Confederate soldiers had more access to tobacco than Union troops. While opposing troops were on picket duty, it was common for Union soldiers to trade their coffee for tobacco from the Confederate soldiers. When they could not do so due to the presence of their officers, a Southern soldier could use roasted chicory root as a coffee substitute. Peanuts, due to their wide range throughout southern North America, were an important source of food for Confederate soldiers. salted meats, coffee beans, dried peas or dried beans, sugar and hardtack, a stale biscuit that would have to be soaked in a liquid such as coffee to soften and able to eat.
Often, while on field campaigns, the soldiers found themselves saving some portions of food in their haversacks, which were washable canvas bags that provided
The Union army was given food items such as bacon, cornmeal, tea, sugar, molasses, & fresh vegetables. Skillygalee was hardtack soaked in water and then eventually fried in fat. The Confederate army would fry bacon and add in some water with cornmeal to make "coosh". Coosh was prepared when the army would have little time to prepare meals during marches.
storage, but little in the way of food preservation. The soldiers' diets often simply consisted of mostly coffee, meat, sugar and hardtack, but they also had other food items such as salted pork, salted beef, salt, vinegar, dried fruits and vegetables. Rarely, the soldiers could get their hands on fresh items such as carrots, onions, turnips and potatoes and any fresh fruit.
substandard clothing and equipment to barely edible and usually insufficient rations. Many of the soldiers tried to distract themselves by singing and playing instruments, and the resulting patriotic marches and sad ballads became a musical legacy of the conflict. Newspapers--many of which featured reports directly from the battlefield--were more widely distributed than ever before, shaping the public's wartime experience to a greater extent...