"Our pie-loving ... stomachs ... ache to even look.

"
Durable Foods for Armies, 1775-1865

John U. Rees

World of the Common Soldier

http://tinyurl.com/jureesarticles

Food preservation is a recurring theme for armies and navies, whose mere existence
depends upon providing sufficient quantities of wholesome food for large numbers of men.
A mobile army exacerbated the difficulties involved in subsisting troops and the problem of
long-lasting, easily carried rations continued to plague the U.S. Army into the 20th century.
Of all rations issued to soldiers in the 18th and 19th centuries biscuit and salt meat best
withstood the rigours of an active campaign. Biscuit was discussed in detail in FHN, vol.
VIII, no. 4 (Spring 1997) (for which see, http://www.scribd.com/doc/125174710/Give-us-
day-by-day-our-daily-bread-Continental-Army-Bread-Ovens-and-Bakers),but some
additional comments are in order. The value of biscuit as a hardy and sustaining foodstuff
has long been recognized. In his "Reveries Upon the Art of War" (1732) Maurice de Saxe
noted that "Soldiers should never be given bread in the field but should be accustomed to
biscuit, because it will keep for fifty years or more in depots and a soldier can easily carry a
fifteen days' supply of it." (Further evidence that commanders were not overly concerned
about the palatability of rations.) C.L. Kilbourn's Notes on Preparing Stores for the United
States Army; and on the Care of the Same (1863) shows a bit more concern about the
condition of the biscuit issued to the troops and gives a more realistic assessment of shelf-
life. He noted that hard bread "Should be made of best quality of superfine, or ... extra
superfine flour," and then described the baking process, which if followed, would make
bread that "should keep a year; but as a usual thing, our best bread as now made for army
use, will keep only about three months."1
 "Round ship's biscuit ... [with] Pencil inscription inked in." The inscription on the
other side reads, "This biscuit was given – – Miss Blacket at Berwick on Tuesday 13
April 1784." Dimensions of the item are 95mm (3¾ inches) diameter by 10mm (9/16")
thick. In this view the pattern of holes can clearly be seen, with no broad arrow or
other Crown markings. (Museum negative number D4001–1),  National Maritime
Museum, Greenwich, London.

As for meat, unlike some European soldiers, American and British troops regarded that
foodstuff rather than bread as the primary part of their daily ration. Armies relied upon salt
beef and pork as reserve rations for garrisons and winter camps, as well as to feed soldiers
on campaign when fresh meat was unavailable. Two Swedish officers serving with the
British Navy in 1776 and 1777 described the British method of salting beef. (It is unclear if
the meat was boiled prior to salting.)
 After the meat has cooled, it is cut into 5 lb. pieces which are then rubbed well with fine salt.
The pieces are then placed between boards, a weight brought to bear on the upper board so
as to squeeze out the blood. Afterwards the pieces are shaken to remove the surplus salt,
[and] packed rather tightly in a barrel, which when full is closed. A hole is then drilled into
the upper end and brine allowed to fill the barrel to the top, the brine being made of 4 lbs. of
salt, 2 lbs. of brown sugar and four gallons of water with a touch of saltpeter. When no more
brine can enter, the hole is closed. This method of preserving meat not only assures that it
keeps longer but also gives it a rather good taste.2

In June 1777 the Continental Congress placed the responsibility of providing salt meats in
the hands of the commissary general of issues. He was to "direct the respective deputy
commissaries general to employ a suitable number of coopers |and packers,| who shall salt
and pack provisions at the several magazines and stores, and take the proper precautions
with respect to all provisions therein deposited." Despite these precautions the condition and
quality of the Continental Army's salt meat must have varied greatly, the greatest
impediments to standardization and quality control being the need to rely upon widespread
suppliers and the recurring necessity to procure provisions to satisfy immediate needs.3

Soldier carrying the meat ration for his mess squad.

