Coping With The Confederacy’s Coffee Crisis

By Gould Hagler · Originally published March 2017 · p. 25

Last month we considered one aspect of everyday life made difficult by war and its disruption of trade–finding soap. This time around we will consider another commodity, coffee – cheap and abundant now, scarce and costly in a country choked by a naval blockade and busy fighting a war. Like much of what we consume, coffee is available at affordable prices because of international trade. We don’t grow the stuff here, but we don’t need to. Billions of pounds are imported every year. What would we do if this supply were cut off, as it was during the Civil War? A horrifying thought, surely, but war is hell. Let’s jump back 150 years and see how the people of the Confederacy made do. The first result we expect to see when a product becomes scarce is a price hike. Early in the war, in September 1861, the Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel reported that coffee was retailing at 38 cents to 40 cents per pound. In December of that year the Albany Patriot told readers that the price was $1.00 per pound. Two years later an edition of the Montgomery Weekly Advertiser contained the alarming news that prices were between $7.00 and $10.00 per pound. How this would translate into today’s money I can’t guess, but the increase was obviously dramatic. (For what it’s worth, I got two pounds at Kroger last week for $5.29 (U.S.), minus 5% for the senior discount.) It is very telling that even at the 38 cent-price people were feeling the pinch. The Augusta article said that families were testing various substitutes. Even earlier, in June 1861, the Texas Countryman contained the woeful news that “The times are so hard, that many families are drinking coffee but once a day.” War is hell. (I will take a break from writing now and brew some of that Kroger coffee; back in a few minutes.) Ah, that hot coffee tastes good on this cold morning. I am back. Another reaction to shortages and high prices, as we learned in economics 101, is an effort to seek substitutes. In December 1861, the Arkansas True Democrat reported that the price in Baltimore for Rio was 16 ½ cents per pound (Rio, as in Rio de Janeiro). Then, as now, much coffee originated in Brazil.) Not able to get the same bargain as the Marylanders, the Arkansawyers* used rye as a substitute. The journalist in Little Rock noted that “Rye (o)” coffee was only a quarter of the cost of Rio. The Albany item cited above also mentioned a substitute:

sweet potatoes. In October 1862, the Charleston Mercury promoted chicory. “In these blockade times, when none but the wealthy can indulge in pure coffee, the chicory will be found to answer all its purposes.” (For the uninitiated, chicory is a herbaceous plant in the dandelion family. Its ground up roots are the coffee substitute.) The aforementioned rye was promoted by a writer to the Savannah Republican (Sept. 9, 1861) who averred that it was as good as Rio and had the further benefit of proud defiance. The Georgian declared “we don’t care a straw about Lincoln’s blockade.” Rye had a history in American warfare. An old-timer writing to the Raleigh Register (Sept. 11, 1861) recalled that in the War of 1812 people cut cost by adding rye to coffee in a one-to-one ratio. I can hear the old gentleman now, prefacing his advice with “back in my day, young man…” And the ideas kept on coming. Cornmeal, from the Weekly Arkansas Gazette (June 15, 1861). (“Try it and see if we cannot get along comfortably, even while our ports are blockaded.”) Wheat, from the Raleigh Register (Oct. 9, 1861). (“We have plenty of wheat; who cares for the blockade?”) Cotton seeds, from the Charleston Courier (Feb. 7, 1862). Cotton they had. Persimmons, from the Southern Banner in Athens, Ga., (Oct. 28, 1863). Parsnips, from the Texas Countryman (Oct. 9, 1861). This substitute had an added benefit: it cured asthma. From the Daily Chronicle and Sentinel we get ideas in August and November 1861: roasted beets and acorns. The latter substitute was made in Augusta on a commercial basis. The proprietor of the business “employed many poor children during the fall in gathering the soundest and best acorns.” The Tennessee Baptist (Dec. 12, 1861) was a fan of okra, as was the Austin State Gazette (Nov. 9, 1861), which added that “An acre of okra will produce seed enough to furnish a plantation of fifty negroes with coffee in every way equal to that imported from Rio.” Some substitutes are less appealing than others. The Arkansas True Democrat (Oct. 17, 1861) offered tan bark mixed with old cigar stumps boiled “for fifteen minutes in a dirty coffee pot.” War is hell! The Natchez Daily Courier (Sept. 21, 1861) suggested asparagus. Yes, asparagus. Whose side were they on? The practice of using rye as a coffee substitute or additive stirred up an unlikely controversy. The Daily Chronicle and Sentinel reported in March 1862, that L.J. Robert, M.D., from LaGrange, Ga., had warned of the dangers of using rye. He asserted that “the grain when burned contains upwards to fifty percent of phosphoric acid.” This acid would prevent the development of osseous tissue in the young, cause dry gangrene in the old and lead to miscarriages. Within days a doctor from Sparta, Ga., wrote to say that his LaGrange colleague was dead wrong. Later in the same month Dr. Robert wrote again to argue his position. Then I.L. Crawcour, M.D., a professor of chemistry at the New Orleans School of Medicine wrote to explain in detail why rye was perfectly safe. The controversy was covered far and wide. The Arkansas True Democrat (April 10, 1862) reported that medical and scientific men throughout the Confederate States “are pitching in to [Dr. Robert’s] theory and exposing its absurdity.” On April 12 yet another article appeared in which Dr. Robert wrote a vehement defense of his opinion and requested that his rebuttal be printed in all papers that had run Dr. Crawcour’s article. Didn’t they know there was a war going on? In some cases Southern soldiers at the front had more access to the real stuff than did their folks at home and they didn’t have to worry about the phosphoric acid. During informal truces Confederates often traded the one thing that had in abundance, tobacco, for goods offered by their adversaries, including coffee. There were very few articles in Southern newspapers about another imported drink, tea. I suppose Southerners were not addicted to sweet iced tea then as now. But there was one interesting item. The Charleston Mercury (Aug. 2, 1861) relayed some advice from the Raleigh Register. Use hay as a substitute for tea. Yes, hay, the stuff cows and horses eat. As I drink another cup of Kroger’s coffee, I will conclude with an amusing item printed in Texas, Alabama and South Carolina newspapers. Anticipating Rube Goldberg, a waggish Confederate offered a novel method of brewing good coffee amidst the trials of war. Mix coffee grains and popcorn in equal measure, he advised. Roast them together. “The corn will pop out, and what remains will be unadulterated coffee.” *I read Steve Davis’ column in the January issue and learned a new term for the denizens of Arkansas. Sources: The newspaper accounts used for this article were compiled by Vicki Betts, a librarian at the University of Texas at Tyler. Betts, Vicki, “Coffee and Coffee Substitutes in the Confederacy” (2016). Special Topics. Paper 8. They can be found online at http://scholarworks.uttyler.edu/cw_newstopics. Gould Hagler is the author of Georgia’s Confederate Monuments: In Honor of a Fallen Nation (Mercer University Press, 2014), available from Mercer University Press, retail outlets, online sellers, and directly from the author (gould.hagler@gmail. com).