16 Civil War Recipes Made for Soldiers (2024)

FAQs

What food did soldiers eat in Civil War? ›

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.

The most common food given to soldiers was bread, coffee, and salt pork. The typical ration for every Union soldier was about a pound of meat and a pound of bread or flour.

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.

Among the dishes prepared were chicken fricassee, mushroom ketchup (a condiment made by boiling mushrooms), a beef-and-potato stew, cornish game hens and ham and beans -- foods that would have been made by Union soldiers.

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.

Typical fare during the Civil War was very basic. Union soldiers were fed pork or beef, usually salted and boiled to extend the shelf life, coffee, sugar, salt, vinegar, and sometimes dried fruits and vegetables if they were in season.

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.

During the Civil War, the Union Army had two types of rations: "marching rations" and "camp rations." Marching rations consisted of sixteen ounces of hard bread, also known as "hardtack"; twelve ounces of salt pork or twenty ounces of fresh meat; and sugar, coffee, and salt.

On the list of approved foods you'll find normal choices, like canned tuna, hard-boiled eggs, and cheddar cheese. At least one meal includes saltine crackers. It doesn't include superfoods like salmon, almonds, or quinoa. You can drink water and black coffee or tea, but no soda, milk, juice, or alcohol.

What did they eat in the 1860s? ›

Working-class folks might have had meat a couple of times a week, while the middle classate three good meals a day. Some common foods eaten were eggs, bacon and bread, mutton, pork, potatoes, and rice. They drank milk and ate sugar and jam.

The conflict also popularized other canned goods, such as canned beef from Chicago and Gilbert Van Camp's canned fruits, vegetables, and pork and beans from Indianapolis, both of whom secured lucrative contracts to supply food for the Union Army.

Breakfast as we know it didn't exist for large parts of history. The Romans didn't really eat it, usually consuming only one meal a day around noon, says food historian Caroline Yeldham. In fact, breakfast was actively frowned upon. "The Romans believed it was healthier to eat only one meal a day," she says.

From playing cards to checkers, Civil War soldiers played basic games with each other in order to pass the time. They also used their time to adapt objects found on the battlefield like wood and bones into objects they wanted and needed like forks, dice, and buttons.

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 ( ...

THE FULL CAMPAIGN RATION OF THESE MEN IN THIS LITHOGRAPH IS ONE POUND OF HARDTACK, THREE-QUARTER POUNDS OF SALT PORK, OR ONE AND A QUARTER POUNDS OF FRESH MEAT, SALT, SUGAR, COFFEE. THIS EQUATES TO ROUGHLY 4000 CALORIES. YOU ARE LOOKING AT THE CALORIC INTAKE OF WHAT OUR MODERN TROOPS SHOULD BE GETTING. PER DAY.

Hardtack wasn't the only ration item celebrated in military song. During the Civil War, beans were part of a soldier's rations.

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.