Confederate Grub

“non importa dove state andando, quando ottenete là, là siete” – Old Italian saying

”Il gaul conquistato Ceasar perché gli non ha avuto spingitoi di carta con” – from the wisdom of Pvt. Gregory

“The cook of my mess would not leave Fredericksburg, and at Game Point we determined to cook for ourselves. I will never forget the first meal. We made a fire under the shade of a tree, made up our bread of meal (the government commended to give it to us this early), sliced our fat meat, and commenced to cook and in about two minutes both meat and bread were burned black one side! We took them off the fire, cooled them, and tried again, and succeeded very well in burning the other side. We finally cooked everything we had and sat down on the ground to eat. The bread had no salt in it, no one had thought of that; the meat was so salt we cont eat it. We were disgusted, but the next day we had better success, and in a few days we got along all right.”(1)

The above quotation gives us a starting point for our article. Worsham, along with many of his comrades faced the dilemma of cooking for themselves for the first time. In antebellum America cooking was the province of women. Soldiers leaving for home had depended on the womenfolk to keep the inner man filled and now had to fend for themselves.

As the soldiers arrived at training camps some were lucky in that some training camps were central messing facilities staffed by local citizens doing their patriotic duty. However, in some camps it was all the government could do to just issue rations much less provide messing facilities. So it was up to the soldier to learn quickly.

Pvt. Spencer Talley of Company F, 28^th Tennessee recalled that during their initial training the men drilled most of the time and then spent the rest of their days “taking lessons in cooking.” As in so many things the Confederate Government failed to provide its troops with some type of instruction in the art of cooking.

Of course cookbooks were known before the war. Housewives had relied upon Godey’s Lady Book and Mrs.N.K.M. Lee’s The Cooks Own Book. Undoubtedly some copies of these or other books found their way to the training camps where they helped budding chefs prepare their rations.

Since we are primarily concerned with the campaign impression; how did Confederates prepare their food while on campaign?

Despite what you might have seen on the Iron Chef® there are really only four ways to prepare food; Baking, boiling, broiling and frying. Which method is used depends upon what food was available and what the soldier had available to cook with.

Think of the System

In our previous article on haversacks it was mentioned that a soldier would be issued a plate, a cup, and a set of cutlery. Whoa Mohamed(2)! Where’s the cooking gear? How was the soldier to prepare his issued rations?

It was all in accordance with a system. (You will see this term a lot in upcoming articles) The army regulations of 1825 specified, “in every squad, one man be detailed for cooking.” The regulations did not give a length of time that each man was to serve as a cook although thirty days was the usual time. The regulations also gave general guidelines concerning cleanliness of cook wear and approximate cooking times. These guidelines were intended for the garrison so how did the army prepare its food for campaigning?

Well it’s simple. While on campaign the army took its cooking equipment with them. Carried inside wagons that were provided, were mess kettles, and mess pans.

Mess kettles were heavy sheet iron cylinders that ranged from thirteen to fifteen inches high. Diameters could vary from seven inches to 12 inches around. They were designed to fit inside one another to take up less space in the wagon. On campaign they could serve a variety of useful purposes from boiling coffee, making stew and doing the laundry.

Mess pans were cousins of the kettles. They were made of tin or sheet iron. Usually six inches high and twelve inches in diameter at the top, they served admirably as baking dishes.

Generally mess kettles and pans were issued every eight to ten men. Now I can just hear everyone now, “Why they didn’t have room for these things in the wagons?” “Au contraire mon frère “

“On the 6^th we made another long hike through mud and rain, and the dim old roads we traveled were so badly cut up and narrow that part of our provision train failed to reach us until next morning. The wagons hauling our flour and bacon came in about ten o’ clock at night those loaded with cooking utensils were stuck in the mud many miles behind us.”(3)

“Throughout his memoir, Worsham makes frequent references to the cooking utensils being carried in the wagons. In the early part of the war, the wagons were used to carry mess chests, which a fine example of can be found at the Casemate Museum at Fort Monroe. Of course as the war wore on, the mess chests were left behind but cooking utensils continued to be carried on the wagon.

