Feeding Northern troops during the American Civil War
Although canned meat was prevalent in the United States at the time of the Civil War, including canned fish, for the troops most of the meat provided was preserved in salt. Occasionally fresh beef was available for some units in camp, arriving there on the hoof to be butchered by Army butchers and distributed to the men. While in camp most units divided themselves into “messes” comprised of several men, who would choose among them who would serve as the cook. Union troops received their daily bread in the form of hardtack, and few ate it simply as bread.
In addition to beef or salt pork, the troops were issued bacon, which with beans was a popular meal in the Union army. Hardtack was often crumbled and cooked in bacon grease, a meal which the men called skillygalee. Union troops also received fresh fruits when available, dried fruits at other times, the same with vegetables, peas and potatoes, vinegar (as a guard against scurvy), molasses, and as if they didn’t have enough in their diet already, salt. Oats in the Union army were rarely provided to the men, as so much of the grain was needed to feed the horses.
Coffee was the highlight of the Union soldier’s day, and coffee beans were provided to the troops individually, still green. Each soldier roasted his own, or the beans may be pooled with others to make a pot of coffee. With their coffee a ration of sugar was provided. Some Union soldiers found that trade with their counterparts on the other side was enhanced when coffee was offered, usually in exchange for tobacco. Officially against regulations on both sides, the exchange of food and tobacco between the pickets of the armies was commonplace, one of the few acts of civility during the American Civil War.
While the armies were in the field, on the march outside of camp, each soldier typically prepared his own food individually. It was common to cook meat as soon as possible after it was received, against the possibility of not being able to cook it at mealtimes. The right wing of the Union army was engaged in that activity outside of Chancellorsville, Virginia when the Confederates under Stonewall Jackson crashed into them in 1863. After routing the Union troops, the Confederates enjoyed the Yankee rations left behind. One of the simple cooking methods of the Union soldier was to cook his beef or pork and then eat it over his hardtack ration, the precursor for a meal made much later using chipped beef.
Official rations of beer or cider were discontinued in the US Army by the time of the Civil War, but beer was available for purchase from the camp followers who were constantly with the US Armies in the field and their encampments. Whiskey, women, and tobacco were also available for purchase and although drunkenness was against regulations, most officers looked the other way unless some other transgression was involved. Overall the soldiers in the Union Army were provided much the same fare as American soldiers in previous wars, but the amount and regularity of their rations was steady, and hunger was not a problem for the men in blue.