"To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.”

Soldiers' Food and Cooking in the War for Independence

John U. Rees

“The belly’s a shameless dog, there’s nothing worse. Always insisting, pressing, it never

lets us forget – destroyed as I am, my heart wracked with sadness, sick with anguish, still it

keeps demanding, ‘Eat, drink!’ It blots out all the memory of my pain, commanding, ‘Fill

me up!’” Odysseus at King Alcinous’s court, from The Odyssey.1

_____________________________

Note: This work is a follow–up of the article "'To subsist an Army well ...: Soldiers'

Cooking Equipment, Provisions, and Food Preparation During the American War for

Independence” (See MC&H, 53, no. 1 (Spring 2001): 7–23). While that study did include

some discussion of soldiers’ food (see page 16), the main focus was on cooking utensils,

their type and availability. The present study is intended to rectify the deficiency. __________________

"The manner of messing and living together": Continental Army Mess Groups

“Who shall have this?”: Food Distribution

"A hard game ...": Continental Army Cooks

“On with Kittle, to make some hasty Pudding …”: How a "Continental Devil" Broke His Fast

1. The Army Ration and Cooking Methods.

2. Eating Utensils.

3. The Morning Meal.

4. Other Likely Breakfast Fare.

Addenda

“The men were very industrious, in baking, all the forepart of the evening.”: Soldiers’ Ingenuity,

Regimental Bakers, and the Issue of Raw Flour

“The Commissary [is] desired … to furnish biscuit and salt provisions …”:

Hard Bread in the War for Independence.

"The victuals became putrid by sweat & heat ...": Some Peripheral Aspects of Feeding an Army

1. The Ways Soldiers Carried Food

2. The Burden of Rations, 1762-1783

3. Carrying Drink and Procuring Water

4. Equipment Shortages

5. Spoilage of Issued Meats

"We had our cooking utensils ... to carry in our hands.": Continental Army Cooking and Eating Gear,

and Camp Kitchens, 1775-1782

Endnotes:

#50. Compendium of Ration Allotments, 1754-1782

Continental Army rations (summary)

British Army rations (summary)

Caloric Requirements and Intake

#73. Miscellaneous returns of cooking gear and eating utensils, 1778-1781

(Appended) List of author’s articles on food in the armies of the American Revolution

__________________

Revolutionary soldiers’ suffering is popularly synonymous with poor food or severe

shortages of the same, about which Lt. Col. Josiah Harmar wrote on 22 August 1780,

"Provisions extreme scarce; only half a Lb. Meat in three days ...," and three days later

"This movement of our ... [troops] is occasioned through dire necessity, the Army being

on the point of starving ..." Pvt. Joseph Plumb Martin recounted eating fresh beef broiled

on sharpened sticks over a fire, that it "was as black as coal on the outside and ... raw on the

inside ..., 'I asked no questions for conscience's sake,' but fell to and helped myself to a feast

of this raw beef, without bread or salt." Delaware Capt. Enoch Anderson noted of such a

meal, "to hungry soldiers it tasted sweet ..." In hard times soldiers often subsisted on "fire

cake," the "sodden cakes" described by one man as "Flower ... Wet with Water &

Roll[ed] ... in dirt & Ashes to bake ... in a Horrible Manner ..." (As hard tack later became

connected to Civil War service (1861–1865), fire cake exemplified the Continental

soldier).2

But scarcity was not the everyday experience, nor firecake and raw beef the general rule

or only sustenance intended for the troops, as shown by ration lists and soldiers’ accounts.

The troops often sought alternative sources. Near Woodbridge, New Jersey, in April 1777

Col. Israel Shreve wrote "I Rode All over this Village through the Gardens in search of

Asparigas [but] found none, All the Beds being Cut that Day by the soldiers ..."3 The

following June Gen. George Washington authorized foraging for wild "vegetables” at

Middlebrook, New Jersey:

there is plenty of common and French sorrel; lamb's quarters [otherwise known as white

goosefoot], and water cresses, growing about camp ... The General recommends to the

soldiers the constant use of them, as they make an agreeable sallad, and have the most

salutary effect. The regimental officer of the day to send to gather them every morning, and

have them distributed among the men.4

Perhaps the most striking juxtaposition of the American soldier’s food experience, down

to the present day, is that many, if not most, came from a civilian world of plenty, into a

military life of relative deprivation. Their template was based on the foods they knew at

home, and, as soldiers, whenever they were able, they tried to obtain foodstuff beyond the

normal army ration and mimic home–cooked meals. Even some small semblance to the

remembered fare often sufficed … With all that in mind, this article will address in detail

soldiers’ mess groups, food distribution, and cooks, and end with a discussion of the various

ways the troops prepared the foodstuff they foraged, purchased, or were issued.

"The manner of messing and living together"

Continental Army Mess Groups

Food consumption involved more than just filling troops’ bellies. On an administrative

level there was a real need to regulate and oversee the distribution and preparation of

provisions, while for the common soldiers it was often better to spread the daily cooking

duties among the group rather than relying upon one individual. To make these tasks easier,

and taking advantage of the natural tendency among the men to band together, mess squads

were formed, these being generally comprised of six men, the usual number allotted to

occupy a single soldiers' tent.5

Maj. Gen. Friedrich Wilhelm de Steuben’s 1779 Regulations gave some rules each mess

was to follow:

The utensils belonging to the tents are to be carried alternately by the men ... The soldiers

should not be permitted to eat in their tents, except in bad weather; and an officer of a

company must often visit the messes; see that the provision is good and well cooked; that the

men of one tent mess together; and that the provision is not sold or disposed of for liquor.6

Each six–man mess was allotted a kettle, sometimes with a wooden bowl, they had to

carry with them when on the march (the tents and tent–poles were put in wagons). A 19

June 1778 army order directed, "In future the Camp Kettles are always to be carried by the

Messes; each soldier of the Mess taking it in his turn, and no man is on any Account to

presume to put the Camp Kettle belonging to the Mess in a Waggon."7 This stipulation was

reiterated at intervals during the war. Other items were sometimes assigned each mess, as

evidenced by 10 June 1777 army orders:

Such regiments as have not already drawn Tomahawks, are immediately to provide

themselves with at least one or two to a mess. The Quarter Master General is to charge those

to the regiments, and each mess charged with what is delivered to it, that they may be

returned when called for, or pay for them, if lost.8

Continental soldier wearing typical warm weather wear consisting of linen hunting shirt

and linen overalls. This soldier carries a camp kettle, one kettle was allotted to each six-man

mess group. Illustration by Peter F. Copeland; “7th

Virginia Regiment, 1777,” Peter F.

Copeland and Donald W. Holst, Brother Jonathan print series. Courtesy of the artist.

Optimally, the creation of scores of these close–knit groupings served as a basis by which

companies and regiments were welded together. They also served to emphasize the

distinctions between the rank and file and those who commanded them. Orders at "Boston

June 28. 1777” refer to that separation: “A Sergeant & Ten private Men are to barrack in a

Room, the Men in each Room will form themselves into two Messes & the Quarter Master

Sergeant will draw Provisions accordingly; the Serjeants will form into a Mess & Diet by

themselves ..."9 The distinction between commissioned officers and their men was strictly

enforced: General Orders, 13 July 1777:

Lieut. Cummings of the 1st. Virginia regiment charged with 'Messing with common soldiers

[among other charges] ...' The Court ... are of opinion, considering the peculiar

circumstances of the matter (as to the charge of his messing with private soldiers) related by

the prisoner, and having no evidence to prove the contrary, that he should be reprimanded by

the commanding officer of the regiment he belongs to, at the head of the regiment.10

Messmates shared cooking responsibilities, as well as the task of finding extra food to

supplement the official allotment or replace missing items. Hopefully, they could also be

counted on to look out for each other's welfare, too. Joseph Plumb Martin recounted that at

White Plains, New York, in autumn 1776:

One day after roll call, one of my messmates with me sat off upon a little jaunt into the

country to get some sauce [vegetables, roots, or greens eaten or cooked with meat.] of some

kind or another. We soon came to a field of English turnips … and … pulled and cut as

many as we wanted … [Shortly afterwards Martin took sick and] was sent back to the

baggage to get well again ... When I arrived at the baggage … I had the canopy of leaves for

my hospital and the ground for my hammock. I found a spot where the dry leaves had

collected between the knolls. I made up a bed of these and nestled in it ... I had nothing or eat

or drink, not even water, and was unable to go for any myself, for I was sick indeed. In the

evening, one of my messmates found me out and soon after brought me some boiled hog's

flesh (it was not pork) and turnips ... I could not eat it, but I felt obliged to him

notwithstanding. He did all he could do. He gave me the best he had to give, and had to steal

that, poor fellow.11

A portion of Gen. George Washington's 4 August 1782 order alludes to the mess squad as

a social grouping: "… the mode of cooking and manner of living are objects which require

attention. Officers should every day visit the tents and kitchens, observe and regulate the

Cookery, see the soldiers at their meals and take care that they mess and live properly

together." Sgt. Andrew Kettell seconded this when he wrote with some emotion of the bond

that could grow between men who messed together. 21 September 1780, "I had the

Unwelcome News at the Death of W. Lite which was as Greate a Shock as I ever met with

in my life as [he] was [an] agreable Mess Mate and a obliging Companion ..."12

Often mess groups would be formed among men from the same town or region, but

occasionally soldiers who did not know each other were thrown together. J.P. Martin wrote

of such a situation during the summer of 1780, when he was drafted out of his regiment into

the newly–raised Corps of Sappers and Miners:

I immediately went off with … the other men drafted from our brigade, and joined the corps

in an old meetinghouse at the Peekskill [in New York]. ... I had now got among a new set,

who were, to a man, entire strangers to me. I had, of course, to form new acquaintances, but

I was not long in doing that. I had a pretty free use of my tongue, and was sometimes apt to

use it when there was no occasion for it. However, I soon found myself at home with them.

We were all young men and therefore easy to get acquainted.13

Despite the ease with which connections could be made it seems that messes were not

formed in an off–hand manner. Two days after his joining the Corps the first issue of food

was made to Martin and his comrades: "We then drew, if I remember right, two days rations

of our good old diet, salt shad, and as we had not, as yet, associated ourselves into regular

messes, as is usual in the army, each man had his fish divided out by himself."14

Ties to old comrades were not soon forgotten. Soon after Martin joined the Sappers and

Miners, the army moved down towards Tappan. "Just before arriving at our encamping

ground, we halted in the road an hour or two. Some four or five of our men, knowing that

the regiments to which they formerly belonged were near, slipped off for a few minutes to

see their old messmates." The army being ready to move again, and the men not having

returned, Martin was detailed "to remain with their arms and knapsacks till they came [back]

... I accordingly waited an hour or two before they all returned."15

Non–commissioned officers’ mess eating in their tent. (Capt. Andrew Fitch’s company,

4th Connecticut Regiment, Model Company event, Putnam Park, Redding, Ct., 25 to

27 September 2009. Photograph courtesy of the Model Company.

http://www.fortticonderoga.org/learn/re-enactors/model_company

Despite such connections, problems with theft occasionally cropped up. During the 1779

Indian Expedition Maj. Gen. John Sullivan Campaign wrote:

It is with great Grief and Astonishment the Comdr. in Chief is informed that some of the

Soldiers steal the stores of the Army and even the private allowance of their Messmates,

while others are so vile as to throw away their own provision. this discovers an unjust and

ungenerous disposition as well as an inattention to their own comfort and safety ... [To

remedy this, he decreed] that as the Army have drawn provisions to a certain period [and] he

will not suffer the Army to return thro' want of Provision untill that period be expired ... 500

lashes [are] to be inflicted when any person [is] detected in the before mentioned offences

and in addition thereto to draw only one lb. of Flour and Meat pr. week during the

Campaign.16

Soldiers did occasionally waste their food or consume it too quickly. In June 1777

General Sullivan attempted to persuade his troops to conserve their provisions to last the

allotted time. "Flemington [New Jersey] 18th June 1777 The Genl orders that all the troops

be immedietly furnished with 3 days Provision to have it Cook'd Dirictly & that no Soldier

make any plea after the 3 Days is expired, that he has no provisions As the Genl is

Determined None Shall be Drawn till that time is Expired ..." This tendency was not limited

to American forces. An officer serving under Lt. Gen. John Burgoyne in summer 1777

noted that campaigning British soldiers carried on most marches not "less than four days

provision ... [which] added to his accoutrements, arms, and sixty rounds of ammunition,

make an enormous bulk, weighing about sixty pounds."17

If some of this equipment had

been dispensed with:

they might have carried more provision. Admitting this it would not remedy the evil, it being

with difficulty you can prevail on a common soldier to husband his provision, in any

exigency whatever. Even in a settled camp, a young soldier has very short fare on the fourth

day after he receives his provision; and on a march, in bad weather and bad roads, when the

weary foot slips back at every step, and a curse is provoked by the enormous weight that

retards him, it must be a very patient veteran, who has experienced much scarcity and

hunger, that is not tempted to throw the whole contents of his haversack into the mire,

instances of which I saw on several of our marches. When they thought they should get fresh

provision at the next encampment, and that only when they were loaded with four days

provision: soldiers reason in this manner: the load is a grievous incumbrance – want but a

little way off – and I have often heard them exclaim, 'Damn the provisions, we shall get

more at the next encampment; the General won't let his soldiers starve.18

Detail of Continental soldier wearing a haversack and canteen. Artwork by George

C. Woodbridge. For photographs of original haversack see, . http://www.najecki.com/repro/misc/Nannos/HaversackBody.html

British soldier wearing a haversack. Detail from the watercolor “The Encampment

on Blackheath 1780” by Paul Sandby (1725-1809)

“Who shall have this?”

Food Distribution

A primary purpose of mess squads was to regulate food preparation; the first step in that

process was the distribution of provisions, an operation that could be quite time consuming.

The following orders illustrate some common aspects of food issuance. Delaware Regiment

orders, "Lincoln Mountain [New Jersey] July 1st 1777 … an Off[icer]. of each Company

constantly [to] attend the Drawing of Provisions for their Respective Companies and take

Care that no unsound Provision be delivered to them." Jackson’s Additional Regiment

orders, "Boston Augt 13. 1777... An orderly Corporal must be appointed to each Company –

whose Duty will be to receive the Provisions of the Quarter Master for the Company to

which he belongs & equally divide it to the different Messes in the Company."19

1st

Pennsylvania Regiment orders, 25 February 1783, "Camp on James Island," South Carolina:

The Officer of Police reports that the provisions are cut up in several of the huts, this practice

will soon render the Encampment very filthy, it must therefore be immediately put a stop to

– In the rear of the huts, and no place else, the soldiers are ordered in future to cut up and

Divide their Provisions.20

Fifer Samuel Dewees described in detail the issue of rations at West Point, New York:

To each regiment there was a Quarter Master attached, who drew the rations for the

regiment … [and] a Quarter–Master's Sergeant that drew the rations for and dealt them out

to the companies ... The Quarter Master's Sergeant at a proper hour would take [the]

Sergeants and as many men as might be necessary, and repaired to the store–house and

slaughter–house, which were built at the edge of the North River and extending some

distance into the river ... These men always took poles with them that were kept for the

purpose ... of carrying meat upon to the camp. They also took camp kettles with them for to

carry Vinegar, Whiskey, &c. into the camp. These men on their return, were marched in

front of their respective companies. The Roast Beef [a drum call signifying food

distribution] would then 'be beat up,' and the men ... would hasten ... and stand ready to

receive their quota. The Orderly Sergeant of each company divided the meat into as many

messes as were in a company (six men constituting a mess,) ... I have been down at our

slaughter–house at times for the purpose of assisting in carrying the provision to camp, and

have seen a great many cattle drove into it at one time. I recollect that, once we had to wait

until the butchers would kill. They drove upwards of a hundred sheep into the slaughter–

house, and as soon as the doors were closed, some of the butchers went to work and knocked

the sheep down in every direction with axes, whilst others followed and stuck or bled them,

others followed them, skinned them, hung them up and dressed them. A very short time

elapsed from the time they commenced butchering them until our meat was ready for us. I

recollect having been there at another time when they were killing bullocks ... I have known

very great numbers of very fine and fat cattle slaughtered there … [and] I have seen many

very poor and indifferent ones killed there also ... But with these we had to be content in the

absence of better ...21

In the same vein, Gen. George Washington’s 4 June 1777 orders at Middlebrook, New

Jersey, noted some field camp considerations: "The Commissary General to have his

slaughter–house, at least a mile in the rear of the camp ... He must be provided with

waggons, to convey the meat to places near each Brigade, for the more commodius

distribution of it; and must see no relicts are left in those places, through carelessness."22

As Fifer Dewees noted, music regulated the soldiers’ day:

… the musicians knew at once when a particular roll or march was named, what tune to

play, and the soldiers all knew at all times what duty was to be performed upon the hearing

of the musicians “beat up” … There was always a great difference manifested in the manner

of attending the calls, “Fatigue’s March,” and “Roast Beef.” The soldiers at the Fatigue’s

call generally turned out slowly and down hearted to muster upon fatigue parade. When an

officer would sing out, “Orderly Drummer, beat up the ‘Roast Beef,’” and the musician

fairly commence it, the soldiers would be seen skipping, jumping and running from their

tents and repair to where the rations were to be issued out. That there would be a difference

manifested will not be wondered at when it is stated that the Fatigue Men had to muster for

the purpose of going to labor, chop, dig, carry timber, build, etc., etc., whilst the others

would turn out voluntarily to learn what they were to draw for breakfast, dinner, etc.

He then described apportionment to mess squads:

The Orderly Sergeant of each company divided the meat into as many messes as were in

each company (six men constituting a mess) and then a soldier was made to turn his back to

the piles. The Sergeant would then put his hand upon or point to each pile separately and

ask, “Who shall have this?” The soldier with his back to the mess piles then named the

number of the mess or the soldier that was always considered as head of the mess, and in this

way they proceeded until all was dealt out.23

Thus, Continental Army mess groups could be known by the name of the soldier who

acted as leader or by an assigned number. Mess groupings in the American Civil War

sometimes gave themselves fanciful or humorous appellations; here are some examples,

circa 1861, “Screws,” "Hard Corner Sharps," “Bristol Boys," "Happy Crew,"

"Montgomery Guards," "Punch Bowl Hotel,” "Kensington Boys," and “Happy Family”

messes. Two instances of War for Independence nicknamed messes have also come to light.

In 1775 thirteen-year-old Daniel Granger joined the Continental forces investing Boston.

Serving in place of his brother, “I took his Accoutrements and went in his Mess … The

Weather was extremely cold, and Winter Hill was high bleak & cold and the Soldiers

then lived in Tents and suffered much … But the Mess … had excavated a place into the

side of the Hill covered it with Timber & boards built up a fireplace & Chimney and a

Door, had Straw for the flooring & beading, where they were warm & comfortable, and

were called a Mess of Cubs, who lived in a Den.” Pvt. Samuel Hallowell, a soldier of Col.

Rufus Putnam’s Massachusetts Regiment in 1777, told of at a facetious designation being

used, writing in his memoirs, “Respecting being lowsey [Lt.] Colo. [Ezra] Newhall

observed one time it was Difficult for him to keep clear of them for they likt clean

clothes. Six of our regt lived together called the ‘Lowsey Mess,’ whether by themselves

or others is unsure.”24

“Jonas,” an anonymous soldier in the British 68th Regiment, described a similar

process in an encampment on the Isle of Wight in 1758. After cooking the meal for his

messmates, they had him:

bring the dinner to the tent, where … I found my comrades all placed on the grass … in a

circle, and I had orders to fix the kettle in the center. Some had knives, while others had

none; as to spoons and forks, we were all in one case, destitute, and no porringers or

bowls, but to supply the want of the last, we took the kettle lid; one who was the best

skilled in carving, was, by consent ordered to carve the flesh into six equal shares, and

lay them abroad on the grass with the greens; when this was done, another received

orders to call them; which is, one points his finger to one of the lots and cries, ‘who shall

have this?’ the man whose back is turned names one of the mess, and so proceeds till

every man’s lot is called … After the meat was divided and called, every one took up his

lot, and then proceeded to eat the broth in the best manner we could, with our canteen

tops instead of spoons. We all put an equal share of ammunition bread into the kettle,

which bread is delivered to us on set days, and stopped out of our pay, it is as black as our

hats, in general, and quite sour.25

Like “Jonas” and his comrades, Continental troops often had to make do with insufficient

supplies of eating utensils, as we shall see below.

