Although weapons, clothing and shelter were of the greatest importance to the soldiers, food was a necessary element of survival.
The basic rations of both armies were hardbread, beef, beans and coffee.
Hardbread also had many other names by the soldiers such as hardtack, shipsbiscuit and pilot bread. (see more info on hardtack next to pic)
Beans in the civil war were not the canned baked beans we know today, but dried, white navy beans. Usually they were soaked overnight if possible, in fact they were sometimes cooked overnight if possible so they would not tast so raw.
Beef usually, by the time they got it had been salted, but when there was moving troops or armies, there was always a herd of cattle with them. These herds were drivin by hired drovers or by the soldiers themselves. becuse of this beeves could be slaughtered when they were needed. This was done a lot of the time in the West and the Trans-Mississippi where there was the necessary graze.
Coffee was really more important to the average soldier than anything else he could beg, borrow, or steal. It got him up in the morning and put him to bed at night. The North bought the very best coffee it could buy were as the South bought anything it could buy.Since the South did not have that much coffee the soldiers made up for it by making thier own ideas and substitites. Some of these ideas substitutes the Southerners used for coffee were corn, rye, chicory, acorns, okra seed, can stalks, parched rice, wheat, cotton see, sorghum, English peas, peanuts, and beans. There was even some coffee made from sweet potatoes.
The North also had many other nicer foods when in camp such as dreid fruit and fresh pork.
Of course other foods were collected and traded along the way such as eggs or a small wild bird or animals (If you went on a small hunting trips you could kill small animals). Soldiers also fished for cradads and of course fish. Many soldiers combined thier rations to make big stews like irsh stew or swamp cabbage stew.