I can hear it now “But Oh revelator of revelators, if wagons were not available; they did not have these things on the march.” Study the paragraphs below and report to the woodshed.

A big strapping fellow by the name of Tennessee Thompson always carried bigger burdens than any other five men in the army. For example, he carried two quilts, three blankets, one gum oil cloth, one overcoat, one axe, one hatchet, one camp kettle, one oven with lid, one coffee pot, besides his knapsack, haversack, canteen, gun, cartridge-box, and three days rations.”(4) An example of an oven with a lid is shown on page 103 of Soldier Life, a Time-Life book available at most public libraries.

Skillets and frying pans were very evident during marches. Observers of the Confederate army on the march noted more than one man carrying a fry pan with either the handle jammed down his musket or lashed to his musket.

What if the utensils weren’t there?

“The country where we camped that night was densely wooded with red oak. Pine, sugar maple, and beech. It was in the spring, and sap was up, so the boys peeled the bark off of many of the trees and made trays to knead their dough. Then they wrapped the dough around the their ramrods and cooked it before the fire and broiled their bacon on the coals. Maybe that’s why Confederate soldiers were called “doughboys.”

“An epicure would shudder today at such grub, but when a fellow is in the army, young healthy and hungry, it is the finest eating in the world.”(5)

Now we have several interesting quotes to consider. Val Giles has given us evidence for the continued usage of cooking utensils while on campaign. He also shows us that the men improvised when the cooking gear was not available. There are accounts of using slabs of tree bark as a mixing bowl going all the way back to the earliest settlers in America.

What if they didn’t have the wagons, cooking utensils, or trees nearby? "When they camp for the night the nearest field supplies them with thousands of small bake ovens, in the shape of corn husks. Each man procures an ear of corn in the shape of corn with the husk still on it; the husk is slightly parted at the top to allow the fingers to be inserted, the ear is twisted around until it breaks loose at the bottom, and is then drawn out, leaving the husk a clean and complete cup. In this the flour is mixed and seasoned, and after closing the top of the husk again, it is buried in the hot ashes for half an hour, after which it is drawn out and the charred husk pulled off, disclosing a fresh hot roll." (6) One modification to the above might be to wet the shuck before you put in the coals. In addition to the above methods, there is mention of men using their oilcloths as mixing boards; using the hollow of a log or stump; or a flat rock might be pressed into service.

Something else we need to think about is a unit’s composition. Units from the rural areas of the south probably had a lot more field craft skills than a unit made up primarily of city folk (Company F).

I can also hear it coming. “Oh Mango Bob, they might have had these items during a stop in the march, but not in actual combat”

Well let us take our selves back to Val Giles and an account of the fighting at the Devil’s Den. “About daylight on the morning of the 3^rd old Uncle John Price (colored) brought in the rations for Company B….. I crawled up to the camp kettle of boiled roasting ears and meal sack full of iron clad biscuits.(1)

So even though we do the campaign impression, kettles and mess pans would never be out of place in an encampment.

Now with the soldier on the march the most likely items for use in cooking was the skillet, the spider, a boiler, cup, or tin can.

What was a spider? A spider was a cast iron pan somewhat deeper than a normal frying pan. It could have a lid. What set it apart from a skillet that there were generally legs attached to the bottom of the pan so that it could rest directly in the fire. The basic design goes back to early colonial America where the spider would be used as a bake oven. Worsham makes frequent mention of the spider being used to prepare meals. In fact he mentions searching for one to purchase after the mess loses theirs.

The spider was a versatile cooking utensil. It could be used to fry and to bake and could be pressed into service to prepare stews.