The process of issuing rations seems generally to have resulted in the men receiving

less than their due proportion. As Pvt. J. P. Martin described the situation when he and

his comrades received their food: "... what was it? A bare pound of fresh beef and a bare

pound of bread or flour. The beef, when it had gone through all its divisions and

subdivisions, would not be so much over three quarters of a pound, and that nearly or

quite half bones."26

Martin's recollections are seconded by Brig. Gen. Jedediah

Huntington’s comments:

Brigade Commissaries have no Allowance for Wastage in dealing out Provisions, they

are therefore under a strong Necessity of giving short Weight to the Regiments or be

liable to account for the Wastage in the same Way, the Iniquity proceeds to the Men, after

the Provisions are divided and subdivided to Companies and Messes the Pound is often

reduced to 12 Ounces. the Commisaries ought to deal the full Quantity to each

Company.27

Pilfering also played a part. Regimental orders, 28 February 1783, "Camp on James

Island”:

Corporal Young was tried upon the following Charge Viz. In defrauding the men ... of

their provisions when Distributing of it – pleads guilty – but says the quantity he took

was so small as not to exceed ½ lb – and that he took it for the purpose of greasing his

Gun.28

An order for the 4th Pennsylvania Battalion serving in northern New York illuminated

additional concerns surrounding the ration issue. 17 April 1776:

It is once more recommended to the Weekly officers and Serjents that they see that their

men do not Waste their provisions nor devide them after they receive them for their

Messes. The major took notice that some men when they receive their provisions took

and cut peices from their meat and put them on sticks to broil them on the fire and if they

do this they will certainly not have provision enough, but will always be some that will

suffer with hunger. The provision must be kept and cooked together and the men who are

in messes must eat together and no division to be made except for those on Guard, which

their comrades are to bring them their Provision when cooked. The Provisions must be

divided for every day what they will cook as allso the Bread.29

This 1776 order was echoed by General Washington's 10 October 1777 directive: "The

General being informed, that much provision is wasted by the irregular manner in which

it is drawn and cooked, does ... exhort the officers ... to look into and prevent abuses of

this kind ..."30

Two pertinent narratives show us the issue of rations aboard a British troop transport

crossing the Atlantic, and during the American Civil War (1861–1865), revealing some

differences as well as similarities with Continental Army practices. Hessian Pvt.

Johannes Reuber, Rall Grenadier Regiment, noted on shipboard, 12 April 1776:

Every morning six men receive four pounds of ship's zwieback [hard bread, "twice–

baked"] or bread, one and one–half as salted biscuits. On Sunday six men, as a group

receive peas and four pounds of pork. Monday a gruel is cooked from oats, butter, and

cheese. Tuesday six men receive four pounds of beef, three pounds of flour, one–half

pound of raisins, and an equal amount of beef fat, from which a pudding is made. Six

men receive a numbered pouch in which the pudding is served. Wednesday again a

cooked gruel, plus butter and cheese. Thursday six men receive four pounds of cooked

pork and peas. Friday again oatmeal gruel, plus butter and cheese. On Saturday again a

pudding as on Tuesday. Every day six men receive four measures of small beer to drink

and every morning a can of rum. These are served at eight o'clock. The officers have their

own victuals cooked by our cook in the German manner and eat together.31

A month and a half later Reuber wrote:

29 May [1776] – Here I shall note our [shipboard] housekeeping. In the morning at eight

o'clock, bread, meat, butter and cheese are issued by a sailor who is called the steward, in

the presence of an officer ... Each man receives a small can of rum and vinegar. When it

is cooked and is done, every six men have a wooden bowl with a number thereon

representing the berthing spaces, from number one to the end. The cook calls first and

fills it, and so until the last. And what we receive each day, I have previously noted. The

soldiers must stir the pudding themselves, and for every six men, a bag is provided on

which is the number of their berthing place, also. When it is ready, the cook calls the

number and the six men divide the pudding. The same procedure is used with the meat –

one piece for six men, which is then divided into six pieces. The one who divides it

points with his fork and asks who should have it. Another [of his mess], who has turned

away, gives the answer. It would be a great pleasure to watch this activity if the portion

of meat were not so small. Often a piece of meat is served which consists of more bone

than meat.32

While coffee and sugar were rarely issued to Revolutionary soldiers, Union

artilleryman John Billings’ 1860s description of dividing rations mirrored Continental

Army practice:

It would have interested a civilian to observe the manner in which this ration was served

out when the army was in active service. It was usually brought to camp in an oat–sack, a

regimental quartermaster receiving and apportioning his among the … companies … then

the orderly–sergeant of a company … must devote himself to dividing it. One method of

accomplishing this … was to spread a rubber blanket on the ground, – more than one if

the company was large, – and upon it were put as many piles of the coffee there were

men to receive rations; and the care taken to make the piles of the same size to the eye, to

keep the men from growling, would remind one of a country physician making his

powders, taking a little from one pile and adding to another. The sugar which always

accompanied the coffee was spooned out at the same time on another blanket. When both

were ready, they were given out, each man taking a pile, or, in some companies, to

prevent any charge of unfairness or injustice, the sergeant would turn his back on the

rations, and take out his roll of the company. Then, by request, some one else would point

to a pile and ask, ‘Who shall have this?’ and the sergeant, without turning, would call a

name from his list … This process would be continued until the last pile was disposed of.

There were other plans for distributing rations; but I have described this one because of

its being quite common.33

Soldiers of Capt. Andrew Fitch’s company, 4th Connecticut Regiment, in their mess groups

preparing an evening meal. (Model Company event, Putnam Park, Redding, Ct., 25 to 27

September 2009. Photograph courtesy of the Model Company.

http://www.fortticonderoga.org/learn/re-enactors/model_company

"A hard game ..."

Soldier Cooks

Steuben’s 1779 Regulations stated that each new recruit was to learn "to clean his arms,

wash his linen and cook his provisions," likely listed in accordance with the high

command’s priorities. In October 1776 regiments near New York were directed to see "that

the Men have four days Provision ready dressed at all times ... [and that] one Man of every

Mess is to be kept cooking ..." It is easy to imagine the difficulties many men had in

performing this duty, especially since most were young and new to military service; in late

October 1775 Massachusetts Pvt. Samuel Haws noted in his journal, "Nothing remarkable

this day, onely I was chose to cook for our room consisting of 12 men, and a hard game

too."34

It seems common practice early on was for messmates to take cooking duty by turns. As

the war progressed, there may have been a natural tendency for one man to be designated as

permanent cook. Whatever the norm, everyone, officers and common soldiers alike, at one

time or another seems to have tried their hand at food preparation. During the 1776

campaign around New York, Joseph Plumb Martin observed "our surgeon's mate ...

endeavouring to cook his supper, blowing the fire and scratching his eyes …"35

Normally,

officers were attended by a waiter who performed such tasks for them. In his 1782 narrative

Martin wrote of a private who:

used sometimes to attend on the sergeant's mess, as they were allowed a waiter or cook ...

[This man would occasionally] go and work for a farmer in the neighborhood of the camp ...

he received his wages for his work in milk, butter, &c., which he always brought into the

mess.36

At "Colledge Camp [Williamsburg, Virginia] Octr. 29th. 75," the Quartermaster in

charge of a Guard House detail was directed that "two of the men … be imployed in

Cooking for the rest." Even in settled situations the resulting meal must often have been

less than a culinary delight; food prepared while campaigning under rough conditions

was often unpalatable to say the least. Sixteen–year old Fifer John Greenwood, 15th

Continental Regiment, noted of the retreat from Canada in 1776, their daily ration,

"consisted of a pint of flour and a quarter–pound of pork for every man."37

The flour was:

mixed up with the water from the lake by fellows as lousy, itchy, and nasty as hogs. I

have seen it, when made and baked upon a piece of bark, so black with dirt and smoke I

do not think a dog would eat it. But with us it went down, lice, itch, and all, without any

grumbling, while the pork was broiled on a wooden fork and the drippings caught by the

beautiful flour cakes.38

Revolutionary soldiers usually prepared their own food despite the presence of female

camp followers, but male cooks were due more to necessity rather than a particular

directive. The number of women with the Continental Army was quite small, on average

about one woman for every thirty men, or approximately three percent of the total number

of troops. Furthermore, early in the war it would not have been at all remarkable for an

individual company to contain no women; that situation had changed by 1783 when the

average was two women for each company with the main army.39

When women were present their primary duty was not cooking. In November 1775

Benjamin Church wrote of the American army around Boston, “They have no women in the

camp to do washing for the men, and they in general not being used to doing things of this

sort ... choose rather to let their linen, etc., rot upon their backs than be at the trouble of

cleaning 'em themselves. During Maj. Gen. John Sullivans' expedition against the Iroquois

in 1779, orders given Col. Israel Shreve and his Tioga garrison regarding women make no

mention of cooking: “It will ... be absolutely necessary to send most of the Women and

Children to Wyoming, returning only such as may be applied to the use of the Hospital, or

may be deem'd necessary to keep the Soldier's clean at their Return.”40

Having said all this, it does not mean that army women never cooked for the men. In 1773

one of the barracks at the fort at Crown Point, New York, was destroyed by fire. In the

resulting court of inquiry, Jane Ross, a soldier’s wife in the British 26th Regiment, testified

that she "had two pots with the Men's Dinner" in one of the fireplaces, and that the mess

"consisted of Nine in all; and I cooked Pork and Pease." During the ensuing war, Jacob

Nagle, Proctor's Artillery Regiment, asked another soldier’s spouse to cook breakfast for

him on the morning of the Battle of Brandywine. And Sarah Osborn related in her pension

application that during the Siege of Yorktown the female camp followers were "washing,

mending, and cooking for the soldiers," as well as being employed carrying "beef, and

bread, and coffee ... to the soldiers in the entrenchment[s]." Osborn also stated that on the

day of Lt. Gen. Charles Earl Cornwallis's surrender “having provisions ready, [she] carried

the same down to the entrenchments that morning, and four of the soldiers whom she was in

the habit of cooking for ate their breakfasts.” One interesting sidelight concerns female

camp followers and mess squads. A 1777 "Mess Roll of Captn. Ross's Compy," 3d New

Jersey Regiment lists eight mess squads, most containing five or six people. Two groupings

contained one woman each, along with three men in one mess and four in the other. It is

quite likely these women did the cooking for the men in these two messes.41

In the army support services women seem often to have cooked for the workers. In May

1781 Quartermaster Gen. Timothy Pickering proposed raising a company of artificers

(military craftsmen), to consist of 6 supervisors, 50 privates, and 6 cooks. The cooks’ roles

would have been partly filled by women, a contention supported by a December 1780

"Return of Rations Issued at the Cont[inenta]l Village” listing 359 persons comprising

blacksmiths, carpenters, woodcutters, miscellaneous detachments (amounting to 287 men,

officers included), wagoners, colliers, masons, express riders, boatmen, quartermaster's

office and the commissary of issues. Also included were nine "Women as Cooks."42

Holly A. Mayer in her study Belonging to the Army: Camp Followers and Community

during the American Revolution cites several instances where both men and women

prepared meals for the workmen. In April 1781 Deputy Q.M. Richard Platt wrote an

assistant commissary, “The Q MGenl. having agreed, in consideration of the Wives of

Hezekiah Gibson & Elihu Cary, cooking each, for a mess of Artificiers, which superseded

the necessity of two men being employed on that Business, that one Ration should be

allow’d, daily, to each of those Women.”43

Unlike regimental camp followers these cooks

were usually paid for their services:

Hannah Thomas … received fifty–eight pounds, two shillings, and sixpence in payment for

cooking for twelve men in the quartermaster general’s department during … October 1780.

When some artificers gathered at Fishkill in 1782 to work for the army, they brought female

relations with them. The quartermaster department paid a few of them to cook for the men.

Sarah Parsell cooked for the wheelwrights, Mrs. Cregier performed the same service for the

blacksmiths, and Mrs. Lloyd served up meals to the express riders. Parsell and Cregier

received twelve days pay, at two shillings per day, for work done that January, while Lloyd

worked from May through September at ten dollars in New York currency per month.

Parsell and Cregier received considerably less than their artisan relations, but Lloyd’s

monthly pay as a cook equaled that of her hostler husband. There did not appear to be any

discrimination in the wages of women cooks as opposed to those of men in the same

position. Thomas Wright, a cook for the tent makers at Fishkill, also received two shillings

per day for his twelve days of works in January, while Andrew Wear, quartermaster

department cook at West Point, was paid over six New York dollars per month for his

services that year.44

Among the army support services was a baking department, headed from 1777 to the

end of 1781 by Philadelphia businessman and Superintendent of Bakers Christopher

Ludwick. The army–employed bakers were wholly male. The first listing we have is an

October 1778 “Muster Roll of a Company of Bakers … under the Command of John

Torrey, Director,” showing 17 privates, all male, serving under 5 foremen. One man,

Adam Foot, is noted as being “On Comm[an]d [i.e., detached duty] at Genl Washington.”

A second list, this of “Bakers in Continental service at present at Morris Town," New

Jersey, dated 22 June 1780, names 12 men.45

To close our discussion of cooks, and segue into food preparation, let us turn to

campaigning soldiers. Sgt. John Smith. 1st Rhode Island Regt., noted the day after

reaching Valley Forge:

[20 December 1777] –– we found a Corn feild where was Corn which we took & Eat after

we Roasted it in the fire –– some we Pounded with two stones & made Samp [i.e., Indian

corn, beaten and boiled] to thicken our Broth –– Some we Carried to mill & Got it Ground

into meal –– towards Night we Drew Some Poor Beef & one Days flower ––46

Many soldiers’ meals were much worse than Smith’s, but regarding a dish he would

never have eaten as a civilian, Revolutionary soldier–memoirist J. P. Martin paraphrased

the bible, “A full belly loatheth a honey–comb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is

sweet.”47

“On with Kittle, to make some hasty Pudding …”

How a "Continental Devil" Broke His Fast

"Next to Cleanliness, nothing is more conducive to a Soldiers health than dressing his

provisions in a decent and proper manner. The Officers commanding Companies should

therefore daily inspect the Camp Kitchen, and see the Men dress their Food in a wholesome

way." General George Washington’s army orders, 14 July 1775.48

_______________________________

The kinds of foods issued to Gen. George Washington’s troops are relatively well

known, but how they prepared those foods less so. To gain some overall understanding,

we will look at what the men had at different times for their first meal of the day. So,

what did a Continental soldier (or as Commissary Samuel Hodgdon claimed they were

called, a “Continental Devil”) breakfast on? The answer is, it varied, depending upon the

soldier’s situation, foods at hand and time available.49

The Army Ration and Cooking Methods. The hoped–for per diem Continental Army

allotment included 1 pound of beef or fish or ¾ pound of pork, 1 pound of bread, hard

biscuit, or flour, 1 pint of milk per day, 1 quart of spruce beer or cider. Each man per week

was entitled to 3 pints of peas, beans, or other vegetables, ½ pint of rice or 1 pint of Indian

[corn] meal, plus 9 gallons of molasses for one hundred men. Meat and flour, with

occasional vegetables, remained army staples, while supply difficulties caused milk, beer,

cider, and molasses to be dropped. Other foods, more often seen in civilian life, were

sometimes issued. Seven months in 1780 New Jersey troops received extraordinary state

stores consisting of rum, sugar, and coffee in substantial quantities, and small amounts of

chocolate, tea, pepper, and vinegar. Pennsylvania soldiers received similar foodstuff from

their state government in 1779. After a Valley Forge winter of reduced rations, in April

1778 fish, bacon and peas or beans were added to the daily allotment; four months later soft

and hard breads, as well as butter, were being issued. When flour rations were reduced in

November 1779 additional portions of meat, beans, potatoes, and turnips were served.50

Some further variation in the soldiers' diet was possible through the purchase of foodstuff

from sutlers or local farmers at camp markets. General Washington noted in the summer of

1777 that "nothing can be more comfortable and wholesome to the army than vegetables,

[and] every encouragement is to be given to the Country people, to bring them in ..." A large

variety of items were available at these markets for those soldiers who had money to spend,

or items to barter with. One document, dated 8 August 1777, listed "the Prices of Articles

sold in Camp," among which were butter, "Mutton & Lamb," veal, milk, potatoes, squashes,

"Beans or Peas in the Pod," cucumbers, "Pig[s] for roasting," "Turnips Carrits & Beets." A

1779 order regulatimg "the prises of fresh Provisions, spirits, and shugar, and so forth,

Hereafter to be given to farmers and others, seling to the army," included many of the items

above, as well as turkeys, geese, ducks, "Dunghill fowls," chickens, cheese, eggs, cabbage

heads, "Sallets, Carrats, Pasnips," lump, loaf and brown sugar, honey, vinegar plus a variety

of alcoholic beverages.51

Soldiers also resorted to common theft and pillaging. In 1778 at the Gulph in

Pennsylvania the following entry was made in an orderly book for Jackson's Additional

Regiment: "Complaint has been made by many of the Inhabitants near this post of their

Spring Houses being broke open & large quantities of Butter, Cheese, Bread & many other

valuable articles stole from them, and it is strongly suspected these Robberies have been

committed by some of the soldiers ..."52

The importance of proper food preparation, and its effect on the troops’ well–being, was

recognized early on. Regarding soldiers’ cooking, General Washington directed in June

1777 that:

a regimental officer of the day ... inspect the food of the men, both as to the quality and

the manner of dressing it, obliging the men to accustom themselves more to boiled meats

and soups, and less to broiled and roasted, which as a constant diet, is destructive to their

health.53

Mess groups occasionally carried provisions in camp kettles. Connecticut soldier

Joseph Martin wrote of this autumn 1777; his regiment halted in Burlington, New

Jersey, "where we procured some carrion beef, for it was not better. We cooked it

and ate some, and carried the remainder away with us. We had always, in the army,

to carry our cooking utensils in our hands by turns, and … as we were not

overburthened by provisions, our mess had put ours into our kettle …" This

photograph shows a small sheet–iron kettle, turned mess bowl, and rations of beef,

rice, dried peas, with chocolate. Also pictured are a camp hatchet and soldier’s

brimmed wool hat. Joseph Plumb Martin, Private Yankee Doodle: A Narrative of Some

of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier (Boston and

Toronto: Little, Brown and Co., 1962), 81. (Photograph by the author.)

