HW #2 – Food or Coffee?

Generally, during the Civil War, soldiers ate beef or pork, usually boiled and salted, coffee, sugar, salt, vinegar, dried fruits and vegetables if they were in season and a type of biscuit called hardtack which was made from unleavened flour and water. These foods sound very bland to me and would make me think most people’s favorite thing back then would have to be coffee. According to the second article, Union soldiers make their coffee everywhere and with everything. They would use water from canteens, puddles, bays, mud, and even liquid that their horses wouldn’t drink. Coffee was a necessity to them and was usually the last bit of comfort they got to enjoy before going into battle and the first sign of safety once they returned from a battle. They enjoyed coffee with “beefsteaks and oysters.” Soldiers were issued nearly 36 lbs. of coffee per year. They would ground and brew the coffee themselves and their diaries revealed their feelings about the drink. You could sense a love for the drink, as well as slight obsession or addiction for the drink. For example, some soldiers would refer to coffee as “a delicious cup of black”, while some would call it “wishy-washy coffee”. When they wrote that, it was probably a day that the coffee wasn’t as good or made by as fresh things being that they didn’t have the same resources they have today to make the drink. A food that I love and can’t live without is shrimp. I love seafood (shrimp, crabs, lobster, etc.)