To the best of my knowledge there are no reproduction spiders available on the market. The best bet would be to look in antique stores or flea markets. A search in these areas may lead to a suitable spider. An example of a spider is shown on page 97 of Soldier Life.

The company has period correct frying pans and skillets available for sale, so consult the Company Quartermaster. Just remember smaller is better. You do not need a skillet the size of the Monitor’s turret to do your cooking.

Another popular item for cooking while on the march is the canteen half. It could be used for frying your salt pork or other light cooking chores. During the flooding from Hurricane Floyd; some of my reenacting gear stored in a shed got deluged. Among the items was a federal smooth side canteen purchased at a going out of reenacting sale. The wool covering was ruined and somehow the canteen developed a serious leak. Rather than try to reseal it, a few minutes work with a propane torch gave me two canteen halves. I took one to a friendly blacksmith who does some work for Colonial Williamsburg. He attached a broken shovel blade socket and with the use of a stick I have a fairly useful field skillet.

Well… What to Cook?

All right now is the time for some instruction and common sense so gather at the knee of the master and pay attention.

As a veteran of the antediluvian times of reenacting I have learned a great deal and one of the things I learned is that you have to organize yourself if you want to make the reenactment enjoyable. So I organized my gear for easier packing and preparation for the event.

A yard sale yielded a Rubbermaid tote storage container for a couple of bucks. In this I keep all my cooking utensils. Included in the storage container are my period rations. Shopping at yard sales and flea markets brought a collection of Tupperware and other storage containers. These containers hold a variety of foodstuffs. I keep coffee beans; navy beans, hardtack (in a Rubbermaid bread storage container), peas and rice, cornmeal and various sundries.

I shop for my reenacting supplies separately from my regular household groceries. There are two reasons for this. The first is so that my wife doesn’t get upset because I took to a reenactment some item she needed for dinner. The second reason is that I have a receipt for the groceries that I can claim it on my taxes.

So when it comes time for us to attend the annual Battle Of Starving Locust all I need to do is plan out my menu; then fill the ration bags and haversack and with a hey nonnie nonnie, my food needs are taken care of. All that is left to do is go up to reefer and cut off some chunks of slab bacon, cook them and then freeze it until it is taken to the event.

This upcoming season I intend to add desiccated vegetables to my larder. A yard sale yielded a Ronco® dehydrator. So I will be dehydrating some vegetables. I do not possess the capabilities to press it into blocks but it will close enough for government work.

During the winter I take the opportunity to bake up some hardtack and store it until needed during the season. Corporal Perry’s article has a nice hardtack recipe for your use. Now here’s a key when you are baking your own hardtack; the longer you bake it, the longer it will keep.

Corn meal was a staple issue item to hungry Confederates. A picture of Texas troops stationed at Quantico in the winter of 1861 shows one Confederate proudly showing off his homemade “pone” and skillet.

The preparation of corn meal comes under many terms. “Hoe cake”, “Ash cake” and other terms mean roughly the same thing but are prepared in slightly different ways.

Field preparation of corn meal involves only water and maybe some grease from your meat ration if available. You are going to have to be careful with the water, as you want the dough to be somewhat thick.

If you are cooking ashcakes and have placed your efforts close to the fire; be prepared for some ashes to cover it. A note of caution when you are cooking corn meal products; there is a tendency for corn meal products to quick cook on the outside and be somewhat underdone in the middle. So for the sake of your intestines make sure that any corn meal products are thoroughly cooked.

What are some other examples of food the men might have prepared?

Skillygallee: Soak hardtack in water. Fry to a golden brown ( I always add a pinch of salt when doing this)

I have made all these in the past and they have turned out all right. It’s actually interesting to try to duplicate the efforts of soldiers in the field.

Okay, we are all a bunch of rough and ready types. We spend approximately 40 hours or so on weekend trying to emulate the life of a Civil War Soldier. So it is no big hardship to do what they did. It will give you a greater appreciation of what they did and how they did it. At the end of the event we can jump into our vehicles and it’s off to the nearest fast food or restaurant to satisfy inner man.