And general orders, 14 July 1777, noted:

As Health & a respectable Appearance among Officers & Soldiers gives Strength & Dignity

to an Army ... using proper diet well dress'd ... will contribute much to the Preservation of

their Health ... [the troops should] avoid using unwholesome Food that is partially cook'd,

when they have the opportunity to cook it thoroughly.54

Army orders of 4 August 1782 further enumerated the responsibilities of officers with

regard to health and cooking:

The Commander in chief is so anxiously concerned for the preservation of the health of the

Troops (especially at this sultry season) ... that he cannot forbear to entreat and enjoin it

upon the officers ... to pay a paternal and affectionate regard to the men in these interesting

points: Cleanliness, prudence in bathing, regularity and Oeconomy in the mode of cooking

and manner of living are objects which require attention. Officers should every day visit the

tents and kitchens, observe and regulate the Cookery, see the soldiers at their meals and take

care that they mess and live properly together.55

Despite continued exhortations to boil meals, methods varied and non–issue frying pans

continued in use. In July 1777 Virginian Capt. John Chilton noted of a sweltering march,

“the soldiers were obliged to carry their Kettles, pans &c. in their hands …”56

Lt. Col. Henry

Dearborn, 3d New Hampshire Regiment, wrote the day before the army marched to Valley

Forge:

18th [December 1777] … this is Thanksgiving Day thro the whole Continent of America –

but God knows We have very Little to keep it with this being the third Day we have been

without flouer or bread … we had … some Exceeding Poor beef which has been boil.d &

Now warm.d in an old short handled frying pan in which we ware Obliged to Eat it haveing

No other Platter …57

Although boiling remained the preferred mode to the war’s end, Q.M. Gen. Timothy

Pickering in August 1782 was moved to write that if he had known the men were

destroying their kettles by frying in them, he “would have been induced to propose there

being made with Covers, which would be vastly convenient … as a frying pan (if they

ought to be suffered to fry) …"58

Williams Blair’s 1798 tome The Soldier's Friend, or The Means of Preserving the

Health of Military Men; Addressed to the Officers of the British Army" incorporated

many lessons from the "Late American War." Blair noted:

Our reason for proposing to boil, and make soup of butchers meat is, that … it is not only

more easily digested than that which is roasted, but the soup or broth, made from the

boiling, forms a valuable and nourishing article of food; which, under proper

management, makes the allowance go much farther than it would otherwise do.59

He also observed:

It is surprising to see the aversion which the generality of soldiers have to the boiling of

meat, or the conversion of it into broth or soup; when left to themselves, they always

prefer roasting both their fish and butchers meat, a practice which ought to be

discouraged; as roasted meat not only forms a heavier meal than that which is boiled, but

is at the same time more expensive and unprofitable.60

Food preparation was rudimentary, even with sufficient numbers of tin or sheet–iron

camp kettles on hand. Soldiers often had only army rations to boil, broil, bake, or fry, unless

extra foodstuff could be purchased at camp markets, or otherwise obtained locally. This

sometimes left them little to work with. One series of returns lists the food distributed to the

9th Massachusetts Regiment from late spring to late summer of 1782. The issue for June 1st

to the 4th (inclusive) was typical: a daily ration of bread, beef, and whiskey (this last only

for the common soldiers), 14¾ quarts of salt and 29½ quarts of vinegar, with 96 pints of

pease issued to the officers in lieu of whiskey, and 53 pounds of bread in lieu of vinegar.

Except for the small amount of peas (in this instance given only to officers), no vegetables

were issued. The small quantities of salt and vinegar must have been distributed to everyone.

For one period in May shad was substituted for beef. The only other departure from the

norm occurred during a four–day period in August (5th to the 8th) when flour was

substituted for bread. Unless supplemented from other sources, the meals for the regiment

during this period would have been limited in scope.61

In the complete absence of cookware, and lacking materials to fashion such items as

broilers or pans, even more primitive utensils or cooking methods had to suffice. Sticks and

flat stones filled the role nicely. Shortly after the Battle of Harlem Heights in September

1776, Connecticut militiaman Joseph Martin returned to camp to find the "invalids...

broiling... beef on small sticks in Indian style round blazing fires made of dry chestnut

rails."62

A year later as a Continental soldier at Barren Hill, Pennsylvania, he:

drew a day's ration of beef and flour... And how was it cooked? Why, as it usually was when

we had no cooking utensils with us, – that is, the flour was laid upon a flat rock and mixed

up with cold water, then... scorched on one side, while the beef was broiling on a stick in the

fire. This was the common way of cookery when on marches...63

Other foods were also prepared without the aid of utensils or cooking receptacles. Martin

recalled in his memoirs:

I lay here [at Valley Forge] two nights and one day and had not a morsel of anything to eat

all the time, save half of a small pumpkin, which I cooked by placing it upon a rock, the skin

uppermost, and making a fire upon it. By the time it was heat through I devoured it with as

keen an appetite as I should a pie made of it at some other time.64

Rhode Island Sgt. Jeremiah Greenman told of his arrival at Valley Forge on 19 December

1777, "this morn ye hole camp moved about 6 milds & stoped in a thick woods ware a corn

field stud by / about 10 acres not gethered / in 5 minits it was all gethered & sum of it to the

fire." American and British forces both converted corn into meal with ad hoc rasps. New

Hampshire soldier Nathan Davis recalled of the 1779 campaign against the Iroquois, ”We

… proceeded into the Indian Country where we destroyed their towns, orchards and

cornfields. The Indian corn was very large, & our soldiers made corn meal of it by

grating it on the outsides of old camp kettles which they first perforated with bayonets.”65

In a longer memoir Davis noted,

Whilst marching in the wilderness, as before observed, we had only half our allowance of

provisions, which was one half pound of flour, and one half pound of fresh beef, or rather

an apology for beef, as our cattle had become intolerably poor, in consequence of

constant driving. When we came to an Indian town, we had neither meal nor flour, but

only a trifle of salt. When we first came to the Indian towns, their corn was suitable to

boil or roast; of course we had plenty of succotash. When the corn became too mature for

this, we converted some old tin kettles found in the Indian settlements, into large graters,

and obliged every fourth man, not on guard, to sit up all night, and grate corn, which

would make meal, something like hominy. This meal was mixed with boild squash or

pumpkin, when hot, and kneaded into cakes, and baked by the fire. This bread, coarse as

it was, relished well among soldiers fatigued with daily marches through the wilderness

… 66

British commissary officer Charles Stedman noted an incident in South Carolina in

October 1780:

In riding through the encampment of the militia, the Author discovered them grating their

corn, which was done by two men of a mess breaking up their tin canteens, and with a

bayonet punching holes through the tin; this made a kind of rasp, on which they grated

their corn; The idea was communicated to the adjutant–general, and it was afterwards

adopted throughout the army.67

Sgt. Roger Lamb, 23d Regiment, confirmed Stedman’s account: "Sometimes we had

turnips served out for our food, when we came to a turnip field; or arriving at a field of

corn, we converted our canteens into rasps and ground our Indian corn for bread …”

Indian corn, we were compelled to eat liver as a substitute for bread, with our lean beef.

In all this his lordship participated, not did he indulge himself even in the distinction of a

tent; but in all things partook our sufferings, and seemed much more to feel for us than

for himself.”68

Pvt. John Shaw, 33d Regiment, captured shortly before the action at

Guilford Courthouse in 1781, mentioned a differently formed corn rasp used on the

march north:

We came to place where there was a mill … here we expected to draw some provisions,

but were sadly disappointed … All we drew was but one ear of corn per man, and this

was a sweet morsel to us: - we softened it in water, and grated it on the lid of our camp-

kettle, and made bread of it. This we did until we came to Frederickstown [Maryland]

barracks, where we drew provisions.69

Original soldier's bowl with horn spoon and cup (cup and spoon date from 19th

century or earlier). The bowl belonged to a soldier of Washington’s army left behind

sick on the march to Monmouth Courthouse in June 1778. For more details see,

“The common necessaries of life …” A Revolutionary Soldier’s Wooden Bowl,”

including, “’Left sick on the Road’: An Attempt to Identify the Soldier Left at the

Paxson Home, ‘Rolling Green,’ June 1778.”) http://tinyurl.com/at3dj3e

Eating Utensils. Unless soldiers ate directly from camp kettles, several additional food

containers were needed at mealtimes. One militia private described a repast prepared and

consumed during a brief halt on a march. Taking the "Kittle of Pudding, [he] turned it out in

six Piles on the Board" taken from a fence; a crude but practical substitute for bowls. Lt.

Col. Henry Dearborn noted in December 1777 using “an old short handled frying pan in

which we ware Obliged to Eat it haveing No other Platter …” It is likely that bowls, when

available, were also shared between several men. In 1776 the Connecticut militia were to be

supplied with two thousand cooking pots and "four thousand Wooden Bowls." Supposing

six men in a mess, this meant three soldiers to each bowl. Other documents list similar

utensils. The receipt book of James Abeel, deputy quartermaster general and superintendent

of stores at Morristown, New Jersey, shows a December 1778 issue of "38 Wooden Bowls,

thirty six Trenchers & 36 wooden Dishes... for the use of the 1 Jersey Regt." Three monthly

returns for Captain Maxwell's Company, 2d Massachusetts Regiment, in 1779 list a total of

eight camp kettles and eight bowls, on hand or deficient, an indication that only one bowl

commonly accompanied each kettle. In January 1781 Quartermaster General Timothy

Pickering wrote of carts made to "carry all the kettles of a regiment, with one small bowl to

each..." Seventeen months later Pickering described camp kettle covers, "which would be

vastly convenient... as a dish to eat out of"; further evidence of common soldiers using

communal eating receptacles.70

One example of a mess bowl belonged to an unnamed soldier who took sick and was

left in the hands of the Benjamin Paxson family of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The

Paxson family kept the bowl after the man, who supposedly belonged to Maj. Gen.

Charles Lee’s Division marching from Valley Forge to Monmouth Courthouse in June

1778, died in their care. Most soldiers’ bowls were likely carved or turned from a single

piece of wood. This singular artifact is of stave construction, with three wooden bands

surrounding the outside, and a solid wood bottom. The bottom piece is slightly oval and

dish–shaped, with the base curved and the top (inside of the bowl) flat. The edge of the

wooden bottom (trapped between the outer staves) comes almost to a point.71

Several documents mention government supply of bowls, cups, spoons, and even some

knives; some are estimates of needs, while others are returns of items actually on hand. A

blank regimental "Ledger of Accounts of the Camp Equipage," dated 1779, lists covered

kettles, common kettles, bowls, "Mess Tubs" (possibly trenchers), and iron spoons, while a

"Plan for the Cloathing of the [Light] Infantry" stated the soldiers' necessaries: a "Pocket

Knife," "Tin Spoon" and haversack were the only food–related items given. In June 1779

Timothy Pickering included among the “Articles to be imported in the Department of the

Board of War & Defence,” “Jack Knives, or Pocket Knives _ 10,000 Doz[en], “English

fashioned knives and forks with [bone?] handles 1500 Doz,” “Pewter or other Cheap

spoons for soldiers 10,000 Doz,” and “Spoons of a better kind for Officers _ 1000 Doz.”

And among the items noted in a two other equipment estimates were 1,400 iron cups,

15,000 wooden bowls, and 20,000 iron spoons “Requisite for an Army of 40,000 Men," and

4,000 wooden trenchers, 12,000 wooden bowls, and 40,000 pewter table spoons “for an

Army of Twenty five thousand Men."72

Small quantities of cups, spoons, and bowls were included on returns of camp

equipage actually in use. Deputy Quartermaster General Abeel's receipt book lists "Fifty

Iron Cups" issued "for the use of Genl Maxwells Brigade" on 10 June 1779. The

September to November 1779 returns of Captain Maxwell's 2d Massachusetts company

show that while spoons were wanted for each man, none were on hand. And two August

1779 returns for units at or near West Point (including the 2d Massachusetts) list wooden

bowls, "Iron Cups" and "Iron spoons," though not nearly enough for every man. Five

more equipment returns for various Continental units from 1778 to 1781 show similar

shortfalls of bowls, cups, and spoons, making it probable that some men ate directly from

camp kettles, while others found their own bowls. It is also likely most men on their own

procured spoons, knives, and tin, iron or horn cups. (See addenda for the effect of equipment

shortages. See also endnote for unit equipment returns.)73

The Morning Meal. Now let us look at the simplest breakfast or supper serving (two

meals being the norm) in Washington’s army. Connecticut Surgeon Jonathan Todd

honors us with a description: "Now 2 Months we have drawn No other Provision than

Fresh Beef & Flower – Salt we draw but Little not half Enough to season the Beef / Our

Flower we Wet with Water & Roll it in dirt & Ashes to bake it in a Horrible Manner ..."

And from "Camp [at the] Jersey Hutts," Maj. John Noble Cummings noted in February

1781, "We live excellently in Camp upon a Variety of Dishes Viz: Salt Beef and Ash

Cake for Breakfast D[itt]o for Dinner and the same for Supper provided there is any

left." Flour baked in ashes was called ashcake, while firecake was baked on a stone on or

near the hot coals. Meat, too, was sometimes cooked in a similar manner. At the

December 1777 Whitemarsh camp Sgt. Ebenezer Wild told of receiving "some fresh beef

and flour … had nothing to cook in, but were obliged to broil our meat on the fire and bake

our bread in the ashes."74

(See Addenda for ways soldiers used the ration of raw flour.)

In a garrison or settled camp the men had more opportunity for a varied and, at times,

more substantial, breakfast, often consisting of boiled beef, perhaps accompanied by in–

season vegetables or greens. Sgt. Timothy Tuttle of New Jersey told of some interesting,

though hardly extraordinary, foods in his northern diary:

10 June 1776, "at sirrell [Sorel, Canada] ] Encampt ... Chocolate for Breakfast this morning"

13 June 1776, "at Sirrell encampment ... Milk Porrage for Break[fa]st"

14 June 1776, "morning at sirrell ... supspawn for Breakfast"75

Chocolate was a beverage only occasionally available to Washington’s soldiers. Milk,

too, was a rarity. “Supspawn” or suppawn was akin to oatmeal, instead made with corn

meal. The dish was common in British North America. Col. Timothy Pickering, a member

of George Washington's staff, noted a meal on the New York/New Jersey border. "Sunday,

July 20th. [1777] – Went from Suffern's tavern into the Clove, eleven miles. Head–quarters

at Galloway's, an old log house. The General lodged in a bed, and his family [i.e., staff] on

the floor about him. We had plenty of sepawn and milk, and all were contented."76

Cold weather camps seldom afforded any bounty. In November 1780 at West Point a French

officer spent the night in Gen. William Heath's quarters with a number of other officers. In

the morning:

the blankets were removed, and the dining room ... was quickly furnished with a large table

covered with beef–steaks, which we eat with a very good appetite, swilling down from time

to time a cup of tea. Europeans would not find this food and drink, taken together, to their

taste; but I can assure you that it made a very comfortable breakfast.77

In December 1779, on the way to Pompton, New Jersey, Surgeon James Thacher had a

similar repast in slightly different circumstances. Marching through deep snow it was:

late at night before our men could all find accommodations in the scattering houses and

barns on the road. I visited my friend Doctor S. Findley, of General Glover's brigade, and

being invited to breakfast, the only food he could furnish was coffee, without milk or sugar,

and meagre beef–steaks, without bread or even salt.78

Soldiers usually received sustenance, but gratification was sometimes delayed. On the

morning of a march the troops usually did not eat right away, but struck tents, loaded the

wagons, and got into ranks, ready to move. Under those circumstances they usually

carried one or several days’ cooked meat, and bread (or biscuit or raw flour) in their

haversacks and, if given a chance, ate at the first halt. For instance, Virginia Capt. John

Chilton noted on 26 July 1777, "Marched 11 Miles by 9 Oclock breakfasted in a Meadow

by a fine Spring ..."79

When it came to soldier–cooks innovation was the general rule; Pvt.

Daniel Granger gave a singular description of breakfast cooking done by troops in pressing

circumstances. During the Saratoga Campaign:

On the 16th of October [1777], at night we drew rations and were notified to be ready early

on the next Morn' to march to Stillwater, so we boiled our Meet and had our provisions all in

our Paiks [packs] ready ... early in the Morn' were paraded and marched off ... about Nine

Oclock we were halted ... and were told that we should have twenty Minutes To take our

breakfast … it was my turn to cook for the Mess. We struck up a fire by a large Stump, on

with Kittle, to make some hasty Pudding, & an other Kettle to heat some water to steep

some Tea, all was done as quick as possible, & when don I took a long Board from a Fence,

lade one end on the fence & the other on a stump, took off my Kittle of Pudding, turned it

out in six Piles on the Board, had my Tea steeped, then gave notice that Breakfast was ready,

when the Mess came & saw the Pudding on a Board, it made some sport, we had Sugar in

our Packs which we used with our Pudding & Tea, (our Meat had been cooked) we ate as

fast as possible, expecting every moment to hear the drums beating, and we had not fairly

don[e], when the Drums were beating to the ranks, and we marched on to Stillwater ...80

Corn meal posed a problem for some soldiers. For a time in northern New Jersey, in 1780,

Connecticut soldier Joseph Martin and his comrades "had no wheat flour, all the breadstuff

we got was Indian corn meal and Indian corn flour ... [we were] ignorant of making this

meal or flour into bread ... All we had any idea of doing with it was to make it into hasty

pudding ..." Rice, too, caused difficulties for troops unused to it. Col. Henry Lee

remembered that near Orangeburg, South Carolina “Rice furnished our substitute for bread,

which though tolerably relished by those familiarized with it ... was very disagreeable to the

Marylanders and Virginians, who had grown up in the use of corn or wheat bread ..."

Pennsylvanian Lt. William Feltman noted in 1782, “This day we were under the

disagreeable necessity of drawing all rice instead of Indian Meal, and it is a very poor

substitute for bread ... The Carolinians say they are fonder of rice bread than they are of the

best wheat." He also confessed, "it is a mystery to see how to make it into bread."81

Sometimes a potentially satisfying meal could be made in adverse conditions. Jacob

Nagle of Proctor's Artillery recounted an unconsummated breakfast at the Battle of

Brandywine, 11 September 1777:

The provision waggons being sent a way, we were three days without provisions excepting

what the farmers brought in to sell in their waggons and what the soldiers could plunder

from the farmers. I ... received a neats [cow’s] tounge from [my father], and Mr. Hosner

bought some potatoes and butter the evening before the Brittish arrived, and we concluded

to have a glorious mess for breakfast. Mr. Hosner gave it to one of the soldiers wives that

remained with the army to cook for us in the morning. Early in the morning, she had the

camp kettle on a small fier about 100 yards in the rear of the Grand Artilery, with all our

delicious meal, which we expected to enjoy ...

Unfortunately, an untimely cannon shot from the enemy "dismounted the poor camp

kettle with the fier and all its contents away with it."82

In at least one instance supper became breakfast. Artist and militia officer Charles

Willson Peale noted immediately after the 3 January 1777 Battle of Princeton that his men

bedded down for the night at Somerset Courthouse. Writing in the third person, he recalled:

Humanity induced Peale to purchase Beef, Pork and Potatoes with his own money, to feed

his men, and he saw a large Pot put on the fire to dress it, but returning to get his men …

they declared that they would rather sleep than eat. The Army was ordered under Arms at 3

Oclock in the next Morn:g and when this Provision was boiled to rages, (for it had been

keept on the fire all night) his men were glad to sup what they esteemed very good broth.83

Breakfast was sometimes the only meal of the day. In Lt. Samuel Armstrong’s case the

meager repast on the morning the army marched into Valley Forge had to suffice until well

after dark:

Friday [December] ye 19th. [1777] ... We took the Remains of two Days Allowance of Beef,

being a Shin and two fowls we had left, of these we made a broth upon which we

Breakfasted with half a loaf of Bread we Begg'd and bought, of which we should have made

a tollerable Breakfast, if there had been Enough!! By ten OClock we [were ordered?] to

march to a place Call'd Valley Forge being about five or six miles … about Eleven oCK we

Sit out, but did not arive there 'till after Sun Sit.84

Other Likely Breakfast Fare. Though not mentioned in that context, other dishes probably

served as breakfast, too. The aforementioned Sergeant Tuttle noted from near Fort

Ticonderoga on 30 July 1776, "at our new Encampment … we Had a Potpy & a Large

wheat suit Pudding, I Believe Nigh a Pecke, it Had to be [cooked?] Almost all Day & when

was Done I Could not Eat But Little it was so Homespun." Food historian Sandra Oliver

notes that the "wheat suet pudding [Tuttle and comrades] ... made wouldn't have been so

'homespun' [coarse] if they hadn't tried to boil something peck–sized. Its very hard to do a

proper job with enormous pud[ding]s ... they could've gotten away with something say, 2

quart sized ...”85

Along the same line Maj. Gen. (and Q.M. Gen.) Nathanael Greene recommended at

Valley Forge in February 1778 that,

As Provision will be scarce especially of the meat kind, if the Commissaries could purchase

a quantity of sugar, the troops with Wheat might make a fermity, a diet that would contribute

to their health, be palatable and nourishing … I think it would be a very good substitute for

meat, and not much more expensive if any.86

He refers to a dish known as frumenty, also known as "fermity, firmity ... a kind of

pudding made with wheat," cooked in a kettle. Food historian C. Anne Wilson notes,

Early recipes for frumenty describe the process: 'Take clean wheat, and beat it small in a

mortar, and fan out clean the dust; then wash it clean, and boil it till it be tender and brown.'

