16 Civil War Recipes Made for Soldiers (2024)

FAQs

What food did soldiers eat in the 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.

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 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.

Some common foods eaten were eggs, bacon and bread, mutton, pork, potatoes, and rice. They drank milk and ate sugar and jam.

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.

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. The Confederacy started out following the same rules. As the war went on, they weren't able to keep up.

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 one of the most common meals for soldiers was a cracker-like food called hardtack. Hardtack is made from flour, water, and salt.

About once every week to ten days, Soldiers would go to the rear for their shower. Upon entering the shower area they turned in their dirty clothing. After showering they received new cloths. They had their choice for size: small, medium, or large.

Did Civil War soldiers eat canned food? ›

Troops supplemented government rations with found or purchased foods whenever possible: ripe or unripe fruits and vegetables, and pies, cakes and canned goods bought from sutlers (mobile storekeepers).

Two and three quarter million soldiers fought in the American Civil War, nearly 2 million for the United States and 750,000 for the Confederacy. The average soldier was a white, native born, Protestant. He was single, between the ages of 18 and 29, stood 5 foot 8 inches tall and weighed 143 pounds.

President Lincoln was fond of certain foods, especially apples. Fruits, nuts, cheese, and crackers were often enjoyed by the president. Some sources note President Lincoln did have two favorite dishes, Chicken Fricassee with Biscuits and Oyster Stew.

Diets included wild game, such as deer and turkeys. Women and girls worked mainly in the kitchen and fed smaller livestock. When it came time to butcher animals, families joined with their neighbors to share the workload and the meat. Pork was the staple meat in the Southeast until the 1940s.

For breakfast, people would usually just eat leftovers from the night before. Often times, after baking all day, the oven was still hot and people would cook beans with molasses and salt and leave them in over night, so they would be ready by breakfast time the next day.

Officers and enlisted men drank licit and illicit alcohol to alleviate the alternating boredom and horror of camp life and combat; commanders issued whiskey rations to troops for unusual exertion; and army doctors used medicinal alcohol to treat a variety of wounds and illnesses.

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.