Essay On Food During The Civil War

There were certain items or supplies that each soldier needed to possess that aided in their survival. Other items were discretionary or optional, not entirely important for the

The Civil War has been described as one of the most important occurrences in the life of the United States. It was period in time when the United States was no longer united, but instead was split between the north and south due to the ongoing feud over of the legal standing of slavery nationwide. For four years, many people were subjected to horrific measures, especially the soldiers that participated in combat. Despite the brutality of battle, soldiers experienced a numerous amount of daily hardships that made their stint in the war almost intolerable. Being far away from their homes and loved ones, having access only to inadequate food and shelter, gaining an increased risk for diseases, barely living through harsh winters, enduring

In the Civil War, it was hard to get good food. You ate the same thing everyday. It mostly consisted of about twenty-seven ounces of bread and meat. The meat was very salty to

If you were with the Union you had a few different things to eat. You could have some meats like salted pork, bacon, or salted beef. You could also have hardtack, crackers made from flour, salt, and water. Flour and cornmeal are some more common things to eat as well. Molasses, salt, pepper, sugar, rice, dried beans/peas, dehydrated vegetable “cakes”, milk, coffee, and tea were some things not as many people had, but they were also a choice.

Soldiers in the Army of the Potomac would live and sleep in camps. In the camps they would build small two man tents, they are easily pitched, and log huts that could fit several men. They would use blankets to keep warm at night. Canteens were for them to drink fresh water. Haversacks were what they used to keep their belongings in. They had inadequate food and shelter,

Conserving resources for soldiers became a big deal, especially since a great majority of the people went through the depression before the war. The idea of Victory Gardens came about, growing your own food and saving to conserve food for the brothers, husbands, and sons fighting in the war. Many advertisements included products to help buy supplies for the gardens that women could keep. (Document 1) People on the homefront really believed in conservation to help the soldiers, which is how the idea of rationing began. Rationing helped families get their fair share of everything to conserve supplies and food for the people they knew fighting in the war. (Document 3) Some items that Americans rationed were sugar, coffee, chocolate, oil, rubber, metals, or anything that would be a shortage due to the pause in international trading. Even though the U.S. was in the Great Depression as the war started, the wartime economy helped to pull it out and rationing became a new normal for Americans during the

The Civil War was unlike any other war ever fought in America and had many effects on the home front for both the North and the South. It is stated to be the first ever total war, which is a war against not only the civilians but also the armies. The Civil War is also considered the first modern war fought by the U.S. troops. Lincoln asked volunteers to sign up for only three months. Many people thought the war wouldn’t last long. However, the war continued on for four years. The Union armies had around 2,500,000 to 2,750,000 men and the Confederate army had approximately 750,000 to 1,250,000 men. The entire North and South society was affected by the war and desired for many social and economic assets. The Civil war brought new military

Of the many downsides that Allen and his men faced during their time in France, one of the hardest to endure was hunger. Hunger and the brutal conditions of battle began to take a toll on many of the soldiers. Many

The troops had little food, lick grass for water, had to bear the sight of other’s deaths, as well as live under the thought that they could

Staple foods were hardtack for Union soldiers and cornbread for Confederates. Fresh fruit and vegetables were rare. Soldiers received some meat, but, often, it spoiled or too full of preservatives to eat. It was estimated that 995 of 1000 Union troops eventually contracted chronic diarrhea or dysentery. Disease was particularly uncontrolled in the prisoner-of-war camps, whose conditions were generally worse than the army camps.

The Civil war was the most momentous and crucial period of time in the history of America. Not only did this war bring an end to slavery but also paved way for numerous social and political changes. The country had already been torn by the negative trend in race relations and the numerous cases of slave uprisings were taking their toll on the country 's political and social structure. The country was predominately divided up into 3 sections, the North, the South, and the West. Each of these groups had different fundamental interests. The North wanted economies depending on farming, factories and milltowns, while the West relied on expansion and development of land for farming and new towns. The South mainly relied on agriculture like

The food that they did have wasn’t enough for the men to be ready to fight a war. At some point, they ran out of meat. Meat gave them protein and energy to the men, and now they ran out of it. The army was forced to eat firecakes. It is just flour and water mixed together.

The majority of families in the camp had chickens, pigs, or other useful animals that help with everyday life. We had a garden in our backyard with fruits, vegetables, and other types of eatable plants. There were banana trees, mangos, jackfruits, peppers, papaya, sugar cane and star fruit trees. Our houses were built with bamboo and the rooftops were covered with hay. A lot of houses were on hills because the camp was not a flat place. We had no electricity or water lines connected to our home. Houses were built

Although most people would not object to the idea that diseases played some sort of role in the Civil War, few truly realize the extent of their influence. As it was stated previously, diseases affected the Northern soldiers and the Southern soldiers in different ways and to different extents. Those differences will be examined later in this paper. There are some issues relating to diseases, however, that affected soldiers in general, not particularly one side of the war. Those factors will be observed here.

The hunger that took over for everybody became the basis for their complex social structure. They would use rations of bread as the currency for things that they would need. They would buy spoons, shirts, and other things that they would need to survive inside the camp. The veterans could tell who the new people in the camp were because the new arrivals would stash half rations of bread in their coats while the veterans could not do that because they