If you want to try some of these techniques and recipes I recommend that you try it at home first.

Whoa Mohamed! I highly recommend that you stay out of kitchen lest you incur the wrath of she who rules the house. A good experimental area could be the barbecue. This way you get to feel manly while getting the experience of cooking over an open fire under controlled circumstances.

[6] "New Method of Cooking for Soldiers" July 21, 1863, by the Atlanta based newspaper, the "Memphis Daily Appeal".

Homestyle Hardtack

5 pounds unbleached, all purpose flower
2 tablespoons Baking Powder
1 Tablespoon of Salt (Optional)
5 ½ to 6 cups of Cool water - Enough to make a stiff, dry dough. If dough too stiff to work, add more water. If too moist, add flower. It may be easier to start with moist dough, then add flour to each part as you work the dough with your hands before rolling.

If the dough sticks or stings to cutter, it is too moist.

Start mixing dough with a fork, then use your hands to forma workable dough ball. Roll out a little of the dough at a time. When the dough is the right consistency, it will take some "power rolling" to get the dough to the right thickness. Roll the dough ¼ to ½ inch thick, use cutter for measuring thickness. Use flour sprinkled liberally on rolling surface to prevent sticking. Bake at 300 degrees for about 70-90 minutes, or until the biscuit can longer be pushed in (soft), using your finger to test it. The hardtack will get harder as it cools, but a "cake-like" inside will not harden and will have to be put back in the over to finish drying (baking). This can even be done the next day. If you prefer a softer inside for easier eating, reduce the baking time. The overall look will be the same. This hardtack is edible, but storage time has yet to be determined. Do no store in plastic and do not freeze. Store in a dry, tin container for best results.

Legal information and Disclaimer - This hardtack could break your teeth. Soften by dunking in liquid or breaking off a piece and holding it in your mouth till softened.

For 30 pieces:
4 cups of flour
1 ¼ teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt.

The cutter should be 3 inches by 3 inches with a 16, equally spaced, hole patter. This can be accomplished by many means, just cutting them with a knife and putting holes in it with a toothpick. Good luck with it.

There is a recipe for Johnny Cakes also. It is not as glamorous as the hardtack but here it is, but I am sure it is a good one for the adventurous ones of our group.

A quart (8 cups) of Indian meal (cornbread) mixed with a teaspoon of salt, scaled well with boiling water and baked about half an inch. When done, split through the middle, cut in pieces for the table and dip in butter.

For normal cornbread follow the below recipe.
½ cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup flour
pinch of salt
4 eggs
2 tablespoons of milk
3 tablespoons of softened butter

Combine the cornmeal, flour, and salt in a bowl. Add the eggs, milk, and butter and mix well. Pour into a 9X9 inch buttered baking pan and bake in a moderate oven (375 degrees) for 15-20 minutes.

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Campaign Cooking

by Pvt. Gregory

(this ran in the 2004 April Regimental Dispatch .)

"It takes a great deal of dirt to poison sogers."-quote attributed to a British soldier when told about a new system of cooking that was to be introduced in the Crimean War.

Now that the haversack article and the first article on Campaign Cooking have thrilled you, we are ready to delve further into the matter. In this article I hope to enlighten you on how to plan for a weekend’s eating out of your haversack

In previous articles I have told you what the standard ration issue was. Something you need to understand is that with a few minor exceptions Johnny Reb was the home team. Whenever you are the home team there are certain advantages and one of them was that in addition to whatever the Quartermaster could issue, there was a good possibility that confederates could supplement their fare with some foraging.

The above-mentioned fact gives us a wide variety for our weekend menu. So what we have to think about is; what is available, and the time of year.