“Defiance and Independence” event, Fort Ticonderoga
 While meat was probably salted whenever the need arose, autumn and winter were
regarded as the seasons appropriate for the process. Writing on 16 September 1780 George
Washington informed the Governor of Connecticut that "Although the season is already
arrived when the Magazines of salt Meat, for the ensuing Winter and Campaign, should be
laid in, I cannot learn that the Commissary General has been enabled to put up a single
Barrel; so far from it, it is with difficulty the troops, in any quarter, are subsisted upon fresh
Meat from day to day." Sometimes an abbreviated salting was applied to meat to keep it
long enough to be delivered for immediate consumption. In October 1781, needing food for
the French and American forces besieging Yorktown, Washington informed the Governor
of Maryland that "Colo. Blaine has gone himself over to the Eastern shore to see that the
Cattle from thence are brought down to the proper landings where they will be slaughtered,
and the Meat sufficiently salted to be transported by Water ..."4
Despite the advent of canned foods in the period since the War for Independence the foods
used to feed campaigning troops in the 1860's had not changed.
During the American Civil War Kilbourn's Notes on Preparing Stores was quite specific
regarding preparation and packing of salted meats. To begin with, "Contracts for fresh beef
should require steers, (not bulls, stags, heifers, or cows,) over four years of age, and
weighing ordinarily 500 pounds each ... Old fat cattle are preferable to young fat cattle, the
beef from the first kind of animals being usually more tender." After beef procurement,
attention had to be paid to packaging: "Oak barrels are much the best for beef, though white-
ash are sweeter, and make nearly as strong a package as oak."5
Comparing the 18th century salting process with that from 1863 we can see differences in
how the beef was prepared and in the use of saltpetre.

After cutting, instead of packing the beef in barrels from the block, it is preferable to place it
in casks, with a little fine salt between each layer and about four ounces of saltpetre to every
200 pounds of beef. Fill up the cask with brine, and let it remain three or four days, or until
all the blood is completely purged out. When taken out to pack, allow the pickle to drain off
before weighing; 204 pounds to a barrel will then be enough ... If packed from the block, the
bloody brine should be drawn off five or six days after packing, and the barrels filled again
with good, clean, strong, pure brine. ... Saltpetre should not be used in any except the first
brine.6

Pork was an important adjunct to beef and received due attention. Notes on Preparing
Stores recommended that "Pork should be packed in moderately cool weather [and] ... The
strongest kind of brine should be used, - made of clean, pure salt and from (soft) cold water.
... For pork intended for warm climates, or long sea voyages, it is particularly essential to
have the brine pure and strong, to prevent souring on exposure to warm sun or ordinary
summer heat." A barrel of "prime mess pork" contained "Fifty pieces of four pounds each
...," the barrel "To be twenty-eight inches long, and seventeen and one-half inches over the
end ... made of seasoned white oak, full bound with hickory or white oak hoops, and one
iron hoop ... on each end."7
Spoilage and Condition of Stored Meat. Salt meat, packed in barrels, would last some
months, perhaps even years if one wasn't overly concerned about its condition, but would
not keep indefinitely. If prepared in a hurried manner or inattentively stored the results could
disrupt supply and disgust the palate.
 In April 1779 General William Maxwell wrote, "We have got some very bad salt Beef,
sent here yesterday, [a] great part of which I suppose will be condemned. I think if that
article in general should turn out to be bad, it should be examined before it is forwarded, and
that which is most likely to perish should be issued at the nearest post, and by having new
pickle aded to those barrels that have lost it in the winter would save much."8
By late June Maxwell's New Jersey Brigade was at Wyoming, Pennsylvania, where one of
his surgeons noted that "Thro. negl't & carelessness in the Commissaries great quantities of
Beef was so damaged that the men could not possibly eat it ..." On 2 July General John
Sullivan directed that "The Brigadier Generals will please to order small Smoak Houses
erected for the purpose of Smoaking such damaged Meat as may be drawn by their Troops -
In lieu of such damaged beef or Pork they will give an order on the D[eputy].
C[ommissary]. of Issues for good meat to whom the damaged meat when Smoaked is to be
delivered." Ensign Daniel Gookin reported at the end of July that the troops "drew very bad
provisions it being that which was condemned some time past all the alteration in it is that it
has been smoked which takes out some of the ugly smell but the juice of the grape continues
in it yet. Owing to the badness of the Provision some of our officers and men are sick."9
An April 1782 "Return of the Number [of] Barrells of Provisions Housed in Fort Clinton,
Fort Putnam," and other fortifications at West Point, listed 68 barrels of beef, 26 3/4 of pork,
1 of shad, and 1 of flour, "Good fit to be Issued"; "Bad Damaged" were 43 barrels of beef, 1
of pork and 4 of shad. The inspector noted, "All of the above that is good is weigh'd off and
pack'd back again in the Barrells ready for the Contractors to Receive but it must be Issued
immediately or Repack'd salted & pickled or the whole of it is lost. The bad is of different
Qualities some of which stinks most intolerably now ..." The problem was never rectified:
Colonel Elias Dayton wrote in May 1783, "Complaint has been made to me by a number of
the officers of the Jersey line, that the beef which has been issued to the soldiers for a week
past was exceedingly bad in quality and in some instances so much spoiled as to be really
unfit for use."10
At the end of the Civil War a Federal commissary officer described the problems with
different meats. "Pork is the most reliable article of the meat ration. It is generally good and
easy of preservation. Salt beef is not much called for. ... Bacon is well liked, and is a very
desirable article on account of its comparatively small bulk in transportation. It requires
careful attention in hot weather. If practicable, it should be removed from the packages, the
latter cleaned, and the bacon scraped and returned. If this can not be done, holes should be
bored in the heads of the barrels to let out the oil, which becomes rancid and spoils the meat.
It would be better if requisitions and issues were made so that no bacon would be on hand
after the month of July in a hot climate." The author of Notes on Preparing Stores remarked,
"It is very important that beef, as well as pork, should not be exposed to a summer sun." He
then noted that salt beef "Is only good when new; after a year it becomes dry and tough,
particularly if made of ordinary cattle."11
 John D. Billings, Hardtack and Coffee (Boston, 1887), 113.

