I'd like to know typical rations of soldiers in the Civil War. TIA!

DaMan

I guess it's relevant to ask if you're inquiring about a Union or Confederate soldier.

God Bless Texas

Also salt pork was carried, Hard tack if I remember correctly was just flour and water made to a paste then formed into squares about 1/2" thick by 3" long and tall with small holes poked through it- then allowed to dry (supposedly Civil war stocks of this horrible thing were issued as emergency rations through WWI). A friend of mine has eaten such stuff and does not recommend it.

Anyone who bitches about MRE's don't know how lucky they are, maggot ridden meat, stale or contaminated water, short or no rations. They also had a kind of cooked corn. I can easily imagine foraging to be one of the soldier's favorite activities.

Cracked corn?  What's that?  DaMan

No beans?

Thought this of interest if you'd like to recreate some Civil War "field delicacies"!
[url]http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Barracks/1369/recipes.html[/url]

DaMan

Renamed, there HAD to be beans (dried) there! Light weight, highly nutritious, but needed time to soak in water! Wonder if this was a problem?

DaMan  

goober peas & lots of green apples!

Goober Peas

Sittin' by the roadside on a summer's day,
Chattin' with my messmates, passing time away,
Lying in the shadow, underneath the trees,
Goodness, how delicious, eating goober peas!
                                          Chorus

[b][red]Peas! Peas! Peas! Peas! Eating goober peas!Goodness, how delicious, eating goober peas![/red][/b]

When a horseman passes, the soldiers have a rule,
To cry out at their loudest "Mister, here's your mule!",
But still another pleasure enchantinger than these Is wearing out your grinders,
eating goober peas!
                                         
Chorus

Just before the battle, the Gen'ral hears a row,
He says "The Yanks are coming, I hear their rifles now"!,
He turns around in wonder,and what do you think he sees?,
The Georgia Militia -- eating goober peas!
                                         
Chorus

I think my song had lasted almost long enough!
The subject's interesting, but rhymes are mighty rough!
I wish this war was over, when free from rags and fleas,
We'd kiss our wives and sweethearts and goble goober peas!
                                         
Chorus

Hardtack was a simple flour biscuit issued to Union soldiers throughout the war. Hardtack crackers made up a large portion of a soldier's daily ration. It was square or sometimes rectangular in shape with small holes baked into it, and similar to a large soda cracker. When freshly baked, they were quite tasty and satisfying. Baked in northern factories, they usually did not get to the soldiers until months after they had been made. They were very hard by that time; so hard that soldiers called them "tooth dullers" and "sheet iron crackers". Packed into large wooden crates, the soldiers were usually allowed six to eight crackers for a three-day ration. There were a number of ways to eat them- plain or prepared with other ration items. Soldiers would crumble them into coffee or soften them in water and fry the hardtack with some bacon grease. One favorite dish was fried pork with hardtack crumbled
into the mixture. Called "skillygallee", it was a common and easily prepared meal. It's easy to make and here's the recipe:

[url]www.nps.gov/gett/gettkidz/hardtack.htm[/url]

Out of curiosity, I purchased and ate some hardtack at a colonial-era festival.  It was hard, but not unpleasant in taste or texture.  It reminded me in some ways of the canned crackers from the c-rations we ate when I was in the National Guard.
Union soldiers also were given "dessicated vegetables" later in the war as an effort to stave off some forms of malnutrion.  Typically, the soldiers referred to them as "desecrated vegetables."  They were simply dried vegetables that the soldiers usually mixed with other ration items and boiled.
According to a couple sources I've read, bacon and salt pork were both frequently consumed raw by soldiers on both sides.  Bacon was preferred because it had a better flavor.  One presumes that trichinosis and other parasitic diseases must have been rampant in both armies.

Here's some more Civil War recipes.  Beans are in there. Although these aren't "battle rations", they are recipes of the period and probably some were used when time allowed a fixed camp.

[url]http://members.aol.com/karls37092/civlifeforec.html[/url]

I know that parched corn (cracked corn) was also a staple of soldiers on the march (especially among Confederate soldiers).

DaMan

Here we go!  Everything you ever wanted to know about parched corn from a book published in 1917.

[url]http://www.kurtsaxon.com/foods/foods12.htm[/url]

DaMan

[url]www.bentscookiefactory.com/hardtack.htm[/url] They made hardtack then...and they still make it now