The Ozarks Mountaineer
Volume 50, Number 1
February/March 2002

Civil War Rations

During the Civil War, before modern preserving techniques were discovered, a soldier's daily rations were simple. Some of the things Union soldiers consumed while bivouacking, or on the battlefield, included salt pork, coffee, sugar, salt, vinegar, dried fruit or vegetables, beans, and hardtack; while Confederate rations consisted of such things as bacon, cornmeal, tea, sugar or molasses, and sometimes fresh vegetables.
Hardtack was a main food source, because it was cheap to produce and could be carried for months at a time. The hardtack could become so hard over time, that soldiers used rocks, or a rifle butt, to break up the hard bread. Some soldiers even broke their teeth attempting to eat it! It came to be known as "teeth dullers", "sheet iron crackers", and "flour tile". Soldiers often put the hardtack in coffee, water, stew or fried it in pork fat, to soften it for consumption. Hardtack was often compared to eating plaster. The name "work castles" was also used for the hard bread because hardtack often became infested with bugs or maggots.
A favorite dish for the Southerners was called "coosh", made from bacon fried with cornmeal and water. Another popular meal was the johnnie cake, made of cornmeal.

Johnnie Cake Recipe
2 cups cornmeal
2/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons lard (vegetable oil can be used)
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients into a firm batter and shape eight biscuit-sized "dodgers". Bake on a lightly greased sheet for twenty to twenty-five minutes or until brown. Spread cakes with a little butter or molasses before eating.

Hardtack Recipe
4 cups flour (preferably whole wheat)
4 teaspoons salt
A little less than 2 cups water
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix flour and salt together in a bowl. Add just enough water (less than 2 cups) to make the mixture stick together. The dough should not stick to your hands or the pan. Mix the dough by hand. Roll the dough out flat, about ½ inch thick, and shape it into a rough rectangle. Cut the dough into squares about 3 inches on each side. After cutting, press a pattern of four rows of four holes into each square. (Don't punch through the dough.) Turn each square over and repeat. (It should look like a saltine cracker.) Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Turn each piece over and bake for another 30 minutes. The crackers should be slightly brown on both sides.
Rex Jackson, Neosho, Mo.