" Pennsylvania Reserves at Manassas: A Drunken State of Mind " Topic

The title comes from the title of a blog post: "The Pennsylvania Reserves at Manassas: A Drunken State of Mind"

By "A DC Lawyer on the Civil War"

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A great article and worth the time to get a period look at what happens when bored troops discover a train car full of whiskey sitting idle on the tracks.

Seems to me to be some great scenario potential there too.

The men didn't get any better with their "habit" as the war progressed. Look up the Great AppleJack raid by 5th Corps in Dec 1864.

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Of course, let us not leave out thirsty southern men. Kemper's brigade near Sharpsburg, Sept 1862. (Bottom of article)
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Oh, the Texas Brigade in the Sharpsburg Campaign had a run-in with a couple barrels of pop skull too.

After fording the Potomac, some of their officers who had ridden ahead had procured a couple hogs heads of whiskey. According to JB Polley, of the 4th Texas who wrote a history of the Brigade, the men hadn't had any whiskey for a couple months.

Being it was a hot day, the men simply dipped their cups into the barrels as they passed. Those who didn't normally drink also took theirs and passed them around to those who did. The whiskey had a rather prompt impact on the formerly dry troops.

Polley mentioned that the rest of the march became quite difficult owing not so much to the LENGTH of the road, but to it's WIDTH,

I understand Maryland Rye Whiskey from the Middletown valley was some of the best in the country at the time. Apparently, considered even better than Kentucky whiskey.