Members of this mess will use rations issued at the particular events we are attending or will go by regulation if we have to provide our own.
The daily ration issued to Federal soldiers included:
-12 Ounces of pork or bacon, or one pound four ounces of salt or fresh beef
-One pound six ounces of soft bread or flour, or one pound of hard bread, or one pound four ounces of corn meal
-with every hundred such rations there should have been distributed one peck of beans or peas; ten pounds of rice or hominy; ten pounds of green coffee, or eight pounds of roasted and ground, or one pound eight ounces of tea; fifteen pounds of sugar; one pound four ounces of candles; four pounds of soap; two quarts of salt; four quarts of vinegar; four ounces of pepper; a half a bushel of potatoes when practicable, and one quart of molasses. Desiccated potatoes or desiccated compressed vegetables might be substituted for the beans, peas, rice, hominy, or fresh potatoes. Vegetables, the dried fruits, pickles and pickled cabbage were occasionally issued to prevent scurvy, but in small quantities.
This extensive ration was the specified camp ration and was never seen once active campaigning began. On campaign the soldier would be issued (on paper) one pound of hard bread; three-fourths of a pound of salt pork, or one and one-fourth pounds of fresh meat; sugar, coffee, and salt. (Billings 111,112) For at least the latter half of the war the Union soldier in the West added to this as much as practical by “foraging liberally.”
The daily ration issued to Federal soldiers included:
-12 Ounces of pork or bacon, or one pound four ounces of salt or fresh beef
-One pound six ounces of soft bread or flour, or one pound of hard bread, or one pound four ounces of corn meal
-with every hundred such rations there should have been distributed one peck of beans or peas; ten pounds of rice or hominy; ten pounds of green coffee, or eight pounds of roasted and ground, or one pound eight ounces of tea; fifteen pounds of sugar; one pound four ounces of candles; four pounds of soap; two quarts of salt; four quarts of vinegar; four ounces of pepper; a half a bushel of potatoes when practicable, and one quart of molasses. Desiccated potatoes or desiccated compressed vegetables might be substituted for the beans, peas, rice, hominy, or fresh potatoes. Vegetables, the dried fruits, pickles and pickled cabbage were occasionally issued to prevent scurvy, but in small quantities.
This extensive ration was the specified camp ration and was never seen once active campaigning began. On campaign the soldier would be issued (on paper) one pound of hard bread; three-fourths of a pound of salt pork, or one and one-fourth pounds of fresh meat; sugar, coffee, and salt. (Billings 111,112) For at least the latter half of the war the Union soldier in the West added to this as much as practical by “foraging liberally.”