8. Food – and the Scarcity Thereof – Played a Key Role in the Civil War’s Course and Outcome
Civil War Union soldiers had it good when it came to food, compared to their Confederate foes. Their regular rations included salt pork, fresh or salt beef, hard and soft bread, flour, potatoes, beans, split peas, dried apples, peaches, and vegetables, vinegar, salt and pepper. Ham and bacon were also issued on occasion. Union troops also regularly received coffee and sugar – luxuries to be found only in Confederate soldiers’ dreams. Civil War gallows humor had it that the ferocity of Rebel charges could be explained by the eagerness of hungry Southerners to get their hands on the contents of Yankee soldiers’ haversacks.
Food played a key role in how the Civil War turned out. When Robert E. Lee finally threw in the towel and surrendered at Appomattox, he told Ulysses S. Grant that his men had been without food for two days, and some for even more. He asked the victor to supply them with provisions, and a magnanimous Grant sent enough rations for all of Lee’s soldiers. Despite the bitterness of defeat and surrender, the famished Southern soldiers sent up a loud cheer at the sight of the Union food wagons.