feeding civil war armies question

[maxxkatt]

This is a question for those who have done some Civil War reading or research.
How did the feed tens of thousands of men on the march or in the battle camp areas. Did they have a cooking staff or did they just hand out the rations and let the soldiers cook the items?

I am sure many men hunted (they all had guns) and cooked game when they could. I have never come across information in the Civil War books I have read. The books I have read mostly contain info on the generals and battles and strategies and results.

 

[davidlhyde63366]

This is a question for those who have done some Civil War reading or research.
How did the feed tens of thousands of men on the march or in the battle camp areas. Did they have a cooking staff or did they just hand out the rations and let the soldiers cook the items?

I am sure many men hunted (they all had guns) and cooked game when they could. I have never come across information in the Civil War books I have read. The books I have read mostly contain info on the generals and battles and strategies and results.

Check out this website for information .https://www.libertyrifles.org/research/uniforms-equipment/commissary-cooking

 

[EmuDetector]

You had cooks and groups that travelled in support, there was hunting parties and also purchases made for cattle and supplies. Where I grew up in Florida, they were famous for driving cattle north for the war to both sides. I've also read in my area of Virginia many of the conflicts from North and South were when foraging parties ran into each other in the woods hunting.

 

[maxxkatt]

Check out this website for information .https://www.libertyrifles.org/research/uniforms-equipment/commissary-cooking

Thanks David,

Just the thing I was looking for. I knew somebody would have come across a good article and save me lots of time.

Much appreciated.

 

[davidlhyde63366]

Thanks David,

Just the thing I was looking for. I knew somebody would have come across a good article and save me lots of time.

Much appreciated.

glad to help

 

[georgeinsc]

My Grandmother said that her father who before the war lived in Va said that every unit that came thru their area in the Shenandoah Valley took what ever foodstuff they wanted. She said that he and his brothers said they were tired of being hungry and would join the next unit that came thru It just happened that it was a Confederate Unit.

 

[ThommyParham]

Here are the actual facts:
Every company in the army had a Mess.
Each company was issued a specific number of large pots and pans that nested into each other, so serve about 100 men.
Mess cooks were assigned, and "KP" duty (Kitchen Police) were rotated with all soldiers doing mess cleanup at intervals.
Individual soldiers also sometimes carried a frying pan or a "mucket" for cooking while on picket duty, or if they were on a long patrol (cavalry).
The Maple Leaf shipwreck produced a fantastic complete company mess, recovered intact and unopened. I opened it on the deck of our recovery vessel, and photographed, etc., before transportation to our Artifact Conservatory, where the pots were "unnested" and placed in electrolysis, etc. Many a graduate student has written a Master's Thesis on this mess collection. The only verifiable complete Mess from the Civil War. I am not sure if the US Army has actually taken possession of the Mess group yet, the last I knew it was in the RA Gray building in Tallahassee.