Lt. Col. C.C. Carpenter, chief commissary, 15th Corps, Federal Army of the Tennessee,
recorded soldiers' propensities. "... I have found that bacon and salt pork are preferred as
meat, unless in camp, and then troops like a portion of fresh beef. The objection to beef on
the march is that it does not keep as well and they have not facilities to properly cook it ...
The soldier can take a piece of fat pork or bacon, and eat it raw with a hard cracker, while
resting on the road, and it strengthens him and renews his courage for the march."12
A soldier in the 22nd Massachusetts described his rations in late October 1862; they
included "'hard tack' and 'salt horse [boiled salt meat],' the latter so ropy and glistening with
briny preservative as to give our pie-loving, Yankee-recruit stomachs an ache to even look
..." Historian Larry J. Daniels notes that some Confederate beef was "commonly packed in a
strong brine pickled with salt from Avery Island in Louisiana, which, being stronger than the
ordinary article, burned the meat." An Alabama soldier in the Confederate Army of
Tennessee wrote in June 1862, "Sometimes we get pickled beef, but it is so salty we can
hardly eat it. We may put it on and boil it half a day and then it will be so tough that we can't
chew it."13
Corporal Rice C. Bull, 123rd New York State Volunteers, gives us an all-too-vivid picture
of barrelled pork. During a short stay in a convalescent camp at Alexandria, Virginia, in
October 1863: "Our bill of fare, morning, noon and night, was coffee, hardtack, occasionally
soft bread, and boiled pork. ... The pork was pulled out of a barrel; it had evidently months
before been boiled at some packing factory, laid down in the barrel and covered with the
grease that came from the boiling. This pork was in long pieces and was pulled out with a
meat hook; when brought to the surface the sound of the suction was like the noise made
when one pulled his feet out of Virginia mud. The grease was then scraped off with a knife
and the pork, which was fat and thick, was sliced and placed between pieces of bread or two
hardtacks. If one had the stomach to want more he could have two. I could not even face one
..."14
 John D. Billings, Hardtack and Coffee (Boston, 1887), 365.

