molasses, peas, tobacco, vegetables and rice.

What did civil war prisoners eat? ›

Diarrhea, dysentery, scurvy, and malnutrition were attributable to the steady diet of fried meat, hard bread, and strong coffee – supplemented on occasion with green peaches and unripe apples. Moreover, (a Union soldier) confessed, 'the mess pans were used to fry our pork in and also as a wash basin.

The consumption of alcohol was relatively common among soldiers living in camp or stationed in large cities. Civil War surgeons typically only hospitalized soldiers for drunkenness if they were suffering severe effects. It was uncommon for a soldier to spend the night in a hospital ward for simply being drunk.

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.

On the other side of the battlefield, the Continental Congress set the daily rations of the Continental Army soldiers at one pound of bread, half a pound of beef, and half a pound of pork (or one and one-quarter pound of beef, if no pork was available), one pint of milk, one quart of spruce or malt beer, and one gill ( ...

Confederate soldiers were often issued cornmeal instead of hardtack. The cornmeal could be cooked into a porridge or pancake. Civil War soldiers also needed their caffeine fixes. For Union soldiers it was green coffee beans to be roasted in a skillet, crushed with rifle butts and boiled.

According to army regulations for daily camp rations, a Union soldier was entitled to receive 12 oz of pork or bacon or 1 lb. 4 oz of salt or fresh beef; 1 lb. 6 oz of soft bread or flour or 1 lb. of hard bread (hardtack), or 4 oz of cornmeal.

The marching ration consisted of 1 lb. of hard bread, 3/4 lb. of salt pork or 1 1/4 lb. of fresh meat, plus the sugar, coffee, and salt.

The greater portion of cattle went out of Texas on the hoof, to be served as fresh meat after being slaughtered in the army camp. So much beef, pork, mutton, grain, sugar, salt, peas, beans, flour and corn meal was shipped away that Texas became known as the breadbasket of the Confederacy.