Here’s a hoary tale from the antediluvian days of reenacting. In a previous life I used to reenact as a member of the 41st Virginia, Company I of Mahone’s Virginia Brigade. As part of our research, we discovered that General Mahone who suffered from dyspepsia brought along a cow for milk and turkey to lay eggs for him. This unique diet kept General Billy in his fighting trim of 98 pounds spread over his 5’1" frame. Upon his being wounded at Second Manassas, Governor Letcher advised his wife; Otellia Mahone, not to worry as it was only a flesh wound. She replied that was what worried her, as Billy had no flesh to spare.

Anyway back to our tale. As part of a cooking demonstration at a living history we decided to portray Confederates who in 1864 had liberated General Billy’s turkey and cooked it. We cooked a standard turkey over the open fire with two sticks and a ramrod, and scattered some appropriate feathers scattered around. It was a hit with the spectators to say the least and made a damn good meal.

At a Military Through the Ages event, we portrayed Confederates in the Petersburg trenches. As part of our impression we had bought a live hen that we tethered out and informed the public that we had foraged her. We did not do the live chicken voodoo sacrifice. Agnes; (named after a much more interesting Gettysburg phenomena then the killer rabbit) the battle chicken joined the population at Jamestown. But, the intended effect worked, the crowd was impressed.

Another year after some research showed Confederates catching and cooking squirrels brought forth the "squirrels from hell" scenario. The crowd liked the roasting squirrels on an open fire (isn’t that a Christmas song?) Unfortunately for us, we overcooked them and since the event organizers provide dinner, their leathery remains were consigned to earth just outside the fort. It is rumored that their ghosts haunt the unwary tourist to this day.

Now the point of my blathering is to show you that there is a lot you can do if you the research.

Planning the menu

A large portion of your campaign-cooking menu is going to be hardtack. Hardtack has a long and honorable history. In fact it dates back to the Romans where it was called Bucellatum. It was a hard baked flour cake containing only salt and olive oil as a binding agent. It was boiled in water to soften it. Legend has it that the Roman Legions conquered the world in order to find something soft to eat.

In fact, lets look at the rations available to a legionary soldier of Rome and see how it differs from the campaigner impression of the Civil War.

While on the march, the Roman "Iron Ration" consisted of one to one and half pounds of Bucellatum, bacon and sour wine. The sour wine would be added to water and helped to prevent dysentery. So with the exception of sour wine instead of coffee you can see that the legionnaire of ancient Rome ate pretty much the same as his Civil War brethren.

Enough of this ancient history lesson, its enough to realize that the basics of campaigner chow has not changed a whole lot over the years.

As we have talked about ad nauseum, the standard Union issue of hardtack was ten crackers a day. Some accounts say eight, but ten is the generally accepted amount. So for the two and half days you are going to be at an event figure twenty to twenty five crackers. Just round it up to an even thirty and it gives you a number to play with.

As you might remember from our earlier article you can either purchase ready made hardtack or make it yourself at home. If I can bake hardtack at home, anyone should be able to do it. I store it in a paper bag for a couple of days to let it air harden and then it goes into the Rubbermaid bread container.

Slab bacon; that ubiquitous flesh of the swine can be found in a variety of places. The Edward’s ham company with outlets in sundry places sells it various sized packages from one to five pounds. Whatever size or brand you get I highly recommend doing a little quartermaster work yourself and break it down for transport.

Since there is usually some savings in buying in bulk I will purchase the five-pound slab. I break that down into five one lb packages. Then I will cut the one lb package into four or five slices. I wrap the pieces in some baking paper and place them in the freezer. Then come event time I just grab a couple, put them in the little cooler with a blue ice pack. When I get to the event I load my haversack. Now you can cook the meat right away and it will safely keep for the weekend. You could even pre cook it at home, then freeze it and just warm it up at the event.

You can substitute beef for the slab pork. Beef was usually issued fresh; "still quivering from the knife" according to one source. There are some health concerns with the fresh beef. One option is to freeze it at home as soon as you get it home from the store. Cook it for example on a Wednesday night and refreeze it. Pull the package out and do the same as for the slab bacon. Another way is if you can buy it that day on your way to the event. Cook it as soon as you can. It should be safe for the weekend.