... the frumenty of poorer folk was breakfast or supper in itself, and it was usually made of

maslin [mixed grain, usually barley & wheat, but here in the colonies, rye, wheat, sometimes

even weed seeds, deliberately mixed, to insure some kind of crop] or barley, mixed with

meat when that was to be had, or with water alone, or with a little cream or butter.87

Some form of dumpling was at times used to make stews and other dishes more filling. In

January 1777 Col. Timothy Pickering wrote, "for two thirds of the week flour was dealt out,

which the soldiers made, some into cakes, and some into dumplings, boiled with their meat

..." On board one of Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold's row gallies on Lake Champlain, Jehiel

Stewart noted a similar meal. "Octo 2 [1776] the most of us went without brakefast ... We

drew one Days alowence we Drew flower in Stad of bread and we was forst to make Some

Do Boys and Boile them with Some meet and we eat about Sun Down ..."; "Octo 3 ... we

Draw no Bread yet Sergent Cambel was put under gard for Refuson to take flower ... we are

forst to boile Do Boys as yet and Drink lake worter we Draw Salt pork and pees to Day."88

Similarly, hard or ship’s biscuit could also be added to boiled meals. Pvt. George Fox,

47th Regiment of Foot, wrote of British troops eating dumplings during the Saratoga

Campaign:

We continued … four days wholy surrounded. At last G[eneral]. Burgoyne ordered the

Commanding Officer of each Reg to ask the men whether they would start another

general Engagement at which they consented and gave three cheers, and we were drawn

up in line of battle along the side of a wood (100 yds from our first retreat). for ten day

we liv'd on 4 buiscuits per man per day and then we had some flour serv'd out to us which

we made dumplings of.89

In the worst of times, the answer to our query as to what was served for breakfast fare

was, nothing at all. The cause was often supply difficulties, but in the following instance

unforeseen (and unexplained) circumstances were the culprit. Several months before

Yorktown Pennsylvanian Lt. John Bell Tilden noted:

August 30. [1781] Cross the river with the company and conduct them to the encampment.

Return [to the north side of the James River, in Virginia], intending to breakfast with the

ladies [at Westover Plantation] – After recrossing the river an affair happens, by which I am

deprived of the supreme happiness of breakfasting as before mentioned. Return to camp,

pitch my tent, [and] sup on whip–poor–will soup.90

Lieutenant Tilden’s supper repast was made from whippoorwill peas, commonly grown

in the south and still available from heirloom seed sources.91

Revolutionary common soldiers’ cooking skills and attitude towards food were likely

mirrored by their grandsons, Union Pvt. Wilbur Fisk noting in 1862:

our tidy New England housekeepers … would smile to see what splendid novices we are in

the culinary art. But any young lady so foolish as to contemplate matrimony with such

rugged specimens ... as we poor soldiers, if she be an indifferent cook, need not be unduly

elated at this account, nor think her imperfections will be lightly overlooked, for these same

boys, who out–Graham Sylvester Graham himself, in his most radical ideas of simplicity in

diet, would scorn to accept such food if served to them by their dearest beloved, of whom

they will imagine angelic things.92

In light of their toils and struggles, let us hope that, at the least, the soldiers’ post–war

culinary expectations were satisfied.

Acknowledgements

My thanks to Joseph Lee Boyle, Frank Cecala, the late Sally Paxson Davis, Matthew

Grubel, Don Hagist, Steve Rayner, Eric Schnitzer, Thaddeus Weaver, Mike Williams, and

Company Fellow Marko Zlatich for providing additional research, insights, and advice

for this article. Special thanks to my friend and foodways mentor Sandra Oliver.

(Author may be contacted at ju_rees@msn.com. A number of articles are available online

at www.revwar75.com/library/rees/ and http://www.scribd.com/jrees_10 )

Continental soldier in marching order, circa 1777-79. Having no haversack, his food would

have been carried in his knapsack or the sheet-iron kettle he carries for his mess squad.

(Bob Krist, 2010)

Addenda

“The men were very industrious, in baking, all the forepart of the evening.”: Soldiers’ Ingenuity,

Regimental Bakers, and the Issue of Raw Flour

“The Commissary [is] desired … to furnish biscuit and salt provisions …”:

Hard Bread in the War for Independence.

"The victuals became putrid by sweat & heat ...": Some Peripheral Aspects of Feeding an Army

1. The Ways Soldiers Carried Food

2. The Burden of Rations, 1762-1783

3. Carrying Drink and Procuring Water

4. Equipment Shortages

5. Spoilage of Issued Meats

"We had our cooking utensils ... to carry in our hands.": Continental Army Cooking and Eating Gear,

and Camp Kitchens, 1775-1782

“The men were very industrious, in baking, all the forepart of the evening.”

Soldiers’ Ingenuity, Regimental Bakers, and the Issue of Raw Flour

Flour to Bread. The way flour was baked into bread varied greatly, two factors being

available facilities and the army’s situation. Optimally, issued bread was produced in army

ovens, though before and during 1777 quantities were purchased from civilian bakers. While

Superintendent of Baking Christopher Ludwick was organizing the baking department that

July, Gen. George Washington urgently needed to feed his troops, writing to Quartermaster

Gen. Thomas Mifflin in Philadelphia that “providing a large quantity of hard Bread, is …

exceedingly necessary. I would recommend it to you to have all the bakers in the City

immediately set to work for that purpose, as in our desultory State we shall have the

greatest occasion for it, and shall feel much inconvenience if we do not have it.”93

When raw flour was issued, individual soldiers or mess groups often did the baking and

the resulting breadstuff was usually of poor quality. The crudest result was fire or ashcake,

flour baked on a stone next to the fire, or in hot ashes. Sixteen–year old fifer John

Greenwood described the process while campaigning in 1776; the flour was "mixed up with

the water from the lake by fellows as lousy, itchy, and nasty as hogs. I have seen it, when

made and baked upon a piece of bark, so black with dirt and smoke I do not think a dog

would eat it." After the army reached Morristown, New Jersey, in winter 1777 artist and

captain Charles Willson Peale "got a barrel of flour, and put some stones in the fire to bake

our bread on ... The men were very industrious, in baking, all the forepart of the evening."

Connecticut Surgeon Jonathan Todd wrote of eating ashcake during the autumn 1777

campaign around Philadelphia: "Now 2 Months we have drawn No other Provision than

Fresh Beef & Flower – Salt we draw but Little not half Enough to season the Beef / Our

Flower we Wet with Water & Roll it in dirt & Ashes to bake it in a Horrible Manner ..."94

Using issued flour, some form of dumpling was at times added to make stews and other

dishes more filling. In January 1777 Col. Timothy Pickering wrote, "for two thirds of the

week flour was dealt out, which the soldiers made, some into cakes, and some into

dumplings, boiled with their meat ..." On board one of Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold's row

gallies on Lake Champlain, Jehiel Stewart noted a similar meal. "Octo 2 [1776] the most of

us went without brakefast ... We drew one Days alowence we Drew flower in Stad of bread

and we was forst to make Some Do Boys and Boile them with Some meet and we eat about

Sun Down ..."; "Octo 3 ... we Draw no Bread yet Sergent Cambel was put under gard for

Refuson to take flower ... we are forst to boile Do Boys as yet and Drink lake worter we

Draw Salt pork and pees to Day."95

(Similarly, hard or ship’s biscuit could also be added to

boiled meals.) Pvt. George Fox, 47th Regiment of Foot, wrote of British troops eating

dumplings during the Saratoga Campaign:

We continued … four days wholy surrounded. At last G[eneral]. Burgoyne ordered the

Commanding Officer of each Reg to ask the men whether they would start another

general Engagement at which they consented and gave three cheers, and we were drawn

up in line of battle along the side of a wood (100 yds from our first retreat). for ten day

we liv'd on 4 buiscuits per man per day and then we had some flour serv'd out to us which

we made dumplings of.96

Another method was to take the flour ration to a nearby household and have the

inhabitants bake it. The night after the January 1777 Princeton battle, Captain Peale and his

men reached Somerset Court House: "I had the promise from Colonel Cox of a barrel of

flour and the use of an oven but could get nobody to assist me in bringing it to be baked."

Having failed that evening, he lay down to sleep. The next morning Peale "went into town

and got a barrel of flour and engaged a negro woman to bake it." General Knox noted that in

some regiments "soldiers are permitted to carry their flour into the country and endeavour to

exchange it for bread. This is always done at a disadvantage – besides, it is a pretence for

straggling, and affords opportunities to plunder and maraud." Sometimes the men were

prevented from doing this. Brig. Gen. Anthony Wayne's Pennsylvania Division orders,

"Haver Straw, December 1st, A.D. 1778. ... The men must Bake their own Bread, & Not

attempt to Change the flour, nor Stragle from Camp, as Partys of Torys are hovering about

..."97

Maj. Gen. Knox described another way bread was produced on the regimental level. "In

the field, all the troops receive flour of the Commissary. Some regiments have soldiers who

are bakers and are permitted by the commanding officer to go to some neighbouring house

with other soldiers as their assistants, to bake for the regiment." Knox then related problems

inherent in this method: "it is a general received opinion among the officers and soldiers,

that by the equivocal expression, 'a pound of bread or flour' in the ordnance of Congress

concerning the ration, means a pound of hard bread in lieu of the flour, which, if well baked,

will not produce more than one hundred weight of hard bread for the same quantity of

flour."98

He then explained how this benefited regimental bakers.

These bakers receive the flour from the soldiers and return them a pound of [soft] bread for a

pound of flour, by which means the bakers make a neat profit to themselves of 30 percent in

flour; and often times more, as they put as great a proportion of water as they please, there

being no person whose duty it is to superintend them. This flour the bakers sell to the

country people in the vicinity of the camp, to the infinite damage of the public or occupy

public waggons, when the camp happens to move, to carry it away to a better market. Last

year at Tappan, one or two soldiers who baked for part of one of the regiments of artillery,

consisting of not more than 250 or 300 men, saved such a stock on hand of the profits of

baking for a short time, as to be able, on an emergency, to lend the Commissary of the Park

a sufficiency to issue one thousand rations for eight days ... Owing to this variety of waste

and bad management the same quantity of flour does not serve the troops so long a time by

nearly one third, as it would were it under a proper oeconomical regularity.99

Solutions in Supplying Bread. Several officers attempted to remedy these problems. Rather

than regimental bakers, beginning in 1777, and at various intervals till the war’s end, the use

of brigade bakers was suggested (a brigade usually consisted of three or four regiments).

Brig. Gen. William Smallwood's orders, "10th June 1777 The Commissary to pick out of

any Company at Princeton any Baker or Bakers that he thinks Necessary to Carry on the

Baking Business for this Brigade." In July 1777 Gen. George Washington recommended

"temporary ovens to each brigade, which, by men who understand it, can be erected in a few

hours," and in January the following year Brig. Gen. Jedediah Huntington gave his

observation that "Each Brigade should be attended with a traveling Oven – whoever has

experienced the Unwholesomeness of the Bread commonly made in Camp, or seen the

Waste of Flour, will desire no other Argument in favour of this usefull Appendage ..."100

Despite these early efforts, by 1781 the system of providing bread was still in such a state

that General Knox felt compelled to reiterate the need for brigade bakers and ovens. Though

he had written that bread was "most essential," it was in supplying that article that "we have

been most deficient ... To remedy these evils, in a great degree, I propose, That there shall be

a baker and two assistants to each brigade, who shall be engaged for this purpose if possible;

if not, soldiers, provided such can be found."101

Knox then laid out the practicalities

involved:

They should be furnished with a travelling oven, troughs and the necessary implements for

baking, to transport which a waggon and four oxen should be allotted. One of the three

persons, besides getting wood &ca, would be able to take care of and on a march drive these

oxen … a fourth man might be added, to serve as a wood cutter, &ca, which would render

the assistance ample. The baker ought to be an honest faithful man. The Commissary [is] to

… see that the quantity of bread which he receives from the baker answers properly to the \

quantity of flour delivered him. Perhaps the Brigadier ought to receive weekly returns of the

flour baked and the quantity of bread issued, to see that the public has full justice. There

should also be a superintendent baker to the Army, whose business it should be to examine

into the goodness of the bread made by the respective bakers.102

According to Knox, "By this mode the Army would, under almost all circumstances, be

certain of good bread, regularly issued, and the public would make the same quantity of

flour serve nearly one third longer, than it does in the loose manner in which this business is

at present conducted. They will save 30 per cent in value on all the flour consumed. They

will also save the expence, risque and trouble of nearly one third of all the flour

transportation, to replace that quantity which is now disipated in the manner related.” The

general ended by estimating that "Probably there will be issued to each brigade daily 1500

rations of bread – multiplied by the days of the year it will produce 547500 pounds, which

must be supposed pounds of flour."103

So the Continental Army, still in many ways a fledgling force near the war’s end,

continued to seek ways to lessen baking waste and increase efficiency. In 1782 the

government decided to use contractors to supply the army, a system that continues to the

present–day.

“The Commissary [is] desired … to furnish biscuit and salt provisions …”

Hard Bread in the War for Independence.

Bread, flour, and beef were at the foundation of both the Crown and Continental soldiers'

diet. While flour was often issued to be baked by regimental bakers or the soldiers

themselves, ready-baked bread was either soft or hard, the latter also known as biscuit, ship

or sea bread. For troops on the move, commanders preferred biscuit and salt meats;

especially in warm weather when they needed to issue several days rations at one time and

there were inherent food spoilage problems. Better known as hardtack during the American

Civil War (1861-1865), biscuit was often issued in the War for Independence, though

without the recognition its culinary descendant would enjoy.

Continental Army orders repeatedly emphasized the desire for hard bread on campaign.

General orders, 23 August 1776, just prior to the Battle of Long Island, "The General ...

directs, all the Troops to have two days hard Bread, and Pork, ready by them ..."104

On 2

September, shortly after the evacuation of Long Island, Gen. George Washington expressed

his

hopes, after the inconveniences that have been complained of, and felt, that the commanding

Officers of Corps will never, in future, suffer their men to have less than two days

provisions, always upon hand, ready for any emergency - If hard Bread cannot be had, Flour

must be drawn, and the men must bake it into bread, or use it otherwise in the most

agreeable manner thay can ...105

With the appointment of Christopher Ludwick as "director of baking" in May 1777,

Congress attempted to rectify former problems. As a result, Washington's army experienced

the first large-scale biscuit issues during the New Jersey and Pennsylvania campaigns. For

example, army orders, 10 June 1777, Northern New Jersey, "The movements of this army,

either for offensive or defensive measures, will be sudden, whenever they do happen;

consequently no time can be allowed, either to draw or cook provisions ... the Commissary

[is] desired, if possible, to furnish biscuit and salt provisions, for this purpose, which the

men may keep by them, and continue to draw their usual allowance." General Washington

wrote Israel Putnam on 25 July, "General Clinton informs me, that he has ordered to your

post [at Peekskill, New York] a large quantity of hard bread. If it arrives in time, you will

direct Genl. Sullivan's and Lord Stirling's divisions to draw a Sufficiency of it for three days

..." Orders for Sullivan's Division, issued from "Head Quarters Kings ferry [Hudson River]

26th July 1777" noted, "the Commissary will Strive all means to get hard Bread for the use

of the Division on the Road."106

The previous day the commander in chief had written

Christopher Ludwick, from Pompton Plains, New Jersey,

I imagine you must by this time have a considerable parcel of hard Bread baked. I am

moving towards Philadelphia with the Army, and should be glad to have it sent forward.

You will therefore immediately ... send all that is ready down to Coryell's Ferry, except

about two thousand Weight which is to be sent to the place called the White House, and

there wait for the Division of the Army which is with me. ... You will continue baking as fast

as you can, because two other Divisions will pass thro' Pitts Town and will want Bread.107

Later that summer, the army marched south into Pennsylvania and Delaware to oppose

the British army after it landed at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. Washington's army,

"Head Quarters Newport [Delaware] 7th Sepr 1777 General Orders ... The Genl has

Received A Confirmation ... that the Enemy has Disencumber'd themselves of all their

Baggage ... this Indicates A Speedy and Rapid movement, & points out the necessaty of

following the example ... The whole Army is to Draw two days provisions [of salt meat]

exclusive of today ... otherwise one days fresh Provisions ... & two days hard Bread if to be

had ..." General orders, 10 September, one day before the Battle of Brandywine, "The

Commissary General to have, at least three days' provisions always on hand ... and draw in

what biscuit he can, and salt meat, for occasional serving ..."108

Soldiers referred often to biscuit in their writings, some New England soldiers

recognizing the breadstuff served to sailors. Connecticut Sergeant Bayze Wells served with

Brig. Gen. Benedict Arnold's Lake Champlain fleet. Aboard the Gundalo "Providence," 20

August 1776, he noted, "Roed Down the Lake ... Gundelo Philadelphia ... Arivd which

made Nine Sail of the Line the Cpt sent ouur flowr on Shore to Be Baked into Ship Bread

Sent men for wood." In New York city, in late August 1776, Connecticut soldier Joseph

Martin's regiment waited for boats to ferry them to Long Island. "At the lower end of the

street were placed several casks of sea bread, made, I believe, of canel and peas-meal, nearly

hard enough for musket flints; the casks were unheaded and each man was allowed to take

as many as he could as he marched by ... I remember my gnawing at them; they were hard

enough to break the teeth of a rat."109

(Canel - or canaille, pronounced "canile" - "the

coarsest part of the meal, the shorts or inferior flour."Food History News, vol. IX, no. 15

(Summer 1997), 7.)

Militia private John Adlum was present at Fort Washington when that post surrendered to

the enemy on 16 November 1776. He wrote: "I saw a number of barrells of biscuit and now

knowing that we were prisoners I cut open the lining of my coat and filled the skirts of it

with from a peck [to] a half a bushel of biscuit ..." Charles Willson Peale, the well-known

painter, was serving as an officer in the Philadelphia Associators with Washington's army

during the retreat across New Jersey in November and December. He considered himself

able "to endure the rigors of combat ... `better than many others whose appearance was more

robust ... By temperance and by forethought in providing for the worst that might happen.'

The forethought included a chunk of dried beef and a pocketful of hard biscuits plus a

canteen filled with water, a drink `better than rum'."110

While with the garrison of Fort Mifflin, in November 1777, Joseph Martin noted the food

they received. "What little provisions we had was cooked by the invalids in our camp and

brought to the island in old flour barrels; it was mostly corned beef and hard bread, but it

was not much trouble to cook or fetch what we had." After the evacuation of the fort in

November, he wrote, "We ... crossed the Delaware again between Burlington and Bristol.

Here we procured a day's ration of salt pork ... and a pound of sea bread."111

A small sheet–iron camp kettle, with rations of hard biscuit, beef, and chocolate.

Also pictured are a camp hatchet and soldier’s brimmed wool hat. Mess groups

occasionally carried provisions in camp kettles. Connecticut soldier Joseph Martin

wrote of this autumn 1777; his regiment halted in Burlington, New Jersey, "where

we procured some carrion beef, for it was not better. We cooked it and ate some,

and carried the remainder away with us. We had always, in the army, to carry our

cooking utensils in our hands by turns, and … as we were not overburthened by

provisions, our mess had put ours into our kettle …" Joseph Plumb Martin, Private

Yankee Doodle: A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a

Revolutionary Soldier (Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Co., 1962), 81.

(Photograph by the author.)

Foreign troops also used hard bread during the war. Capt. Johann Ewald wrote that

German soldiers in America "received biscuit instead of bread for entire years, and since our

soldiers finally got accustomed to it, they preferred biscuit to bread." During the Monmouth

Campaign in 1778, German Jägers marching across New Jersey "had to manage with dry

biscuit most of the time for three weeks." Lt. John Charles Philip von Krafft echoed this,

writing of the days after the Battle of Monmouth. Near Middletown, New Jersey, 30 June

1778, "On the march we got salt and fresh meat, biscuit and rum, nothing more." Once on

board ship off Sandy Hook, the situation did not improve. 5 July 1778, "Never had I been

hungrier and consequently I ate my salt pork, with the mouldy biscuit, raw and uncooked.

