The Unfinished Fight

A Few Thoughts on Rations

By Craig L. Barry · Originally published June 2020 · p. 18

The accomplishments of the Confederate forces during the Civil War, especially the continued success of the Army of Northern Virginia, are particularly noteworthy when considering the obstacles that had to be overcome. Malnutrition, even early in the war, and poor sanitation negatively impacted both the health and strength of an army that was almost always outnumbered against a force that was better fed and better armed. Oddly, Western Confederates were better “fed” than those in the East, but perhaps not as well “led.” Napoleon concluded that the morale of his troops was three times more important to success than any other single factor, and this esprit d’corps was the responsibility of top leadership. However, Napoleon is also often quoted on the observation that “…an army marches on its stomach.” According to Carlton McCarthy’s memoirs, Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia; “The Confederate soldier knows the elements of his success—courage, endurance and devotion. He knows also by whom he was defeated—sickness, starvation, death.” The disparity between the theoretical and the actual diet was a problem, not only of declining resources, but also logistics, inefficiency, chicanery, and the ponderous supply system. Rations would sometimes get to the camps, but not regularly or in the expected amounts. McCarthy continued, “Sometimes there was an abundant issue of bread and no meat; then meat in any quantity and no flour or meal. Sugar in abundance and no coffee to be had for “love or money,” and then coffee plenteously without a grain of sugar. For months nothing but flour for bread and then nothing but meal, till all hands longed for a biscuit, or fresh meat until it was nauseating; and then salt pork without intermission. To be one day without anything to eat was common. Two days fasting, marching and fighting was not uncommon, and there were times when no rations were issued for three or four days.” No discussion of Confederate Civil War rations would be complete without including peanuts. Period accounts suggest that when bread and meat were scarce, peanuts, a/k/a goober peas, pindars, ground-peas, or groundnuts, were useful as an alternate source of protein. Since cooking facilities and other equipment were scarce, Confederate soldiers roasted their peanuts over the campfire or shelled and fried them in leftover grease. Regardless of preparation, peanuts produced a high protein ration that was light in weight and could easily be carried on the march. A good handful in the shell provides 200 calories, 10 grams of carbohydrate, the same of fat, and 6 grams of protein. As a nutrient, “a pound of peanuts…provides approximately the same energy value (in calories) as 2 pounds of beef, 1.5 pounds of Cheddar cheese, 9 pints of milk, or 36 medium-size eggs.” A raw or “green peanut” is not green in color. It takes a hundred or more frost free days to grow peanuts for consumption, and they are usually available from May through November primarily in nine Southern states. Peanuts grow best in sandy soil, especially along the coast or just inland. The varieties are quite different, though. The king of the American peanut family is the so-called “Virginia.” This variety has the largest kernel and is only grown in Southeast Virginia (Suffolk, Waverly, Wakefield, Surry, etc.) and Northeastern North Carolina in sandy soil just inland from the coast. The low country of South Carolina and the Georgia/Alabama region grows what is known as the common “Runner” variety, that features a smaller kernel with a more uniform size. The Georgia Runner variety is the most widely grown type. Georgia produces about 40% of all peanuts grown in the South. Further west, in Texas and Oklahoma, the smaller, redskin Spanish peanut is grown. This type has the highest oil content, but you would have to be pretty hungry to fool with eating them. Peanut coffee is an odd beverage, obviously not coffee as there are no coffee beans, and not made solely from peanuts either. It is an amalgamation composed of 1/3 cup peanuts, 1/3 cup rye or wheat, and 1/3 cup cow peas. The three ingredients are roasted black, then ground up, and brewed. As far as this beverage goes, follow the advice from the Wilmington, N.C., Daily Journal dated October 3, 1861: “Don’t use the stuff. There isn’t one cook in five hundred who ever did anything else than ruin it. Some of the papers are recommending substitute—parched beans, rye, peas, acorns, etc. Swamp mud will blacken water just as effectually, but neither will it make coffee…Think of paying forty cents a pound for charcoal to embitter and blacken the water you drink. The practice should be suppressed by the Board of Health, if there were no war to do it.” Save the peanuts for eating, especially if they are “Virginias.”

Craig L. Barry was born in Charlottesville, Va. He holds his BA and Masters degrees from the University of North Carolina (Charlotte). Craig served The Watchdog Civil War Quarterly as Associate Editor and Editor from 2003–2017. The Watchdog published books and columns on 19th-century material and donated all funds from publications to battlefield preservation. He is the author of several books including The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy (2006, 2011), The Unfinished Fight: Essays on Confederate Material Culture Vol. I and II (2012, 2013) and three books (soon to be four) in the Suppliers to the Confederacy series on English Arms & Accoutrements, Quartermaster stores and other European imports.