When you shop for beef at the store look for the cheaper cuts.

The same tactic could apply for fresh pork as well. NEVER, NEVER eat raw pork or beef. There are just too many things that can happen to you and not many of them are good.

Salt beef was issued as well as salt pork. Salt beef is going to impossible to find. You can try making your own at home. Use a ceramic, stoneware or plastic crock that has a lid that fits. You will also need a lot of pickling salt or kosher salt. Get a couple of pounds of cheap beef that has some fat clinging to it.

Place the beef in the container and make sure it is well covered in water. Start pouring salt in. How much? Until you can float a potato or the salt will no longer dissolve.

Place plate on top of the beef to keep in from floating to the top. Put the lid on and place it in the refrigerator. Twice a week agitate the mixture and check the brine. A small amount of scum should make its way to the top. If it does just scoop it out. If it excessive, clean the meat under cold running water, scrub the container out and start over. Count on at least two weeks and possibly up to six weeks depending on the thickness of the meat for it to salt cure. Obviously this is not something you want to start on Thursday night.

When the time is up place the meat in the open air to dry. It will dry rock hard and the salt will protect it.

If you plan to use it at an event count on soaking it fresh water overnight and you may have to boil it and change the water several times.

Onwards to our planning the menu for the event. For planning purpose’s we are going to attend the 1st annual battle of Hogan’s Goat (ask me story). Let us also assume that the company will not be cooking a meal on Saturday so you can forget Kale and Hominy casserole.

Anyway, the event has been billed as the greatest hardcore campaigner event of all time. Upon registration you will be issued with period correct lice that have been specifically bred for the event. You know it’s going to be hardcore because the local volunteer fire department has not set up a funnel cake concession, so you will be on your own.

That means if I get there late Friday night I can count on providing myself at least five meals. On Saturday that’s a breakfast, lunch and dinner along with any snacks. Then on Sunday, you have to fix a breakfast and a lunch.

All right as you no doubt remember from my first article I go to the basement, move the cat off the commissary chest and start to pack. I pull out thirty hardtack crackers and store them in the bread bag in my haversack.

Next I consider my beverage. From our research we know that coffee was the preferred beverage of both Johnny Reb and Billy Yank. Hmm? I could always go upstairs and pull down the can of Folger’s Mountain Roast and fill a poke sack with some grounds. Well here’s the rub.

The main supplier of coffee for Johnny Reb was the Union army; either foraged or traded for. So how did Billy Yank receive his coffee ration? At the beginning of the war; the Union Army was in a great thundering hurry for a lot of things. Consequently they were unable to keep a close eye on a lot of contractors, which led to Union soldiers being supplied with shoddy clothes and substandard shoes. In order to prevent contractors from cheating the government, when the federal government bought coffee they bought only the whole bean. This prevented contractors from adulterating the contents and making extra profit. So if you need to tote that coffee you are going to have to use coffee beans. Or is there an alternative?

Indeed there is. A food item that became available to Union soldiers was "extract of coffee." It was a primitive version of instant coffee. Here is a recipe to make your own extract of coffee.

Take a half-cup of your favorite brand of freeze-dried coffee, 1 can of Borden's condensed milk (if you are worried about the sugar content of the condensed milk,go ahead and use evaporated milk) and a minuscule amount of boiling water.

Slowly, a few drops at a time add the boiling water to the freeze-dried coffee. I use a teaspoon. What you want to accomplish here is to turn the freeze-dried coffee into a thick paste, not a drink.

Place the milk into a bowl and very gently warm it a microwave. Add the coffee paste to the warmed milk. Mix well; you should wind up a thick dark brown paste. Now you need a suitable container. Hey guess what; use an old cap tin. Keep it in the refrigerator until event time. Make sure the lid is tight or everything in your haversack will get a nice coating of extract of coffee.