After many entreaties I managed to get some very thin coffee without milk or sugar for a

little money ..." German troops serving with the French had similar experiences. In the

spring of 1780 a French army under the Comte de Rochambeau embarked on ships for the

trip across the Atlantic Ocean to America. Private Georg Daniel Flohr, of the Royal Deux-

Ponts Regiment recorded the food eaten on the voyage. He wrote, "The food consisted of 36

Loth (a little over a pound) Zwieback (hardtack) daily ... [and] either salted bacon or beef,

which was prepared every day for lunch." (zwieback, "twice-baked).112

What was biscuit like for Continental and Crown land forces? Because of its density, it

probably required more flour than did soft bread. One 1777 ration list indicates this by

stipulating, "1 1/4 lb Flour or soft bread or 1 lb hard bread." Samuel Dewees tells of biscuit

being made of "shipstuff" (usually the lowest-grade flour), probably a common ingredient,

and not in the best condition, as reported in July 1777, when a large amount of flour "in

danger of perishing" was ordered to be "baked into biskit for the use of the army."113

Size and shape are not known for certain, but biscuit was probably made circular or oval,

similar to an original 1784 British ship biscuit in the National Maritime Museum,

Greenwich, England. That artifact is round (3 3/4 inches diameter by 9/16 inches thick),

and finely made, close in size and quality to Civil War hard tack. One source gives some

idea of size. Fifer Abiel Chandler noted while in the field, "tuesday the 21 [January 1777]

we lay on the hils north of King[s] brid[g]e ... we have to lay in the woods. our alowence is

3 biskits and 18 onces of pork a day or 24 onces of beaf." Chandler's meat ration agrees with

several ration allotments from 1775 through 1777. In these lists one pound of flour or hard

bread accompanied the meat ration. The biscuit issued to Abiel Chandler in January 1777,

amounting to one pound, possibly represents a short ration of bread; biscuits made to the

dimensions of the original 1784 British ship’s bread number nine or ten to a pound.114

So, how did Continental soldiers eat biscuit? Most accounts infer that soldiers ate them as

they were, Joseph Martin reported "gnawing at them" in 1776. Only one source mentions

any type of preparation prior to consuming them. In his memoirs, Pennsylvania Fifer

Samuel Dewees wrote, "Sometimes we had one biscuit and a herring per day ... the biscuit ...

were so hard that a hammer ... is requisite to break them. This, or throw them to soak in

boiling water ..." Biscuit likely often found its way into the stew pot. Union Soldiers during

the American Civil War (1861-1865) fried hard tack (their version of biscuit) in dishes such

as skillygalee (a.k.a. lobscouse), “hish & hash,” and “hell-fired stew.” No mention has been

found of Continental troops frying biscuit.115

(For details on Union Army hardtack cooking

see, Rees, “’It's hard living … but living too high ain't healthy no how.’: Soldiers Making

the Best of Army Food, 1861-1865,” Repast: Quarterly Publication of the Culinary

Historians of Ann Arbor, vol. XXVIII, no. 2 (Summer 2012), 4-10.)

"Round ship's biscuit ... [with] Pencil inscription inked in." The inscription on the

other side reads, "This biscuit was given – – Miss Blacket at Berwick on Tuesday 13

April 1784." Dimensions of the item are 95mm (3¾ inches) diameter by 10mm (9/16")

thick. In this view the pattern of holes can clearly be seen, with no broad arrow or

other Crown markings. (Museum negative number D4001–1), National Maritime

Museum, Greenwich, London.

"The victuals became putrid by sweat & heat ..."

Some Peripheral Aspects of Feeding an Army

1. The Ways Soldiers Carried Food

2. The Burden of Rations, 1762-1783

3. Carrying Drink and Procuring Water

4. Equipment Shortages

5. Spoilage of Issued Meats

British linen haversack (American versions were likely made without buttons.)

(Col. J. Craig Nannos Collection, photograph Courtesy Roy P. Najecki)

The Ways Soldiers Carried Food. The army issued soldiers a coarse linen bag, called a

haversack, in which to carry rations on the march. Haversacks were worn slung over the

right shoulder, hanging under the left arm. One surviving British example measures 13 1/2

inches high by 16 3/4 inches wide, with a 2 inch linen strap. Given supply difficulties and

the haste in which many were produced, it is likely most haversacks manufactured for the

Continental Army were made without buttons. On at least one occasion soldiers were

directed to construct their own. "College Camp [Williamsburg, Virginia] October the 11th.

1775 ... [A] Captain of Each Company is to Apply to the Quartermaster for Linnen Cloth to

make a habersack for Each Soldier one yard of Oznabrigs is Supposed to be Sufficient for

the purpose of making the sack ... Each Soldier to make his own sack ... as near one General

Size & patern as Possible. Thread Sufficient for the purpose must be Drawn ..." (A 1779

"Plan for the Cloathing of the Infantry" called for "An Haversack of Calf Skin," although

none of this type are known to have been used by Continental troops.) Haversacks were

used for purposes other than carrying rations on the march. In November 1757 British troops

at Annapolis, Nova Scotia, went to an apple orchard and "filled bags, haversacks, baskets

and even their pockets with fruit." When in Pennsylvania, soldiers of the British 64th

Regiment were ordered to convey a ration issue to camp: "Ashtown Camp 14th September

1777 ... The Men are to go with their Haversacks for flour to Hills Milles." 116

There were other ways food was transported. Whether haversacks were available or not, it

was probably common for some of a mess squad's food to be carried in a camp kettle, each

man taking his turn with the burden. Connecticut soldier Joseph Martin wrote of this in the

autumn of 1777. Martin's regiment halted in the town of Burlington, New Jersey, "where we

procured some carrion beef, for it was not better. We cooked it and ate some, and carried the

remainder away with us. We had always, in the army, to carry our cooking utensils in our

hands by turns, and at this time, as we were not overburthened by provisions, our mess had

put ours into our kettle, it not being very heavy, as it was made of plated iron." Other items

were specifically intended to hold food or converted to that purpose. In 1776 some

regiments were issued the "new invented Knapsack and Haversack," a piece of equipment

used for carrying a soldier's clothing as well as food. Other expedients were resorted to. In

May 1779, the colonel of the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment directed his officers that the

"Compys will have the [new] Knapsacks delivered, that the men may appear with their

Cloathing in them this afternoon. The old Knapsacks the men have in their Possession, they

will keep to carry their Provisions in them."117

Knapsacks designed to carry only clothing and other necessaries were sometimes used to

carry food in lieu of haversacks. Orders for Jackson's Additional Regiment, "Boston Oct 4.

1777 The Regiment to hold themselves in readiness to embark ... it is expected that every

Non Commissioned Officer & Soldier, will have his Cloathing & Necessaries put up in their

Knapsacks this afternoon, together with two days provisions Cook'd ..." The same month a

private with General Horatio Gates' Northern Army noted, "at night we drew rations and

were notified to be ready early on the next Morn' to march to Stillwater, so we boiled our

Meet and had our provisions all in our Paiks ready ... early in the Morn' [we] were paraded

and marched off ..." Joseph Martin wrote of returning to the Valley Forge camp in early

spring of 1778, carrying "two or three days' rations in my knapsack," and in July 1779

troops on Sullivan's Expedition were issued rations and ordered "to take [them] in their

packs ..."118

Reproduction of the knapsack used by Benjamin Warner during the War for

American Independence, the only extant linen knapsack known to have been used in

service by a Continental Army enlisted soldier. The original knapsack is in the Fort

Ticonderoga collection. (See endnote for a synopsis of Warner’s service.) 119

The Burden of Rations, 1762-1783. Food added weight to already overburdened soldiers,

but proper equipment could ease the load. The amount of food a haversack could hold

depended upon its size, which may have varied even in the British army; a 1762 listing of

equipment carried by British troops in America included "A Haversack, with a Strap

Containing Six Days Provisions." (The weight of the soldier's entire burden given in this list

was slightly over sixty-three pounds, at least twelve of which was comprised of foodstuff.)

A British officer serving with General John Burgoyne, noted in August 1777, soldiers

carried an "enormous bulk, weighing about sixty pounds" including "four days provision ...

[which] load is a grievous incumbrance."120

Continental troops often carried a similar load of provisions in their haversacks or

knapsacks. Here are several examples: General Washington's "Head-Quarters, Smithe's

Clove, June 10th, 1779. The Rum and whiskey in the maggazine to be Delivered amongst

the Brigade Commissaryes, and a Gill Pr man to Be Issued to the whole army this Day. Four

Days' flour to be Issued to the Troops, so that the whole Army will be supplyed up to

Sunday Next Inclusive. Two Days' fresh Beef to be Issued this Day, and Cattle Eaquel to

two Days' supply to be with each Brigade Commissary, Redy to be slaughtered when

wanted."; "Head Quarters, New Windsor, July 20th, '79. ... If the maggazines will afford it,

the Brigade Commissary will allway[s] have about them, Redy to Issue at a Moment's

warning, tow Days' salt Provisions and a Larger Quantity of Bread or flour. The troops are

allways to have two Days' [meat] Cooked ... that they may be Redy to march at a moment's

warning." On the 30th of July General John Sullivan's soldiers in Pennsylvania were ordered

"to take in their packs ten days bread, part hard & part soft, also two days' salted meat." (The

allotment of these articles had been set on 11 July at "1 1/4 pound of soft bread or flour or 1

pound of hard bread per day [and] 1 1/4 [pound] of fresh or salt beef ...")121

British linen knapsack (reproduction) used by Crown troops, and likely copied for

Continental Army forces.

Interior of British linen knapsack (see caption previous page).

Continental Army wooden canteen marked “U States.”

Courtesy of the Museum of the American Revolution.

Carrying Drink and Procuring Water. German Lieutenant Christian von Molitor,

campaigning with the British army in June 1777, noted, "The officers must be satisfied

walking, regardless of how long the march might be. And anyone who does not wish to die

of thirst, must carry his own canteen."122

Soldiers were issued or procured various

beverages, including rum, vinegar, molasses, and water, which were carried in canteens

made of tin or wood (the predominant type), slung over the right shoulder, resting on the left

side.

On at least one occasion troops used ingenuity in devising a way to carry water, as related

by Maryland Congressman Charles Carroll in September 1777:

I have had conversation with Mr. Peters, secretary to our [War] board, who informs me

that in the month of June last 1000 tin cartridge boxes were sent to the Army … Mr.

Peters moreover informs me that to his certain knowledge several of these cartridge

boxes were converted by the soldiers into cantines, and by some officers into shaving

boxes. 123

Tin cartridge canisters, used by some soldiers to carry water.

(Illustration by Ross Hamel)

When issued to soldiers, rum and vinegar were commonly mixed with water, but

obtaining that water was another matter the usual source being the nearest spring, creek,

river, or lake. When on the march commanders allowed the men to refresh themselves at

regular intervals. Continental Army general orders, 19 September 1780, "... Before the

March commences the soldiers are to fill their Canteens with Water ... The officers who lead

the columns will take care to regulate the Motions of the Troops so as not to injure them by

too rapid a march and will order proper halts at about every five Miles distance, and if

possible at such places as to give the men an opportunity to replenish their Canteens with

Water." Captain John Chilton noted on 26 July 1777, "Marched 11 Miles by 9 Oclock

breakfasted in a Meadow by a fine Spring ..." Of course, merely ordering the troops to be

watered did not necessarily make it so. Captain Chilton, 27 July 1777, "By reason of rain the

night past [we] did not move till late this morning ... [we marched through] Hackitts Town

[New Jersey] ... passed 2 Miles when we were ordered to sit down in the Sun no water near

to refresh ourselves ..."124

Finding potable water added to the problem. One soldier-turned-sailor wrote from one of

Benedict Arnold's row gallies on Lake Champlain, "Octo 3 [1776] ... we are forst to ... Drink

lake worter." According to one author, a number of accounts described "the near stagnant

conditions of [the lake] south of Crown Point and the poor water quality." At Whitemarsh,

Pennsylvania, in November 1777, Elijah Fisher, 4th Massachusetts Regiment, expounded on

conditions in camp: "the warter we had to Drink and to mix our flower with was out of a

brook that run along by the Camps and so many dippin and washin [in] it maid it very Dirty

and muddy." Joseph Martin had his own problems with poor water in the summer of 1780.

On Constitution Island, across from West Point, New York, a detachment from the Corps of

Sappers and Miners was set to work on fortifications. Martin recalled that their rations were

"salt shad and bread," the work strenuous, and the days hot. "... to complete a bad business

there was not a drop of water on the island, except the brackish water of the river, and that

was as warm as milk and almost as nauseous as the waters of the Nile after it had felt the

effects of Moses' rod."125

The need of good water for cooking and drinking forced commanders to adopt proactive

measures. Washington's army "Head-Quarters, Middle-Brook, June 3, 1777 ... The

Brigadiers to have the Springs, adjacent to their several encampments, well cleared and

enlarged; placing Sentries over them, to see that the water is not injured by dirty utensils. A

board sunk in them, will be the best means to keep them from being muddy, and an arbour

over them will serve to preserve them cool." General orders, Orangetown, New York, 9

August 1780, "No time is to be lost in sinking Wells as the water of the brook is rather

indifferent."126

(See caption following page.)

(See image previous page.)

Linen haversacks were the preferred receptacle for carrying food. (One surviving

British example measures 13½ inches high by 16¾ inches wide, with a two–inch linen

strap; the haversack’s flap is closed with two buttons.) Here we see a typical

Continental soldier’s haversack, with boiled beef and hard biscuit in a wooden bowl.

Linen bags inside the haversack were used for storing meat, flour, biscuits, bread, and

other rations. Also shown are a tin cup, horn spoon, and tin canteen with a wool cover.

(Photograph by the author.)

______________________

Equipment Shortages. Haversacks, canteens, and camp kettles were subject to a high rate

of attrition and often in short supply. At the advent of each campaign seasons large supplies

of each were needed to complete the men adequately. Often sufficient quantities had not

been received even after the army marched. During a period of marching and

countermarching in July 1777, the commander in chief reported that, "Canteens, Tomhawks

and other camp-utensils must be very beneficial to the troops; but unless more care be taken

to preserve, it will be impracticable to supply them." In planning for the "ensuing campaign"

of 1782, Timothy Pickering informed General Washington that nothing more need be

purchased "except knapsacks, canteens & camp kettles." He particularly mentioned canteens

as "an article so frequently lost & broken."127

Several months later, orders for the attack on the British at Germantown (4 October 1777)

directed soldiers to "take their provision in their habersacks [sic], such as have not

habersacks are to take their provision in their pockets, or in such manner as may be most

convenient." Writing after the battle, Washington's adjutant general, Timothy Pickering,

noted that, "Haversacks ... are exceedingly wanted for carrying the men's provisions. In the

last action the men having no other way tied their provisions up in their blankets and shirts

some of which were left in consequence thereof." Sgt. Jeremiah Greenman, on his way to

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in 1778, on one day "toock sum provision in a hankerchife."

When the New Jersey Brigade had a large influx of drafted men in June 1778, their

commander related a need for this same item. "There is about 450 of the new Leveys come

in. I do not know what we shall do for want of Haversacks, should we March, to carry their

Provisions. Coll. Cox has given orders to the first and 2d Regts. to get as much cloath from

his agent here as will make them [haversacks] but he says there is no more therefore the 3d

and 4th [Regiments] must be served from camp."128

Every theater of the war saw supply shortages. In May 1778 a two-thousand man

expedition was sent against British-held St. Augustine, East Florida. From "Camp at Fort

Howe on Alatamaha" River, Georgia, an American officer complained to William Moultrie,

"you have been much too parsimonious in your fitting us out for this expedition ... what is

more inconvenient than to have only one camp-kettle to ten, twelve or fifteen men? and in

this hot climate to have one small canteen to six or eight men? we think no expense too great

to procure men, but we do not think after we have got them, that we ought to go to the

expense of preserving their health ... the Gen. requested me to desire you to send round in a

boat ... 500 canteens, 100 camp-kettles, and 35 or 40 tents ..."129

Units earmarked for Sullivan's 1779 Indian Expedition also experienced shortages.

General Edward Hand wrote in March, from Minisink on the New York/New Jersey

frontier, that he "wish[ed] to know where we may be supplied with ... Camp Kettles &

Canteens all which we are destitute of ..." (The units under his command were the 2nd New

York Regiment, German Regiment, Spencer's Additional Regiment, Armand's Legion

Infantry, and Captain Schott's Independent Company.) A series of receipts made early in

1779 show severe shortfalls in numbers of canteens and knapsacks needed by the New

Jersey Brigade for the year's campaign. On 29 January, 301 knapsacks and 175 canteens

were issued to the 2nd New Jersey Regiment; four months later on 25 May an additional 50

knapsacks, 229 canteens, and 35 camp kettles were issued to the same unit. (Thirty five

kettles would supply 210 common soldiers. During this period the overall strength of the

2nd New Jersey ranged from 431 non-commissioned officers and rank and file in January,

to 356 three months later.) In April, when the entire Jersey Brigade numbered 1,011 men,

"86 Canteens 581 Knapsacks ... [and] five Hund. Canteen Straps" were issued to supply a

deficit. In August 1779, after the troops under Sullivan had already marched great distances

in difficult country, at Tioga, Pennsylvania, the general ordered "The different Corps ...

immediately to call on the Qr.Mr Genl For ... Knapsacks, haversacks, & Canteens."130

During the last autumn of the war there were still problems. From "Camp Verplanks

point," New York, in September 1782, Timothy Pickering complained that a contractor had

promised "that he would make 200 [camp kettles] p[er] week & if there were a great

demand double that number. The demand was in fact very great, & Mr. Ogden was again

and again informed of it, he was told often of the extreme suffering of the army for want of

the kettles. The soldiers were in reality obliged to broil their meat on the coals, or wait to

boil the pot in succession from morning to evening. Yet these representations did not appear

to quicken Mr. Ogden, and instead of delivering the first five hundred in three weeks & the

second five hundred in the three weeks next following, his kettles have been recd. at the

army, in small parcels ... The kettles are too deficient in quality, & many that would have

been rejected, have been received for the like reason that the troops have often accepted bad

provisions from the contractor, to save themselves from starving." As noted, shoddy

materials were part of the problem. A May 1782 document noted that "Ogden's [previously

supplied kettles] were evidently too thin & would soon burn out."131

Spoilage of Issued Meats. One can easily imagine the condition of food carried by soldiers

for a few days in warm weather. The greatest problem concerned fresh meats; salt beef,

pork, or fish being issued whenever possible. The high command was well aware of the

problem and tried to address it: Washington's orders, 10 September 1777, "The Commissary

General to have, at least three days' provisions always on hand ... and draw in what biscuit

he can, and salt meat, for occasional serving... The men are to be provided with cooked

provisions, for tomorrow at least; for two days would be still better, if they can get such

kinds as will keep." General orders, "Head-Quarters, Smithe's Clove, June 7th, 1779. ... The

troops to have Constantly two days' Provisions in advance, if salt meat is to be had, if not,

they will only have two days' Bread in advance, and as much Beef as will keep."132

Some men, particularly militia soldiers, carried durable provisions from home. Private

John Adlum of the Flying Camp militia volunteered to defend Fort Washington, New York,

in November 1776, taking "a shirt and a pair of stockings in my blanket and a piece of bread

and the greater part of a neat's tongue that my mother gave me when I left home [in July],

and I kept the greater part of it with great care for an emergency." In December 1776 Capt.

Charles Willson Peale served with the Philadelphia Associators during the

Trenton/Princeton Campaign; in addition to army-issue rations he supplied himself with

dried beef and a pocketful of hard biscuits.133

Orders for Jackson 's Additional Regiment, " Boston Oct 4. 1777 The Regiment to hold

themselves in readiness to embark ... it is expected that every Non Commissioned Officer &

Soldier, will have his Cloathing & Necessaries put up in their Knapsacks this afternoon,

together with two days provisions Cook'd ..." Continental soldiers often carried provisions in

their knapsacks when haversacks were not available. Pictured is a two–strap design, based

on the British model, with separate bags holding flour and a beef (neat’s) tongue. Also

shown are a horn cup and spoon, and wooden bowl and canteen. Private John Adlum, York

County, Pennsylvania militia, volunteered to defend Fort Washington, New York, in

November 1776, taking "a shirt and a pair of stockings in my blanket and a piece of bread and

the greater part of a neat's tongue that my mother gave me when I left home [in July], and I

kept the greater part of it with great care for an emergency." Continental troops were

occasionally issued tongue; campaigning against the Iroquois, New Hampshire Capt. Jeremiah

Fogg wrote on 28 August 1779, "This morning we had a dainty repast on the fruits of the

savages ... sitting at a dish of tea, toast, corn, squash, smoked tongue, &c." Howard H.

