"If War Is Hell, Then Coffee Has Offered U.S. Soldiers ...2" Topic

DELETED BECAUSE OF THE BUG………

…Some Salvation

"In April 1865, at the bloody, bitter end of the Civil War, Ebenezer Nelson Gilpin, a Union cavalryman, wrote in his diary, "Everything is chaos here. The suspense is almost unbearable."

"We are reduced to quarter rations and no coffee," he continued. "And nobody can soldier without coffee."
See here
link

Amicalement
Armand

150 plus years later, I concur…

Eric

Frederick the Great disagreed strongly- beer was the only drink for soldiers. Personally, I think he was wrong and I'm with Napoleon, at least as far as coffee is concerned.

"And nobody can soldier without coffee."

No wonder the Confederates lost, then -- the blockade cut off their access to coffee!

There is a scenario in that, "The Coffee Must get Through".

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Frederick once tried to break the sleep cycle drinking 40 cups of coffee and day, of course it didn't work.

As a young airman working on the flight line overnight is when I started drinking coffee

When not busy killing each other, Union soldiers would sometimes trade with the Confederates, usually Yankee coffee for Secesh tobacco.

As a Navy Aircrewman, Navy-strength black coffee was what kept me going through months of 10-12 hour night missions. I find that even today, I can go without food for a day or two, as long as there's black coffee available.

Another look at the US Navy and coffee:

link

Anything is possible if you have enough coffee…sleep is for the weak.

TEA … far superior to Coffee. Americans have been lured into drinking an inferior beverage and they cannot admit it :-(

I blame Boston and a few deluded separatists; had they got it right in the first place the US would have HM Queen Elizabeth 2nd as Head of State as opposed to the current potentials ;-)

Was coffee/tea the reason for our "unpleasantries? Surely not……..but I think we joes, and you Tommies can agree on one thing, the presence of BEER! Is indeed a glorious thing.

Agreed, glad to US micro breweries are generating decent IPAs.

In the CW Monitor magazine last year (I think it was in that magazine) worked out that the typical Union soldier consumed over a gallon of coffee per day… and that might be a low estimate. Fighting and hard marching cut back on the time to cook and drink more. Amazing.

I don't know what it's like for other veterans here, but I still drink at least a pot of strong black coffee per day. It's the ONE food source that I can consume daily. I keep a large stock of coffee to hand,and brew it fresh daily. I find that I can go without food fora day or two, but not having coffee is NOT an option.

For Royal Marine and my other British friends here, I also (about once a week) use the coffee maker to brew a pot of tea. Again, usually a strong black, but often I add some Cardamom because of y family's connection to India, etc.

For the record, here's the US Army ration as spelled out in the US Army Regulations (revised) of 1863.
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Meat: 12 ounces of pork or bacon, or
1 pound and 4 ounces of salt or fresh beef
Bread: 1 pound and 6 ounces of soft bread or flour, or
1 pound of hard bread [hardtack] or
1 pound and 4 ounces of corn meal
To every 100 rations:
15 pounds of beans or peas, and
10 pounds of rice or hominy
10 pounds of green coffee, or
8 pounds of roasted (Or roasted and ground) coffee, o
1 pound and 8 ounces of tea
15 pounds of sugar
4 quarts of vinegar
1 pound and 4 ounces of adamantine, or star candles
4 pounds of soap
3 pounds and 12 ounces of salt
4 ounces of pepper
30 pounds of potatoes. when practicable. and
1 quart of molasses

Paragraph 1191: "Desiccated [dehydrated] compressed potatoes, or desiccated compressed mixed vegetables, at the rate of 1 ounce and ½ of the former, and I ounce of the latter. to the ration, may be substituted for beans, peas, rice, hominy, or fresh potatoes.

MARCHING RATION;
Meat and Bread; same as above
Coffee, Sugar, and Salt; same as above

For CW events while reenacting I only bring:

massive amount of whole roasted coffee beans

2.5 lbs. of double smoked bacon (it comes in one big slab)

9 hard crackers per day which I make myself (they still are hard as bathroom tile)

usually 2 sweet potatos

one small onion

That's it! That's usually for a 3 day/two night event. Let me tell you I have to carry much of the Hard tack in my knapsack because they take up a LOT of space and my Haversack is stuffed to over flowing. There is nothing more I need but the stuff above. I won't die due to lack of vitamins nor lack of variety. I some times give away some of my Hard Tack because I don't want to carry it around or because I am sick of it, too boring. The meals are THE BEST times because of the comradeship and fun times around the fire.

Our group NEVER farbs-out with huge fancy meals and camp junk/crap. Travel light, travel right. We sleep on the ground and eat on the ground, just like they did it. Setting up our 'camp' takes seconds and packing up even quicker.