At an event, just heat up a cup of water, add a spoonful of the extract, stir well and you have a pretty good approximation of an item carried by Union soldiers. A word of warning as this stuff can be pretty potent.

The meat ration has already been discussed and I make a note to get it out of the freezer prior to leaving.

What about something a little more substantial? How about some beans?, rice?, or peas? Well all of the above are actually pretty easy to prepare for either lunch or dinner.

Just after breakfast put some of the dried beans or peas in your boiler. Cover with about an inch of water and place by the fire. Let it cook all morning. Just before lunch, slice some meat into it, let it cook some more and then go to town.

Implications For Us

It should be our goal as living historians to try as much as possible to emulate how the boys of 61 did it. As living historians or reenactors however you want to put it; we have an obligation to do the best possible impression that we can. There are several benefits to doing things the way they did it. First, we learn for ourselves. Second, when a spectator comes around they get an opportunity to see how things should be.

By doing things the right way we reduce the amount of trash we have at an event. Think about it. When we bring things wrapped in plastic or Styrofoam egg cartons, the residue has to be disposed of. Normally we chuck it into the fire. Since I know a little bit about hazardous materials this is not a very bright idea.

It is the nature of the beast that we always don’t get to associate with other serious minded reenactors. A lot of you might be familiar with some of the people we have had to bivouac next to and their campsite resembles a county landfill with all kinds of stuff lying around. Beer cans, beef stew cans, plastic bread wrappers and the like not only cheapen their impression but affects ours as well. By no means I am saying we should be the authenticity police, but it starts with us.

It has long been my philosophy that I control no one’s impression but my own. My impression is only as authentic as I want to make it. By doing research and trying to do it right I am walking down the road to a better impression.

Works Consulted

Mr. Kipling’s Army, All the Queen’s Men, Byron Farwell, W.W. Norton Company London, 1981

A Taste For War, The Culinary History of the Blue and the Gray, William C. Davis, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg PA 2003

Columbia Rifles Companion, A Resource for Living Historians in the Development of a Well Rounded Civil War Federal Soldier Impression-1st Edition April 2001, Published by the Columbia Rifles.

“ I tried to keep clean while in the army, and I made it a rule to take a bath once a week and oftener when convenient. This included winter as well as summer. Here is a winter’s day experience in this camp (Mt. Pisgah Church, near Orange C.H.). One day about noon, with the sun shining brightly and little wind stirring, I thought I would take my bath. I walked over to Madison Run, a large stream about half a mile from camp. I found the stream frozen over solid. I got a large rock, walked to the middle of the stream, raised the rock over my head and hurled it with all my force on the ice. But it made no impression. I repeated this eight or ten times without breaking the ice. I then returned to camp, got an axe, went back to the Run, and cut a hole in the ice, which was about seven inches thick. I cleared the hole of all floating ice, undressed, took a good bath, and was in fine condition when I returned to camp.”

Those of you in the Company with little ones; next time they don’t want to take a nice warm bath, read them this story.

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THE TYPICAL CONFEDERATE SOLDIER

Nearly thirty-three years have passed since the alarm of war called from their peaceful pursuits the citizens who were to make name and fame as Confederate soldiers. The stirring scenes and the dreadful carnage of a memorable conflict have been removed by the lapse of time into the hazy past, and a new generation, however ready it may be to honor those who fought the battles of the South, is likely to form its idea of their appearance from the conventional military type. The Confederate soldier was not an ordinary soldier, either in appearance or character. With your permission I will undertake to draw a portrait of him as he really appeared in the hard service of privation and danger.