Peckham, Memoirs of the Life of John Adlum in the Revolutionary War (Chicago, Il., 1968), 49.

Jeremiah Fogg, 2nd New Hampshire Regt., Journals of the Military Expedition of Major

General John Sullivan Against the Six Nations of Indians in 1779 (Glendale, N.Y.: Benchmark

Publishing Co., 1970), 94. (Photograph by the author.)

__________________

If fresh meat was issued and could not be eaten or cooked on the spot, salting it would

help. General orders, British army, "Acquackninack [New Jersey] Novr 27th 1776 Four

days flour, four days Rum, four Days fresh Meat, with one Ounce of Salt [for] Each man [is]

to be Issued at 2 O'clock at Drummonds in the Rear of the Hessians ..." In June 1777

Congress directed the commissary general of purchases "from time to time [to] provide

sufficient quantities of salt, and deliver it to the commissary general of issues (or his

deputies) ... who are directed to issue to the troops only such quantities, and in such manner,

as the commander in chief, or commander of the respective district, shall direct." At Valley

Forge in January 1778 commissaries were ordered "in future to Issue [a] quart of Salt to

every 100 lb fresh Beef."134

Unfortunately salt was not always available. British lieutenant Loftus Cliffe, 46th

Regiment, wrote from "Camp near Philadelphia 24 October 1777 ... [we] landed at Elk

Ferry the 25[th] August and marched in two columns up the Elk ... collecting cattle which

we found in great plenty ... had we had the precaution of reserving our salt we should have

lived like [monarchs] on this march; we have thrown away many a good piece of beef for

want of that."135

Weather conditions often flouted an army supply organization's best efforts and intentions,

and soldiers suffered with the results. This was not a new problem in the long history of

food preservation. Even well-to-do civilians sometimes faced spoiled meat at table; writing

in June 1668, Samuel Pepys noted, "Up and at the office all the morning. Then home to

dinner, where a stinking leg of mutton - the weather being very wet and hot to keep meat

in." Captain Chilton echoed this description in July 1777, "... the soldiers were obliged to

carry their Kettles, pans &c. in their hands Cloathes and provisions on their backs. as our

March was a forced one & the Season extremely warm the victuals became putrid by sweat

& heat ..." Evincing the soldiers' plight, Joseph Martin noted the hard facts: "In the hottest

season of the year ... there was not much danger of our provisions putrifying, [since] we had

none on hand long enough for that, [but] if it did, we were obliged to eat it, or go without

anything."136

(See caption on following page.)

(See image on previous page.)

Sheet-iron camp kettle as per Timothy Pickering's 1782 specifications. This reproduction, by

Patrick M. Cunningham, measures 9 1/2 inches wide by 9 1/2 inches high, weighs 2 pounds,

12.1 ounces, and holds 2 gallons, 1 pint (8 1/2 quarts), and was the standard-size mess kettle for

the Continental Army during 1782. American sheet-iron kettles issued in 1781 "average[d]

about 8 Inches High and about eight and a half or nine Inches wide, made without Ears and

without covers." From the beginning of the war kettles of this type were issued in large

numbers to soldiers on both sides. (To determine capacity kettles were filled with water to one

inch below the rim.) (Illustration by Ross Hamel)

_______________________

"We had our cooking utensils ... to carry in our hands."

Continental Army Cooking and Eating Gear, and Camp Kitchens, 1775-1782

Cooking equipment for soldiers in the Continental and British armies was relatively

simple. Although items such as pans and broilers (the latter sometimes made by soldiers

from iron barrel hoops) were occasionally used, a 1779 American equipment receipt shows

the extent of the usual issue: "Recd. Morris Town 25 May 1779 of James Abeel DQMG.

thirty five Camp Kettles two Hundred Twenty nine Canteens fifty Knapsacks, forty Iron

Cups ... p[er] Order Col Shreve of 2d Jersey Regmt." According to Continental Army usage,

thirty-five kettles were enough for two hundred and ten men, at six men per mess squad.137

While the predominant cooking receptacle for Continental soldiers from 1777 till the end

of hostilities was a tin or sheet-iron camp kettle, early in the war, and continuing later for

garrison troops, heavy cast-iron utensils were more in evidence. One 1776 return gives some

idea of types issued and proportion of pots versus light-weight kettles:

A return of Camp Utensils in four Regts in Genl Sullivans Brigade 138

Wooden

Iron plates & Tea

pots Kettles Pails platters Bowls Canteens Spiders Kettles

Vizt in Colo Starks Regt 65 36 42 79

Do Colo Nixons 80 64 97 163 2

Do Colo Poors 89 35 64 183 83 4 2

Do Colo Reeds 107 48 114 44 1

Do Brigade Store 1 3 1 3 1 1 1

Whole Number 336 74 219 183 293 291 5 6

A true Return as recd. from the QMr of each Regt – Attestd N Norton [illegible letters]

Majr Frazier at Boston

E[rrors] Excepted

March 24th

1776 Jno. G. Frazer AQMG

Compare that return with cooking and eating utensils in the store at Medford,

Massachusetts, in a listing dated 25 March 1776: 11 “Potts,” 0 kettles, 4 “Spiders” (frying

pans with three legs), 1 skillet, 1 “Stewpan,” 1 frying pan, 2 tea kettles, 12 wooden

bowls, 2 canteens, 1 “Cheese Toaster,” 1 grid iron, 1 ladle, and 1 flesh fork. The frying

pans, tea kettles, skillet, stew pan, toaster, and grid iron would have been reserved for the

officers of the brigade.139

The size of the iron pots in Sullivan’s Brigade is not known, but perhaps the ones

procured by Connecticut give some indication. During the 1776 campaigns around New

York, Connecticut militia troops (including Joseph Plumb Martin, author of Private Yankee

Doodle) carried heavy cooking gear. In October, with many troops already in the field and

supplies of light-weight kettles strained to the utmost, the Connecticut Assembly decided to

gather additional supplies, including "for the use of the militia ... when called into actual

service … two thousand Iron Pots containing two gallons each ..."140

Drawing of a cast-iron pot which measures 11 inches at its widest point (10 inches wide at the

mouth) by 7 inches high, weighs in at 6 pounds, 15.5 ounces, and holds 2 gallons (8 quarts). Of

the same construction as a larger pot found on the Gunboat Philadelphia, cast-iron cooking

vessels of this capacity were provided for the Connecticut militia in autumn 1776. (Illustration

by Ross Hamel; specifications based on an original iron pot in author's collection. )

Heavy cast cookware was issued when the more desired lighter kettles were unavailable.

Massachusetts Bay Assembly, 27 June 1776, "Resolved, That the Committee appointed by

this House [are] to provide Canteens and Kamp-Kettles for the Troops to be raised ... [and]

are directed to provide one Canteen for each Soldier, and five hundred Tin Kettles, if to be

obtained, for the use of the Troops destined for Canada; and also three hundred and thirty-

three Kettles of Tin for the Troops destined for New-York, if to be had; otherwise that they

procure Iron ones ..."141

An August 1781 "Return of all Public Property in the Quarter Masters Department with

the Southern Army," serves to focus our perspective and delineates commonly used

equipment from the rarer items of cookware; listed "In Use" were one hundred and ninety-

five camp kettles (probably sheet-iron), thirty iron pots, five dutch ovens, and one tea kettle.

Two facts relating to this document must be emphasized; it includes no frying pans and out

of scores of examined returns this is the only one mentioning dutch ovens.142

There were two primary reasons why iron pots were procured for the troops. Shortages of

light-weight kettles sometimes forced use of the heavier pots; more often, units assigned to a

fort or some other static situation did not have to worry about mobility and were issued

heavier equipment. On 26 February 1776 the New York Provincial Congress listed the

needs of four new regiments being raised for garrison duty, including "... 458 [tin pr sheet-

iron] Camp Kettles 2/3 of this number ought to be iron pots ..." The issue of large numbers

of iron pots (along with frying pans and skillets) was unusual, though regular regiments and

militia units sometimes carried such non-standard equipment. Minutes of the Maryland

Council of Safety, 27 July 1776, "... for ... Camp Utensils for Colonel Josias C. Hall's

Battalion [Maryland Flying Camp militia] ... Ordered, That the Commissary of Stores

deliver to Mr. Griest ninety-two Iron Pots, seven Frying Pans, three Iron Kettles, four

Skillets, and sixty Wooden Dishes."143

Small three-legged skillets such as this were probably used on occasion by Continental soldiers.

This illustration is based on a large skillet found aboard the Gunboat Philadelphia. That

artifact has a 14 3/4 inch wide pan, a handle 14 3/4 inches long, and stands 8 1/2 inches high.

(George C. Neumann and Frank J. Kravic, Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American

Revolution (Harrisburg, Pa., 1975), 91. Illustration by Ross Hamel.)

Soldiers serving with General Benedict Arnold's Lake Champlain fleet were in a situation

similar to garrison duty, where more cumbersome cookware was suitable. A 3 August 1776

list of stores "Wanting on ... [the] Gundalo Providence" included "two Camp Kettles." The

kettles on the Providence were undoubtedly of cast iron, like those found on her sister ship

Philadelphia when she was raised from the lake in 1935. The recovered utensils included

two cast-iron pots (one nine and three-quarters inches wide, five and three-sixteenths inches

deep, and a larger pot, ten and three-quarters inches wide, eight and three-quarters deep), a

large skillet (thirteen inches wide, with an eighteen and one-half inch long handle), and a

three-legged skillet (with a fourteen and three-quarter inch wide pan, fourteen and three-

quarter inch long handle, and standing eight and one-half inches high). As far as the author

knows the iron pots found on the Philadelphia are the only intact examples known to have

been used by Continental soldiers.144

Some items were made in camp by the soldiers. Broilers fashioned from iron barrel hoops

have been excavated at several Revolutionary camp sites, and an iron spade converted into a

pan is in the collections of Morristown National Historical Park. In several instances rasps

made from canteens or tin kettles were used to grind corn into meal.145

An iron "broiler" made from a barrel hoop by soldiers in camp. (George C. Neumann and

Frank J. Kravic, Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Harrisburg,

Pa., 1975), 93. Illustration by Ross Hamel.)

A spade converted into a frying pan by soldiers, based on one in the collections of Morristown

National Historical Park. (George C. Neumann and Frank J. Kravic, Collector's Illustrated

Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Harrisburg, Pa., 1975), 94. Illustration by Ross

Hamel.)

More on Makeshift Eating Gear. Here are several more references to soldiers making

do with ad hoc utensils used. Park Holland, first ensign, then lieutenant in the 5th

Massachusetts Regiment, wrote in his memoirs,

To show our need for the common necessaries of life, I mention that orders came with

invitations for each [officer] bidden [to dine], to bring his plate, knife and fork, all of

which articles were very scarce. I have known our foreign friends who were accustomed

to dine from silver, for months together eat from a clean chip [of wood], instead of a plate

… Our wants of the common conveniences were sometimes curiously supplied by our

soldiers, in the manufacture of wooden spoons, bowls, plates, etc.146

Holland noted of a post-war visit with his former colonel, Rufus Putnam, “We had eaten

in the army for months together, from a clean chip, with a knife and fork among half a

dozen of us, and our soup with a clam shell for a spoon thrust into a split stick for a

handle, and got along very well ...”147

John Howland (Col. Henry Babcock’s Rhode Island State Regiment,1776/1777) noted

of the march to reinforce Washington’s forces in December 1776,

Our condition … was bad enough. Our day's ration which we drew in the morning, was a

pint of flour per man. Some of us had canteens with only one head. This was fortunate for

the possessor, as he could receive his flour in it, and with water mix it into dough to be

baked on the embers. Some received their flour on a flat stone, if they could find one

…147

Fife-Major John Greenwood, 15th Continental Regiment, wrote of the retreat from

Canada in 1776,

Our general having now procured a number of open boats, we all embarked for

Ticonderoga. Being short of provisions, and without camp kettles or other

cooking utensils, it may be supposed that our situation was far from being

agreeable. Our daily rations consisted of only a pint of flour and a quarter of a

pound of pork, for each man, and every day, at noon, we used to land for the

purpose of cooking our food. For want of vessels in which to mix our flour, we

made and baked our cakes on thick pieces of the bark of the trees, but such

cooking was any thing but tempting, especially to the sick, who fared no better

than the rest.148

Pennsylvania Brig. Gen. William Irvine told in a letter from “Camp Short Hills, (New

Jersey,) June 14th, 1780,” during a short-term Crown forces incursion, “We have been

eight days without Baggage or Tents and cut a most curious figure. I have been so

extravagant in furniture, as never to eat twice off the same dish or plate. The bark of a

friendly Oak not only supplies us with our kitchen furniture, but we make Tents to sleep

in of it ...”149

Thomas Tallow (or Tulloh), Hanover County, Virginia, in old age recalled his 1781

field service with the Virginia militia,

we … pursued the British by day and by night down James River, I recollect at old James

Town General Wayne got near enough to fire on the rear of the British Army before they

could crossed the River, my impression was that General Lafayette was the commander

in chief I frequently saw him during this term of service .. it would be perfectly

unnecessary to attempt a description of the suffering of the Soldiers about this term of my

Service, I have marched all night frequently having nothing to eat, waded creeks & have

frequently seen the Soldiers get up water in their hats and drank as they marched, our

provision was of the most inferior kind & scarcely enough to sustain life (I have

frequently seen Poplar bark used for a soldier's tray) … 150

(See also: Rees, “The common necessaries of life …” A Revolutionary Soldier’s Wooden

Bowl,” including, “’Left sick on the Road’: An Attempt to Identify the Soldier Left at the

Paxson Home, ‘Rolling Green,’ June 1778.”) http://tinyurl.com/at3dj3e )

Continental Army encampment with soldiers cooking on an earthen camp kitchen.

Detail from C.W. Peale’s portrait of Pennsylvania Colonel Walter Stewart. The

pictured camp was likely sketched in spring 1781 when the Pennsylvania regiments

were stationed in Lancaster, Pa. (Peale’s bill for the camp sketch was dated 23 May

1781). Edward W. Richardson, Standards and Colors of the American Revolution

(Philadelphia, Pa., 1982), 219.

Camp Kitchens. Food preparation depended on kindling a fire in some type of fireplace.

Soldiers often depended on an ad hoc arrangement to hang their kettle for cooking, or

merely placed it on or adjacent to a fire or bed of hot coals. Whenever possible British,

German, and French forces, and as their military expertise grew, Continental troops, built

large but simple earthen kitchens where they cooked their meals. Detailed information on

these structures can be found in the article,

"`As many fireplaces as you have tents ...': Earthen Camp Kitchens”: Part I. "`Kitchens sunk ... for the soldiers to Cook in.': The History of Cooking

Excavations and Their Use in North America"

Part II. Complete 1762 Kitchen Description and Winter Covering for Field Kitchens

Part III. "`Ordered to begin work ...': Digging a Field Kitchen"

http://revwar75.com/library/rees/kitchen.htm

Appended are images of earthen kitchens and alternate cooking arrangements.

Three examples of soldiers’ cook fires. Plate 3 is the most recognizable, being a simple

arrangement of forked sticks holding a cross–member from which kettles were hung. Plate

2 seems to show a pit sunk into the ground, with a fire pit at the bottom, and a kettle hung

from the top. The firepit in plate 4 is dug into in a raised mound of dirt, similar to the

fireplaces in an earthen kitchen Was ist jedem Officier waehrend eines Feldzugs zu wissen

noethig (trans., "What it is necessary for each officer to know during a campaign")

(Carlsruhe, 1788), Mit zehen Kupferplatten (trans. "with ten copper plates")

Camp kitchen in use. The tin or sheet iron kettles commonly used by armies in North

America would be placed on two pieces of sod to allow the draught of the fireplace to escape

through the chimney hole. Barrel–hoop "broilers" constructed by the soldiers may also

have been used for that purpose. Humphrey Bland gave detailed instructions for building an

earthen kitchen in his 1762 Treatise of Military Discipline. His was a circular construction with

a 16 foot-wide mound in the center, a 1 1/2 foot shelf around that, all encircled by a ditch 3 feet

wide by 2 feet deep. This kitchen could accommodate 11 or 12 fireplaces, each consisting of a 1

foot square firebox dug into the inside wall of the surrounding trench and a chimney hole "of

four inches diameter" through the shelf above. With a fire underneath the "heat [was]

conveyed through those small holes to the bottom of the kettles, which are placed on top of

them." Bland, A Treatise of Military Discipline: In which is laid down and explained the duty

of the officer and soldier, through the several branches of the service. The 9th edition revised,

corrected, and altered to the present practice of the army (London: R. Baldwin, 1762), 288–

290. (Illustration by Ross Hamel.)

_______________________

Cutaway view of earthen kitchen (shelf, ditch and fireplace). The chimney hole should be

set back from the edge of the ditch about 10 to 11 inches; depth of fireplace from 16 to 18

inches. (Illustration by Ross Hamel.)

Overhead view of earthen kitchen, with dimensions given in Humphrey Bland's 1762

specifications. Humphrey Bland, A Treatise of Military Discipline: In which is laid down and

explained the duty of the officer and soldier, through the several branches of the service. The

9th edition revised, corrected, and altered to the present practice of the army (London: R.

Baldwin, 1762), 288–290. (Illustration by Ross Hamel.)

Endnotes

1. Homer, The Odyssey, Robert Fagles, trans. (New York: Penguin Books, 1997), 186.

2. Josiah Harmar, "Lieut. Colonel Josiah Harmar's Journal. No: 1." 11 November 1778 to 2

September 1780, p. 79, Josiah Harmar Papers, William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Microfilm, Harmar Papers, vol. 27, reel 10; Joseph Plumb Martin, Private Yankee Doodle: A

Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier (Boston and

Toronto: Little, Brown and Co., 1962), 43; Howard L. Applegate, Constitutions Like Iron: The Life

of the American Revolutionary War Soldiers in the Middle Department, 1775–1783 (PHD. Diss.,

Syracuse, N.Y., 1966), 188; Jonathan Todd, surgeon 7th Conn. Regt., to his father, 9 November 1777

(W2197) (National Archives Microfilm Publication M804, 2,670 rolls, roll 2395) Revolutionary

War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, 1800–1900, Record Group 15;

National Archives Building, Washington, DC.

3. Israel Shreve to his wife, 18 April 1777, Israel Shreve Papers, Buxton Collection, Prescott

Memorial Library, Louisiana Tech University.

4. General orders, 9 June 1777, John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington from

the Original Manuscript Sources 1745–1799 (39 volumes); vol. 8 (Washington: Government

Printing Office, DC, 1933), 222.

5. “As soon as a regiment has taken the field, the soldiers composing it should be divided into regular

messes, consisting of not more than five or six men each. The usual was of dividing them into

messes of ten, twelve, or even sixteen men each, is liable to many objections. It is seldom, indeed,

that a sufficient degree of harmony prevails among so many men to render their mess comfortable; to

which may be added, that a large mess is always productive of less comfort, and more dirt, than a

small one; when these circumstances are maturely considered, the balance will be found to lean

considerably to the side of small messes.” Quoted from Robert Sommerville "Memoir on Medical

Arrangements" (date unknown, but prior to 1798); cited in William Blair, A.M. (Surgeon of the Lock

Hospital and Asylum and of the old Finsbury Dispensary, London), The Soldier's Friend, or the

Means of Preserving the Health of Military Men; Addressed to the Officers of the British Army

(London: “Published by Mr. Longman; Messrs. Vernor and Hood; Messrs. Hookham and Carpenter

Sold also by Messer. Mudie & Sons, Edinburgh; and by all other booksellers. 1798"), 25–26

(Excerpts courtesy of Mike Williams, Detached Hospital, Brigade of the American Revolution,

Senior Surgeon, 1323 Shoreline Trail, Graham, NC 27253–9731).

