Essay On Food During The Civil War

Food In The Civil War

During the Civil War, there were a plethora of different foods that people ate; however, it wasn’t good quality.The food during the Civil War was what placed soldiers and generals in different groups in society; you would know what social group someone was in based off of what food the person be eating. . It was what placed them in their social groups and how they were treated. The soldiers of the Civil War ate terribly and they got no nutrients. The generals on the other hand, had luxury foods that the soldiers wouldn’t even have had a glance of. The Confederates and the Union ate diversely. The Confederates were barely fed, while the Union was fed more prominently. The quality of the food in general was poor due to

Coffee was another favorite that the Northerners loved, sometimes, sugar would be a luxury for the soldiers which was a treat for them. The coffee grinds would be green, so they could roast them and then grind them before brewing. The Southerners had less quality for their food. They didn’t have salted pork, instead they had bacon. Cornmeal took the place of hardtack. Southerners didn’t have all of the heavier foods that the Northerners had. They had more vegetables due to the amount of farms in the South. One vegetable that was a main staple for the soldiers in the South were peas. Many fruits at the time were filled with lots of bacteria and it would cause diseases and sicknesses when eaten, so it was avoided as much as possible. Tobacco took the place of most of the foods because it was easy to find and distribute. It was easy to have when in a hurry to work and when their was no time to eat regular food. Food in general was hard to get and eat while it was still good to eat, so the soldiers would eat whatever they

The reason why there were simple foods was because there was no way to preserve the food until late 1809 when canned food was invented. The food was sanitized which was a law in the country, but it wasn’t as clean and thoroughly washed then hand washing the food by the soldiers. During the Civil War, it was a law to have all of the food that is prepared and cooked for the soldiers to be sanitized. The place was called The United States Sanitary Commission.The North only got this benefit while the South didn’t. Even though the food was sanitized, it didn’t mean that it was labeled sanitized or healthy for the soldiers. Food that was more sanitized or sanitized at all were distributed to the generals while the Confederate soldiers had to wash their own food. The food was usually not appetizing due to having it being sanitized, which is why the food was so bland. The sanitizing companie’s were usually late delivering the food so the soldiers would starve. When the food came later than delivered date, the food would go bad and that was what was left for the soldiers to eat. Spoiled and rotten food intake, left to the soldiers getting extremely sick and it even caused death. Charles Nott a Union soldier 16 yrs old said this about the coffee that was sanitized and delivered. “The coffee you probably couldn’t recognize in New York.” He couldn’t even describe the