A face browned by exposure and heavily bearded, or for some weeks unshaven, begrimed with dust and sweat, and marked here and there by the darker stains of powder - a face whose stolid and even melancholy composure is easily broken into ripples of good humor or quickly flushed in the fervor and abandon of the charge; a frame tough and sinewy, and trained by hardship to surprising powers of endurance; a form, the shapeliness of which is hidden by its encumberments, suggesting in its careless and unaffected pose a languorous indisposition to exertion, yet a latent, lion-like strength and a terrible energy of action when aroused. Around the upper part of the face is a fringe of unkempt hair, and above this an old wool hat, worn and weather-beaten, the flaccid brim of which falls limp upon the shoulders behind, and is folded back in front against the elongated and crumpled crown. Over a soiled shirt, which is unbuttoned and button less at the collar, is a ragged grey jacket that does not reach to the hips, with sleeves some inches too short. Below this, trousers of a nondescript color, without form and almost void, are held in place by a leather belt, to which is attached the cartridge box that rests behind the right hip, and the bayonet scabbard which dangles on the left. Just above the ankles each trouser leg is tied closely to the limb - a la Zouave - and beneath reaches of dirty socks disappear in a pair of badly used and curiously contorted shoes. Between the jacket and the waistband of the trousers, or the supporting belt, there appears a puffy display of cotton shirt which works out further with every hitch made by Johnny in his effort to keep his pantaloons in place.

Across his body from his left shoulder there is a roll of threadbare blanket, the ends tied together resting on or falling below the right hip. This blanket is Johnny's bed. Whenever he arises he takes up his bed and walks. Within this roll is a shirt, his only extra article of clothing. In action the blanket roll is thrown further back, and the cartridge is drawn forward, frequently in front of the body. From the right shoulder, across the body pass two straps, one cloth the other leather, making a cross with blanket roll on breast and back. These straps support respectively a greasy cloth haversack and a flannel-covered canteen, captured from the Yankees. Attached to the haversack strap is a tin cup, while in addition to some odds and ends of camp trumpery, there hangs over his back a frying pan, an invaluable utensil with which the soldier would be loathe to part.

With his trusty gun in hand - an Enfield rifle, also captured from the enemy and substituted for the old flint-lock musket or the shotgun with which he was originally armed - Johnny Reb, thus imperfectly sketched, stands in his shreds and patches a marvelous ensemble - picturesque, grotesque, unique - the model citizen soldier, the military hero of the nineteenth century. There is none of the tinsel or trappings of the professional about him. From an esthetic military point of view he must appear a sorry looking soldier. But Johnny is not one of your dress parade soldiers. He doesn't care a copper whether anybody likes his looks or not. He is the most independent soldier that ever belonged to an organized army. He has respect for authority, and he cheerfully submits to discipline, because he sees the necessity of organization to affect the best results, but he maintains his individual autonomy, as it were, and never surrenders his sense of personal pride and responsibility. He is thoroughly tractable, if properly officered, and is always ready to obey necessary orders, but he is quick to resent any official incivility, and is a high private who feels, and is, every inch as good as a general. He may appear ludicrous enough on a display occasion of the holiday pomp and splendor of war, but place him where duty calls, in the imminent deadly breach or the perilous charge, and none in all the armies of the earth can claim a higher rank or prouder record.

He may be outre and ill-fashioned in dress, but he has sublimated his poverty and rags. The worn and faded grey jacket, glorified by valor and stained with the life blood of its wearer, becomes, in its immortality of association, a more splendid vestment than mail of medieval knight or the rarest robe of royalty. That old, weather-beaten slouch hat, seen as the ages will see it, with its halo of fire, through the smoke of battle, is a kinglier covering than a crown. Half clad, half armed, often half fed, without money and without price, the Confederate soldier fought against the resources of the world. When at last his flag was furled and his arms were grounded in defeat, the cause for which he had struggled was lost, but he had won the faceless victory of soldiership.

Source: Written by G.H. Baskett, Nashville, Tenn., published in the Confederate Veteran, Vol. I, No. 12, Nashville, Tenn., December 1893.
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