6. Friedrich Wilhelm de Steuben, Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the

United States Part I. (Philadelphia: Stymer and Cist, 1779), 83–84.

7. General orders, 19 June 1778, Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, 12 (1934), 93–94;

General orders, 19 June 1781, ibid., 22 (1937), 233.

8. General orders, 10 June 1777, ibid., 8 (1933), 211–212.

9. Orders, 28 June 1777, Orderly Book, possibly belonging to Lt. Col. William Smith of Jackson's

Additional Regiment, 1777–1780, target 3, Numbered Record Books Concerning Military

Operations and Service, Pay and Settlement Accounts, and Supplies in the War Department

Collection of Revolutionary War Records (National Archives Microfilm Publication M853, reel 3,

vol. 17, 7–8) RG 93, NA.

10. General orders, 13 July 1777, Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, 8 (1933), 400–401.

11. Martin, Private Yankee Doodle, 52–53, 55, 100.

12. General orders, 4 August 1782, Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, 24 (1938), 463;

General orders, 10 February 1783, reiterated this sentiment: "The greatest regularity and good order

[is] to be observed by the men, as to the mode of cooking their victuals and the time of eating; as

well as in the manner of messing and living together ...," ibid., 26 (1938), 111–112; Journal of Sgt.

Andrew Kettell of Massachusetts, May 1780–March 1781 (W13568), reel 1477, Revolutionary War

Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, Record Group 15.

13. Martin, Private Yankee Doodle, 194–195.

14. Ibid., 195.

15. Ibid., 197.

16. General orders, 27 August 1779, Orderly book of Col. Oliver Spencer's Regt., 27 July 1779 – 28

September 1779, Early American Orderly Books, 1748–1817, Collections of the New–York

Historical Society (Microfilm edition: Woodbridge, N.J., 1977), reel 9, item 93, 112–113.

17. Joseph Brown Turner, ed., The Journal and Order Book of Captain Robert Kirkwood of the

Delaware Regiment of the Continental Line (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1970), 86;

Thomas Anburey, Travels Through the Interior Parts of America in a Series of Letters by an Officer,

vol. I (New York: The New York Times & Arno Press, 1969), letter XXXVI, 8 August 1777, 378–

381.

18. Ibid., 378–381.

19. Turner, The Journal and Order Book of Captain Robert Kirkwood, 93; Orders, 13 August 1777,

Orderly Book, possibly belonging to Lt. Col. William Smith of Jackson's Additional Regiment,

1777–1780, target 3, Numbered Record Books (National Archives Microfilm Publication M853, reel

3, vol. 17, 10–11).

20. "Lieutenant Colonel Harmar's Orders for the First Pennsylvania Regiment [Book] No. 1.," 6

November 1782 to 28 March 1783, Harmar Papers, Clements Library, microfilm, vol. 27, reel 10.

21. Samuel Dewees, A History of the Life and Services of Captain Samuel Dewees ... The whole

written (in part from a manuscript in the handwriting of Captain Dewees) and compiled by John

Smith Hanna (Printed by R. Neilson, 1844), 163–165; see also Dillon Music (World Wide Web),

http://www.dillonmusic.com/historic_fifes/sammy_the_fifer.htm In describing "the Different Beats of the Drum," de Steuben's 1779 Manual gives the signal to go

for provisions as "roast beef." de Steuben, Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of

the United States, 91–92; see also, Raoul F. Camus, Military Music of the American Revolution

(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1976), 103–104.

"A Song in Praise of Old English Roast Beef" by Richard Leveridge (Lyrics by William Chappell).

Popularly known as the "Roast Beef of Old England." Musical score available in Camus, Military

Music of the American Revolution (see above).

(Words supplied courtesy of Kim Newell)

"When mighty roast beef was the Englishman's food,

It ennobled our hearts, and enriched our blood;

Our soldiers were brave and our courtiers were good

Oh, the roast beef of old England!

And oh, for old England's Roast Beef!

But since we have learned from effeminate France,

To eat their ragouts, as well as to dance,

We are fed up with nothing but vain complaisance,

Oh, the roast beef ...

Our fathers of old were robust stout and strong,

And kept open house with good cheer all day [long]

Which made their plump tenants rejoice in this song;

Oh, the roast beef ...

When good Queen Elizabeth sat on the throne,

Ere coffee and tea and such slip slops were known,

The world was in terror if e'en she did frown,

Oh, the roast beef ...

In those days when ships did presume on the main,

They seldom if ever returned back again,

As witness the vaunting Armada of Spain,

Oh, the roast beef ...

Oh, then we had stomachs to eat and to fight,

And when wrongs were cooking, to set ourselves right,

But now we're a––hm!–– I could but good night.

Oh the roast beef ..."

22. General orders, 4 June 1777, Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, 8 (1933), 181–182.

23. Dewees, A History of the Life and Services of Captain Samuel Dewees, 163–165 (See also

Samuel Dewees, pension file (W9405), Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty - Land - Warrant

Application Files, National Archives Microfilm Publication M804, reel 266.).

24. Ibid., 164–165; E.M. Woodward (adjutant, Second Penna. Reserves), Our Campaigns; or, the

Marches, Bivouacs, Battles, Incidents of Camp Life and History of Our Regiment During Its Three

Years Term of Service (Philadelphia: John E. Potter, 1865), 34-36. That memoir gives the names of

over a hundred mess appellations in May 1861 (the full list may be seen in endnote 1 of Rees, “`Six

of our regt lived together …’: Mess Groups, Carrying Food … (and a Little Bit of Tongue) in the

Armies of the Revolution” http://revwar75.com/library/rees/pdfs/tongue.pdf

Henry Hallowell in 1777 was a private in Capt. Ebenezer Winship’s Company, Col. Rufus

Putnam’s Massachusetts Regiment. Howard Kendall Johnson, ed., Lynn in the Revolution

Compiled from Notes [by Carrie May Sanderson], two volumes (Boston: W.B. Clarke Company,

1909), part 1, 163. M.M. Quaife, ed., "Documents – A Boy Soldier Under Washington: The

Memoir of Daniel Granger," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, XVI, 4 (March 1930),

http://www.massar.org/boston-children-in-the-revolution/

22. Anon., A Soldier’s Journal, Containing a particular Description of the several Descents on

the Coast of France last War, With an entertaining Account of the Islands of Guadaloupe,

Dominique, &c., And also of the Isles of Wight and Jersey, To which are annexed, Observations

on the present State of the Army of Great Britain (London: Printed for E. and C. Dilly, in the

Poultry, 1770) (Courtesy of Steve Rayner). Here is the entire relevant passage:

(Memoir of a soldier of the 68th Regiment of Foot, on his first days in camp on the Isle of Wight

in 1758) “The morning after I was joined to the company, I had to put my quota of money into

the mess; that some of us might go to market to buy provisions, which, when brought home, we

drew lots who should cook, and the lot fell upon Jonas. Now I began to commence cook; in the

first place I lighted my fire, then filled my kettle with water, then put in my meat, which was a

shoulder of mutton[;] the vegetables were some long coleworts and I had instructions to make

broth: But I managed this affair very indifferently; it was the first attempt indeed I ever had made

in the art of cookery. I often asked my neighbour cooks if they thought my contents were

sufficiently dres’d? Some replied yes, and others no. At length some of my tent mates came, and

gave me orders to bring the dinner to the tent, where when I arrived, I found my comrades all

placed on the grass, without [i.e., outside] the tent, in a circle, and I had orders to fix the kettle in

the center. Some had knives, while others had none; as to spoons and forks, we were all in one

case, destitute, and no porringers or bowls, but to supply the want of the last, we took the kettle

lid; one who was the best skilled in carving, was, by consent ordered to carve the flesh into six

equal shares, and lay them abroad on the grass with the greens; when this was done, another

received orders to call them; which is, one points his finger to one of the lots and cries, ‘who shall

have this?’ the man whose back is turned names one of the mess, and so proceeds till every man’s

lot is called. The bone fell to my share, and did so every day; the reason of which I discovered by

degrees. When they called the allowances, they began ‘who shall have this?’ John T––––; ‘who

shall have this?’ Thomas I––––; ‘–and– who shall have this?’ Jonas; which was sure to be the

worst lot. Thus my share was distinguished by –and– prefixed: “And who shall have this?’ After

the meat was divided and called, every one took up his lot, and then proceeded to eat the broth in

the best manner we could, with our canteen tops instead of spoons. We all put an equal share of

ammunition bread into the kettle, which bread is delivered to us on set days, and stopped out of

our pay, it is as black as our hats, in general, and quite sour.”

Researcher Steve Rayner also provided the following. Lieutenant William Bligh, somewhere

between Tahiti and Timor, after the Bounty mutiny:

“Monday the 25th. [May, 1789.] At noon some noddies came so near us, that one of them was

caught by hand. This bird was about the size of a small pigeon. I divided it, with its entrails, into

18 portions, and by a well–known method at sea, of, –Who shall have this?*– it was

distributed…” *One person turns his back on the object that is to be divided: another points

separately to the portions, at each of them asking aloud, 'Who shall have this?’ to which the first

answers by naming somebody. This impartial

method of division gives every man an equal chance of the best share.”;

William Bligh; The Mutiny on Board H. M. S. Bounty, N. R. Teitel, ed. (First printed 1792.

Reprinted New York: Airmont Books, 1965), 143–144;

From Thaddeus Weaver:

“’Who Shall Have This? An impartial sea method of distributing the shares of short commons. One

person turns his back on the portions, and names some one, when he is asked, ‘Who shall have this?’

[We are glad to learn that this matter is impartially managed afloat. In barracks, the recruit usually

finds it the reverse, which is managed by merely laying a stress on the word ‘shall.’ – ‘Who shall

have this?’ when Johnny Raw is named as a matter of course.]” Annie Barnes, The United Services

Magazine, (H. Colburn, 1867), 550. Original at the University of Michigan, digitized 9 May 2006

(Google Books).

26. Martin, Private Yankee Doodle, 286.

27. Jedediah Huntington to George Washington, concerning observations on the army, 1 January

1778, George Washington Papers, Presidential Papers Microfilm (Washington: Library of

Congress, 1961), series 4 (General Correspondence. 1697–1799), reel 46.

28. "Lieutenant Colonel Harmar's Orders for the First Pennsylvania Regiment [Book] No. 1.,"

Harmar Papers, Clements Library, vol. 27, reel 10.

29. "Orderly Book, Fourth Pennsylvania Battalion, Col. Anthony Wayne, 1776," Pennsylvania

Magazine of History and Biography, 30 (1906), 95–96.

30. General orders, 10 October 1777, Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, 9 (1933), 347.

31. Bruce E. Burgoyne, Enemy Views: The American Revolutionary War as Recorded by the Hessian

Participants (Bowie, Md.: Heritage Book, Inc., 1996), 22–23.

32. Ibid., 23–24.

33. John D. Billings, Hardtack and Coffee or The Unwritten Story of Army Life (Boston: George M.

Smith & Co., 1887), 122–123.

34. de Steuben, Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, 151;

Order Book of Brig. Gen. Edward Hand, 13 October 1776, vol. 156, target 3, Numbered Record

Books (National Archives Microfilm Publication M853, reel 17); Charles Knowles Bolton, The

Private Soldier Under Washington (Williamstown, Ma.: Corner House Publishers, 1976), 78.

35. Martin, Private Yankee Doodle, 51.

36. Ibid., 226–228, 265–266; During the Yorktown Campaign in 1781, Martin and his fellow

soldiers disembarked from a ship in the James River.

"We landed the next day in the afternoon, when our quartermaster sergeant sat off to procure

something for us to eat; we had to go nearly two miles for it. Myself and another sergeant, a

messmate of mine, concluded to go after the provisions, to stretch our legs after so long confinement

on board the vessel. We took our cook with us, for he, as usual, had nothing to do at home. When we

arrived at the place, we found it would be quite late before we could be served. We therefore bought

a beef's haslet of the butchers and packed off our cook with it, that we might have it in readiness

against our return to camp. The cook, who had been a bank fisherman and of course loved to wet his

whistle once in a while, set off for home and we contented ourselves till after dark before we could

get away, in expectation of having something to eat on our return. When we came home we went

directly to our tent to get our suppers, when, lo, we found Mr. Cook fast asleep in the tent and not the

least sign of cookery going on. With much ado we waked him and inquired where our victuals were.

He had got none, he mumbled out as well as he could.

"Where is the pluck you brought home?"

"I sold it," said he.

"Sold it! What did you sell it for?"

"I don't know," was the reply.

"If you have sold it, what did you get for it?"

"If you will have patience," said he, "I will tell you."

"Patience," said the sergeant, "it is enough to vex a saint. Here we sent you home to get something

in readiness against our return, and you have sold what we ordered you to provide for us and got

drunk, and now we must go all night without anything to eat, or else set up to wait a division of meat

and cook it ourselves. What, I say, did you get for it? If anything we can eat at present, say so."

"I will tell you," said he. "First, I got a little rum, and next I got a little pepper and – and –

then I got a little more rum."

"Well, and where is the rum and pepper you got?"

"I drank the rum," said he; "there is the pepper."

"Pox on you," said the sergeant. "I'll pepper you," and was about to belabor the poor fellow when I

interfered and saved him from a basting. But, truly, this was one among the "sufferings" I had to

undergo, for I was hungry and impatient enough to have eaten the fellow had he been well cooked

and peppered."

Shortly thereafter, having "proceeded about halfway to Yorktown," Martin and his fellows "halted

and rested two or three hours. Being about to cook some victuals, I saw a fire which some of the

Pennsylvania troops had kindled a short distance off. I went to get some fire while some of my

messmates made other preparations, we having turned our rum and pepper cook adrift."

37. Brent Tarter, ed., "The Orderly Book of the Second Virginia Regiment, September 27, 1775–

April 15, 1776," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 85, no. 2 (April 1977), 176;

William M. Dwyer, The Day is Ours! (New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, 1983), 136 (Original

source The Revolutionary Services of John Greenwood of Boston and New York, 1775–1783 (New

York, N.Y., 1922)).

38. Dwyer, The Day is Ours, 136; See also, M.M. Quaife, ed., "Documents – A Boy Soldier Under

Washington: The Memoir of Daniel Granger," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, XVI, 4 (March

1930), 546.

39. John U. Rees, "'The multitude of women': An Examination of the Numbers of Female Camp

Followers with the Continental Army," The Brigade Dispatch (Journal of the Brigade of the

American Revolution) part three, XXIV, 2 (Spring 1993), 3 (World Wide Web),

http://revwar75.com/library/rees/wnumb1.htm; See also, Rees, "'The proportion of Women

which ought to be allowed': Female Camp Followers With the Continental Army," The

Continental Soldier, VIII, 3 (Spring 1995), 51–58 (World Wide Web),

http://revwar75.com/library/rees/proportion.htm

40. Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris, The Spirit of 'Seventy–Six (New York,

Evanston, San Francisco, and London, 1975), 153–154; Rees, "'The multitude of women," XXIII, 4

(Autumn 1992), 6.

41. Mark Tully, "Notes," The Brigade Dispatch, vol. XXV, no. 3 (Autumn 1995), 20; John C. Dann,

ed., The Nagle Journal – A Diary of the Life of Jacob Nagle, Sailor, from the Year 1775 to 1841

(New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988), 6–7; John C. Dann, The Revolution Remembered –

Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence (Chicago and London: University of Chicago

Press, 1980), 244–245; Rees, "The multitude of women," XXIII, 4, 8–9.

42. Timothy Pickering to Stephen Clapp, 19 May 1781, Numbered Record Books (National

Archives Microfilm Publication M853, letters sent by Timothy Pickering, Quartermaster General.

May 10–Dec. 21, 1781, vol. 127, reel 26, 13–15); "Return of Rations Issued at the Cont[inenta]l

Village from the 24th to the 30th inclusive," December 1780, Miscellaneous Numbered Records

(The Manuscript File) in the War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records 1775–

1790's, (National Archives Microfilm Publication M859, reel 76), RG 93, NA, Washington, DC:

GPO, no. 22134; "Number of Persons Draws Provisions at this Post," Continental Village, 11

September 1780, ibid., reel 76, no. 22132; Another return titled "Number of Persons Draws

Provisions at this Post" (Continental Village, 11 September 1780), shows seven women in a similar

contingent totaling 68 persons. "Number of Persons Draws Provisions at this Post," Continental

Village, 11 September 1780, ibid., reel 76, no. 22132.

The following ration allotment was "Ordered at W[es]t. Point Agst 1780"

The common Ration

12 oz Bread or Flour

21 oz Beef or 18 oz Pork or fish

1 Gill of rum (when on Fatigue)

8 lb of Soap pr 100 men pr week

3 lb of Candles pr 100 men pr week (for Guards)

from the first of April to the last of Sepr. the remaining part of the Year a double quantity,

1 quart of Salt, to 100 wt. of Fresh Beef

Artificers, Boatmen and Waggoners

16 oz Bread or flour

24 oz Beef or 18 oz Pork or Fish

1 Gill of rum

8 lb of Soap pr 100 Men pr Week, Same Allowance of

Salt as Above

Extract from Major General Howes Order of the 18th: of June

A Gill of rum pr ration is to be served the Army to day, the General Earnestly wishes that the Stores

on hand, wou'd Admit of a more liberal Supply to those who so truly deserve it, he therefore hopes

the Methods he has taken will soon bring up a plenty of Spirits and every other Article, Artificers and

Fatiguemen are to be served with a Gill of rum pr day untill further Orders, beginning from to

Morrow."

"Ration Ordered at W[es]t. Point Agst 1780," ibid., reel 76, no. 22196.

The artificers were reorganized in 1781. This listing gives the different crafts represented plus

additional ration information:

"The number of artificers with the army being greatly reduced by the expiration of the enlistments of

those in service the last Campaign: it is proposed to raise one Company to serve with the main army

during the present Campaign; the Company to consist of

One Captain or director 1

One Lieut. or Sub director 1

Four foremen 4

Fifty privates 50

Six cooks 6

Total 62;

and of the following trades, as near as may be, viz;

The director a Carpenter|______________ 2

Sub director a Carpenter|

of the forman & privates, Carpenters – 25

Smiths ––––– 15

Wheelwrights –– 6

boat builders –– 4

saddlers –––– 2

harnessmakers –– 2

Cooks –– 6

Total as above 62

The men were to be allowed "A fatigue ration (that is one pound & a half of bread or flour and one

pound and a half of beef or pork equivalent to be allowed to each forman & private p[er] day and a

gill of rum per day whenever the Commissarys stock will admit of it, together with a share of

vegetables whenever provided."

Timothy Pickering to Stephen Clapp, 19 May 1781, Numbered Record Books (National Archives

Microfilm Publication M853, letters sent by Timothy Pickering, Quartermaster General. May 10–

Dec. 21, 1781, vol. 127, reel 26, 13–15).

Some cooks were likely to be found among the women listed in the return below:

"A Specifick Return of persons constantly drawing provisions at West Point and Posts in its Vicinity

exclusive of those with the Brigades 1st July 1781" Only those detachments containing women

present are given below:

Officers Men Women Children

At West Point

"Detachment Artillery" 10 125 14 17

"Capt. Luther Bailey's Detachment" * 14 287 20 15

"Capt. William Carrs" Detachment 9 210 17 16

"Capt. Alans" Detachment **

2 71 2

"Engineers, Sappers & Miners" 5 70 2

"Two Companies of Artificers" 1 26 6 3

"Staff of the Army"

Commander in Chief's Guard 98 6

"Kings Ferry"

"Garrison Ver Planks" Point 4 62 2

Artillery at Verplanks Point 21 5

"Block House Dobbs Ferry" 1 31 1

"Water Guard" 3 36 1

* 2d Massachusetts Regiment

** Possibly Noah Allen, 1st Massachusetts

"A Specifick Return of persons constantly drawing provisions at West Point and Posts in its Vicinity

exclusive of those with the Brigades 1st July 1781," Miscellaneous Numbered Records (National

Archives Microfilm Publication M859, reel 75), no. 21963.