Sources

1. John U. Rees, "'Hard enough to break the teeth of a rat.': Biscuit and Hard Bread in the
Armies of the Revolution" and "Joy of Historical Cooking: Using Hardtack & Crackers,"
Food History News, vol. VIII, no. 4 (Spring 1997). Maurice de Saxe, "My Reveries Upon
the Art of War" (written 1732, published 1757), Roots of Strategy, Thomas R. Phillips, ed.
(Harrisburg, Pa., 1985), pp. 197-200. C.L. Kilbourn (assistant commissary general of
subsistence, U.S. Army), Notes on Preparing Stores for the United States Army; and on the
Care of the Same, etc., 2nd edition (Cincinnati, Oh., 1863), pp. 28-29 (henceforth cited as
Kilbourn, Notes on Preparing Stores).
2. Don N. Hagist, "Salt Beef and Spruce Beer: Provisions for the British Navy," The
Brigade Dispatch, vol. XXVI, no. 1 (Spring 1996), p. 16.
3. Worthington Chauncey Ford, Journals of the Continental Congress 1774-1789, vol. VIII
(Washington, D.C., 1907), p. 446.
4. Washington to Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut, 16 September 1780, John C.
Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources
1745-1799, vol. 20 (Washington, DC, 1937), pp. 260-261 (henceforth cited as Fitzpatrick,
WGW). Washington to Thomas Sim Lee, Governor of Maryland, 12 October 1781, ibid.,
vol. 23 (1937), pp. 209-210.
5. Kilbourn, Notes on Preparing Stores, p. 23.
6. Ibid., pp. 22-23.
7. Ibid., pp. 8-10.
8. William Maxwell to George Washington, 24 April 1779, George Washington Papers,
Presidential Papers Microfilm (Washington, D.C., 1961), series 4, reel 57 (henceforth cited
as GW Papers).
9. Journal of Dr. Ebenezer Elmer, 2nd New Jersey Regiment, Journals of the Military
Expedition of Major General John Sullivan Against the Six Nations of Indians in 1779
(Glendale, N.Y., 1970), p. 81 (henceforth cited as Journals of Sullivan's Expedition).
General orders, 2 July 1779, Orderly book of Col. Oliver Spencer's Regt., 27 July 1779 - 28
September 1779, Early American Orderly Books, 1748-1817, Collections of the New York
Historical Society, microfilm edition (Woodbridge, N.J., 1977), reel 9, item 93, p. 31.
Journal of Ensign Daniel Gookin, 2nd New Hampshire Regt., Journals of Sullivan's
Expedition, p. 104.
10. "Return of the Number Barrells of Provisions Housed in Fort Clinton, Fort Putnam and
Redoubts No. 1,2,3 and 4, and in the North and South Redoubts on the East side the River
...," West Point, 6 April 1782, GW Papers, series 4, reel 84. Elias Dayton to William Heath,
28 May 1783, ibid., series 4, reel 91.
11. How to Feed an Army (War Dept. Doc. No. 129, Washington, D.C., 1901), pp. 107-108
(henceforth cited as How to Feed an Army). Kilbourn, Notes on Preparing Stores, pp. 20,
23.
12. How to Feed an Army, p. 82.
13. Robert Goldthwaite Carter, Four Brothers in Blue (Austin, Tx. and London, 1979), p.
122. Private Wilbur Fisk, 8 March 1862, "... we sometimes have fresh meat, but most
generally boiled salt meat; the boys call it 'salt hoss'," Emil and Ruth Rosenblatt, eds., Hard
Marching Every Day: The Civil War Letters of Private Wilbur Fisk, 1861-1865 (Lawrence,
Ka., 1992), pp. 9-10. Larry J. Daniel, Soldiering in the Army of Tennessee: A Portrait of Life
in a Confederate Army (Chapel Hill, N.C., and London, 1991), p. 53.
14. K. Jack Bauer, ed., Soldiering: The Civil War Diary of Rice C. Bull (San Rafael, Ca.,
1977), p. 91.

See also:
"False hopes and temporary devices"
Organizing Food Supply in the Continental Army
Part I. “To subsist an Army well”
An Organizational Overview

Part II. “Owing to this variety of waste …”

Producing, Storing, and Transporting Bread

Part III. “We now have 500 head of fat cattle”

Procuring, Transporting, and Processing Livestock
http://www.scribd.com/doc/227059610/False-hopes-and-temporary-devices-Organizing-
Food-Supply-in-the-Continental-Army-1-To-subsist-an-Army-well-An-Organizational-
Overview
"Give us day by day our daily bread."
Continental Army Bread, Ovens, and Bakers
http://www.scribd.com/doc/125174710/Give-us-day-by-day-our-daily-bread-Continental-
Army-Bread-Ovens-and-Bakers
Compiled and updated for:
“Their best wheaten bread, pies, and puddings…,”
An Historic Baking Symposium,
Fort Lee Historic Park, N.J., 28 August 2010
(Hosted by Deborah's Pantry)
Contents

“Waste and bad management …”

Regulating Baking

"Hard enough to break the teeth of a rat."

Biscuit in the Armies of the Revolution

“A bake–house was built in eleven days …”

Contemporary Baking Operations and Army Masonry Ovens

“Seeing that the Ovens may be done right …”

Bake Oven Designs

“The mask is being raised!!”

Early–War Iron Ovens, and a Yorktown Campaign Bakery
“Hands are most wanted to bake bread for the Soldiers …"
The Superintendent's Bakers

"The essential service he rendered to the army ..."

Christopher Ludwick, Superintendent of Bakers

Addendum: Hard Biscuit Recipes

"’The essential service he rendered to the army ...’: Christopher Ludwick, Superintendent
of Bakers,” http://www.scribd.com/doc/125310836/The-essential-service-he-rendered-to-
the-army-Christopher-Ludwick-Superintendent-of-Bakers

Jeff Pavlik, "Summary of Reproducing the 18th Century English Sea Biscuit"
http://www.scribd.com/doc/238489016/Jeff-Pavlik-Summary-of-Reproducing-the-18th-
Century-English-Sea-Biscuit