43. Holly A. Mayer, Belonging to the Army: Camp Followers and Community during the American

Revolution (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996), 132.

44. Ibid., 140.

45. “A Muster Roll of a Company of Bakers in the Service of the United States of America, under

the Command of John Torrey, Director,” Danbury, Ct., 3 October 1778, Revolutionary War Rolls,

1775–1783, National Archives Microfilm Publication M246, Record Group 93, reel 122; "A List of

the Bakers in Continental Service at present at Morris Town," 22 June 1780, The Papers of the

Continental Congress 1774–1789, National Archives Microfilm Publications M247 (Washington,

DC, 1958), reel 50, 193–194.

In a January 1781 "Memorial" Superintendent Ludwick detailed his difficulties finding and

keeping bakers, and the means he used to ensure they were well treated: "... the Bakers heretofore

inlisted ... have most all left ... (their Term of Inlistment being expired) except three whom he inlisted

from the first of September last for two shillings specie, or the Exchange [in paper money], and a Gill

of Rum per day and a Suit of Cloaths, and twenty two who are drafted from the different Regiments

(tho' with great reluctance of the Officers) and are to have three Dollars Continl: money per day ...

Your Memorialist hath hitherto with great Trouble and Expence to himself procured and kept a

number of hands in the service of his Department but finds it impossible to retain them any longer

unless intitled to receive Pay, Cloathing & other Necessaries, equal, if not more than, the Artificers

or any other Corps in the Army." He went on to write of the construction of "two excellent new

Ovens and a Bakehouse," but noted that "Hands are most wanted to bake bread for the Soldiers," and

that "no proper Encouragement [is] given to the Bakers and Workmen to induce and enable them to

continue in the Service ..."

In a post–war memorial, Ludwick stated that while in service he "greatly diminished and injured

his own private Property as well as his Constitution – That being Paymaster as well as Director of the

Bakers employed in said Department [he] ... sold a part of his Real Estate at a Disadvantage in order

to obtain Money to pay the Mens Wages, and has almost the whole time of Service advanced and

paid their Wages out of his own Monies before he could receive any of the public ..." He had paid

"the Bakers every two Months their Wages and from time to time adding a few Dollars more as the

money grew worse, he saved no trifling Sum to the Public as these Men got no Depreciation of Pay

like Soldiers in the Army ..." In March 1786, Gotlep Myers, one of those listed on the 1780 return of

bakers, petitioned the State of Pennsylvania "to make up the Depreciation of his pay" received during

the war. He wrote that he, "was enlisted ... in the Artificers Department where he served Three Years

... as a Baker under Christopher Ludwick Baker General, at the End of which Term he received his

Discharge ... your Petitioner hath suffered greatly by the Depreciation of his Pay ... [he] was enlisted

in the Service aforesaid in the Year 1778 for which Year his Pay was Twenty [five?] Dollars Pr

Month, The second Year his pay was Forty Dollars Pr Month and the third and last Year his Pay was

Sixty Dollars Pr Month ..." Myers' petition was endorsed by Ludwick.

"The Memorial of Christopher Ludwick Baker Master for the Army of the United States" to the

Continental Congress, 27 January 1781, ibid., reel 50, 230–231; "A List of the Bakers in Continental

Service at present at Morris Town," 22 June 1780, ibid., reel 50, 193–194. Superintendent Ludwick

wrote "That his Department for the year 1780 ... had 25 Men at least in the service ..." "The

Memorial of Christopher Ludwick late Superintendant of the Baking Department in the Army of the

United States" to Congress, March 1785, ibid., reel 50, 411–412; Petition of Gotlep Myers to the

Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, 17 March 1786, ibid., reel 55, 357–358.

46. Bob McDonald, ed., “’Thro mud & mire into the woods”: The 1777 Continental Army Diary

Of Sergeant John Smith, First Rhode Island Regiment (Colonel Christopher Greene commanding,

Varnum’s Brigade) With Selected Excerpts From The Unpublished 1777 Diary Of Colonel Israel

Angell, Second Rhode Island Regiment, July 18, 1777 – January 9, 1778” (World Wide Web),

http://www.revwar75.com/library/bob/smith.htm

Sgt. Smith wrote of his march through Bucks County, Pennsylvania,

“[9 October 1777] –– in the morning it Looked Like Rain but we march’d from this Place to

McCaleys tavern two miles where our Butchers were a killing beaf & halted & it began to Rain

and we march’d away into the woods & they sent the beef to us there & we Cook’d in the Rain &

Eat our Victuals & march’d about a mile & Put our Packs into a Waggon & march’d in the Rain

& a Verey Severe Storm as far as Newton [i.e., Newtown] where we Got as much Cyder as Every

man Could Drink –– then we went to Look [for] Loging –– some Companies Got Good Quarters

–– I was obliged to Loge in a barn amongst the hay with all my wet Clothes & Loged something

Comfortable”

And a few months later:

“the 19th [December 1777] –– in the morning we marchd to our winter Quarters [i.e., at Valley

Forge] –– we marchd all Day without Victuals having nothing to Eat –– we went into the woods

& Sleept in huts as usual

[20 December] –– we found a Corn feild where was Corn which we took & Eat after we

Roasted it in the fire some –– we Pounded with two stones & made Samp [i.e., “soupon”, or corn

porridge] to thicken our Broth –– Some we Carried to mill & Got it Ground into meal –– towards

Night we Drew Some Poor Beef & one Days flower –– this Decembr 20th 1777

the 21st Sunday –– we had warm Pleasant weather & Nothing to Eat but a Little flower made

with Coarse Indian meal & a Little Flower mixd with it –– at Night the fortune of war [i.e.,

foraging] Put into our hands a Poor Sheep which we Roasted & boild which Gave the Company a

Good Super which we Eat & turnd in

[22 December] –– Sleept Qietly untill morning when we Receivd orders to march in fifteen minits

–– we Paraded the Regt. & Grounded our arms & Drew flower for one day & Baked it But no meat

as yet but a Party of Volenteers turnd out to Goe to get Some Cattle from Toreys –– we had nothing

to Eat Untill 10 o clock at Night when we had a Ram Cooked roast & boild which 3 of our Company

took & killd as they traveld on their way …”

47. Martin, Private Yankee Doodle, 67.

Proverbs 27:7

Latin Vulgate:

“anima saturata calcabit favum anima esuriens et amarum pro dulce sumet”

Two translations:

“The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.”

(King James Bible)

“A sated man loathes honey, But to a famished man any bitter thing is sweet.”

(New American Standard Bible)

ScriptureText.com (World Wide Web) http://scripturetext.com/proverbs/27–7.htm

48. General orders, 14 July 1775, Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, 3 (1931), 338.

49. Samuel Hodgdon to Jonathan Gostelowe, 27 September 1779, Letters sent by Commissary

General of Military Stores and Assistant Quartermaster Samuel Hodgdon ... July 19, 1778–May 24,

1784, Numbered Record Books (National Archives Microfilm Publication M853, reel 3, vol. 111,

41).

50. John U. Rees, “Historical Overview: The Revolutionary War,” in Andrew F. Smith, ed.,

Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2 vols. (New York and London: Oxford

University Press, 2004), vol. 1, 622–624; Account book of state stores delivered to the 1st – 4th

Regiments [January – July?] 1780, New Jersey State Archives, Department of Defense, Military

Records, Continental Army, Quartermaster General & Commissary General's Records, Account

Book of the Jersey Brigade, Box 1;

Pennsylvania Division Orders, 10 March 1779.

"The supreme executive Counsil [of Pennsylvania] have provided & sent on a quantity of stores for

the Comfort & Conveniancy of the officers & soldiers of this state in Camp, & have Directed that

they may be Issued in the following manner, viz.: That the Articles may be Distributed pursuant to

the s'd resolve of Assembly, a ¼ part of the original cost for Cash only ... That the s'd articles be

Destributed in quantitys in the following manner:

1 pint of rum pr. Rations.

½lb. Uncolkraydo sugar pr. Ditt.

1 ounce Tea pr. Ditt.

½[ounce] pr. Ditt.

2 ounces hard sope pr. Ditt.

¼ lb. Tobacco pr. Ditt.

The Com'ding officers of Regts. will... Deliver them to the individuals in the proportions above

mentioned, all except the Rum, which must be Delivered in such quantities only, at once, as the s'd

Com'ding officers shall think proper...

The weekly allowance of a soldier for every ration that ye proces of ye s'd article now sent be at the

following rates, viz:

1 Quart Rum....... 0 5 7½

1 lb Sugar........ 0 3 5

1 lb Tea.......... 0 14 9

1 lb Coffee....... 0 3 5

1 lb Chocolate.... 0 6 3

1 lb Plug Tobacco 1 11

1 lb hard sope.... 0 2 5

1 lb Loaf Sugar... 0 7 0

The above being the ¼ of the origanal Cost of the s'd articles, that as the above articles are designed

for the Comfort of the officers & soldiers in Camp, none of the furlough be deem'd intitled to draw

on the time he is absent."

Pennsylvania Division Orders, 28 March 1779.

"The Honourable the General Assembly of Penn'a have been pleased to pass the following resolves:

... Second, Resolved, That the present mode of Disributing to the officers & soldiers of the Penn'a

Line, the several articles voted by this house at the last sessions, of prices at a Certain Rates, in

proportion to the original Cost, be discontinued, &, instead thereof They be delivered at the

following rates, Viz:

West Indian Rum, at 5 Shilling pr. gallon.

Coffy, at 3s. 9d. pr. pound.

Tea, at 12s. 0d. Dit.

Chocolate, 3s. 9d. Dit.

Hard soap, 1s. 3d. Dit.

Tobacco, 9d. Dit."

Orderly book of the Seventh Pennsylvania Regiment, 2 February 1779 to 15 April 1779, John B.

Linn and William H. Egle, eds., Pennsylvania Archives, 2d series, XI (Harrisburg: Lane S. Hart,

State Printer, 1880), 415, 425.

Compendium of Ration Allotments, 1754-1782. This representative collection of ration

issues gives some of the alternate allotments used and shows seasonal and experiential

variations, before, during, and after the American War for Independence. As can be seen,

chocolate was not included in any of the rations. It was an extraordinary item,

occasionally issued or purchased.

French and Indian War Rations, 1754-1763: The soldiers of the Seven Years' War in

America (forebears of the Continental Army) were given rations similar to those issued

during the American War for Independence. Massachusetts Provincial troops were given the

following weekly allotment of foodstuffs: six pounds of pork or seven of beef; six pounds of

bread; a half pound of flour; two ounces of ginger; a pound of flour; a pint of Indian meal;

four ounces of butter; a pint of molasses; seven gills of rum; and three and a half pints of

pease or beans. (The ginger in the provincial ration was "used as a seasoning and a water

purifier.") In 1756 the food supply for the Massachusetts soldiers came under British

auspices and they were served the same ration as British regulars: "seven pounds of beef or

four pounds of pork, either fresh or in salted form; seven pounds of bread, or flour sufficient

to bake it; three pints of peas or beans; a half-pound of rice; and a quarter-pound of butter."

In September 1758 a provincial private, Obadiah Harris, noted, “We drawed stores for seven

days. We had four pounds of pork, six pounds of flour, three gills of rice, [and] three ounces

of butter. That is all the provision for seven days.” Spruce beer was also brewed when the

ingredients and sufficient time were available, the boughs being gathered by the men and

mixed with molasses. Unfortunately it was found that some soldiers tended to consume the

molasses alone ("to the damage of their health") instead of using it to make beer.1

Continental Army Rations, 1775-1776: This early allotment for the troops was enumerated

on 9 August 1776 and is basically the same as one made in August 1775: The Ration for each man, as copied from the Minutes of the Honourable the Continental Congress, is

as follows: One pound of beef, or 3/4 of a pound of pork or one pound of fish, per day. One pound of

bread or flour per day. Three pints of peas or beans per week, or vegetables equivalent, at one dollar

per bushel for peas or beans. One pint of milk per man per day. One half-pint of rice, or one pint of

Indian meal per man per week. One quart of spruce beer, or cider, per man per day, or nine gallons of

mollasses per company of one hundred men per week. Three pounds of candles to one hundred men

per week, for guards. Twenty pounds of soft, or eight pounds of hard, soap for one hundred men per

week.2

Winter Rations, 1775-1776: On 24 December 1775 Continental Army general orders

stipulated it was decreed that ... the following Rations to be delivered in the manner hereby directed - Viz: Corn'd Beef and Pork,

four days in a week, Salt Fish one day, and fresh Beef two days. As Milk cannot be procured during

the Winter Season, the Men are to have one pound and a half of Beef, or eighteen Ounces of Pork pr.

day. Half a pint of Rice, or a pint of Indian Meal pr Week - One Quart of Spruce Beer pr day, or nine

Gallons of Mollasses to one hundred Men pr week. Six pounds of Candles to one hundred Men pr

Week, for guards. Six Ounces of Butter, or nine Ounces of Hogs-Lard pr week. Three pints of Pease,

or Beans pr man pr week, or Vegetables equivalent, allowing Six Shillings pr Bushel for Beans, or

Pease – two and eight pence pr. Bushel for Onions - One and four pence pr Bushel for Potatoes and

Turnips - One pound of Flour pr man each day - Hard Bread to be dealt out one day in a week, in lieu

of Flour.3

Butter was not in the original allotment, but had been added on 11 December 1775: The Commissary General ... committed an error when making out the Ration list, for he was then

serving out and has continued to do, six Ounces pr man pr Week of Butter tho' it is not included in the

List approved of by Congress. I do not think It would be expedient to put a stop thereto, as every thing

that would have a tendency to give the Soldiery room for Complaints must be avoided.4

1777 Food Allotments: Maj. Gen. William Heath's orders, "Head Quarters Boston July

12th. 1777,” The Deputy Commissary General is to issue the Men's Rations from this Day untill further Orders as

follows Vizt."

1 lb Flour or Bread |

1 1/2 lb Beef or 18 oz Pork |- Pr. Man Pr Day

1 Quart of Beer |

5 pints of Pease |

1 pint of Meal |- Pr. Man Pr. Week

6 oz Butter |

6 lb Candles Pr. 100 Men Pr. Week for Guards

8 lb Soap for 100 Men Pr. Week

1 Jill of Rum Pr. Man each Day on Fatigue

"Vinegar occasionally, for such Articles as cannot be procured the Commissary is to pay

Money in Lieu thereof agreable to the established Rules in the Army."5

On November 10, 1777 a board of General officers convened at the Whitemarsh

encampment and recommended that "the Ration allow'd to the Army in future ought to be as

follows Viz" 2s --- One pound & one quarter of a pound of Beef or One

Pound Pork or 1 1/4 Lb Salt Fish

p5 --- 1 1/4 lb Flour or soft bread or 1 lb hard bread

p7 --- Half a Gill Rum or Whiskey pr Day in Lieu of beer

p4 --- Half pint Rice, or a pint of Indian meal pr Week

3/4 --- Three pounds Candles to 100 Men pr Week

Soap agreeable to the late Regulation of Congress

Always mindful of costs the board allowed "that a Ration according to the above

establishment will amount at the lowest rate to three shillings & Four pence, exclusive of the

Soap and Candles ..."6

Winter and Summer Rations, 1778: After the system of food supply broke down in the late

fall and winter of 1777 it was necessary to temporarily adjust the army’s daily rations.

February 8 1778 general orders noted that the "Comissary Genl. proposes that instead of the

ration heretofore Issued there should be Issued a pound and a half of flouer, one lb of Beef

or 3/4 Salt pork and a certain Quantity of Spirits ..." It had previously been ordered on

January 29 that "The Commissaries in future to Issue [a] quart of Salt to every 100 lb fresh

Beef."7 On 16 April a change in the rations reflected some improvement in the supply of

food. A ration for the future, shall consist of 1 1/2 lb. flour or bread ... 1 lb. of Beef or Fish, or 3/4 lb. Pork,

and one gill of whiskey or Spirits, or 1 1/2 lb. Flour or Bread, 1/2 lb. Pork, or Bacon, 1/2 pint Pease, or

Beans, one gill of Whiskey or Spirits.8

In conjunction with the order above, extra flour and liquor rations were authorized for

men on fatigue. Four months later, on 6 August, the ration allotment was amended once

again: That the whole army may be served with the same ration the Commissary Genl. is, till further orders,

to issue as follows: One pound 1/4 flour, or soft bread, or 1 lb. of hard bread; 18 oz. beef, fresh or salt;

1 lb. pork, or 1 lb. of fish, & 2 oz. butter; a gill of rum or whiskey, when to be had; the usual

allowance of soap and Candles.9

1779, Winter and Autumn: General orders, March 23 1779: "The Commander in Chief

directs that the following ration be delivered to the Army until further orders:" 25 ounces of beef, or 18 ounces of Pork.

16 ounces of bread or flour.

1 gill of spirits occasionally.

The usual quantity of soap and candles.10

General Orders, November 13, 1779: "The Commissaries to issue the following quantities

of meat or vegetables in lieu of the reduced ration of flour:" For every 100 lbs. of flour, reduced from the issues, 75 lbs. beef, or 50 lbs. pork; or if received in

vegetables, 2 1/2 bushels beans; or 8 bushels potatoes; or 12 bushels turnips; and so in proportion for

any greater or less quantity.11

1781 Allotment: Six years experience can be seen in the War Office "Enumeration &

Valuation of Rations," dated 26 June 1781 reducing the ration allotment to four variations.12

No. 1

1 lb Beef per day

1 lb Bread per day

1 pint of milk per day

3 pints of peas or Beans per week

1 pint Indian Meal per week

9 Gallons of Molasses per 700 Rations per week

3 lb Candles per 700 Rations as per rations

8 lb Soap " " " " " "

No. 2

1 1/4 lb Beef per day

1 lb Bread per day

1 Gill of peas or Beans per day

1 Gill of Vinegar

1/2 pint of Molasses & 1 pint of Indian Meal per week per ration

No. 3

1 lb Bread

1 lb Beef

1 Gill of rum or other proof Spirits

3 lb Candles per 100 Men per Week

8 lb Soap per 100 Men per Week

No. 4

1 lb Beef

1 lb Bread

1 Gill of Apple or Rye Whiskey proof or 1/2 Gill of Rum per day

3 pints of peas or Beans or 1 pint of Indian Meal per Man

per Week

3 lb Candles per 100 Men per Week

8 lb Soap per 100 Men per Week

July 1782: In 1782 the provision allotment was simplified still further and the particular

foodstuffs thought fit for use in hospitals enumerated.13

Ration to consist of 1 lb Bread or flour at the Option of the

Contractor

1 lb Beef or 3/4 lb Pork

1 Gill Whiskey or Country Rum

1 quart Salt to 100 Rations fresh Meat

2 quarts Vinegar to 100 Rations

8 lb of Soap -|

|- to 100 Rations

3 lb Candles -|

The Contractors shall issue the Rations in such proportions numbers and quantities as follows

To whom Rations are to be issued Viz To all Regiments in regiments

To Guards

To marching parties

To all Artificers and those Employed in the QrMr Dept &

Comy of Mily Store Departments

No Vinegar, &ca with When less than twenty Rations is issued

less than 20 Rations the Vinegar Soap and Candles not allowed

Hospital Stores Contractors to furnish the Hospitals with

West Ind[ia] Rum

Madeira Wine

Port Wine

Muscovado Sugar

Coffee

Bohea Tea

Indian Meal

Vinegar

Hard Soap

Candles

Rations for the Sick, 1783: In May 1783 the following letter was sent to Gen. George

Washington by Maj. Gen. William Heath: From the reports of the commanding officers of brigades, I am constrained to represent to your

Excellency the general uneasiness and complaints of the army in the Cantonment at New Windsor on

account of the late irregular issue and bad condition of the provisions with which the troops have been

served - The complaints and uneasiness are growing to such a height that calls for a speedy remedy.

The regiment for duty yesterday, mounted without provisions and remains so this morning. The

provisions which have been issued lately, have been partly meat and partly fish, and a considerable

part of them of a condition not fit for men to eat without endangering their health. I am compelled to

add, the brave men who are unfortunately subjects of the hospital, are of late obliged to eat salt

provisions, very unfit for persons in their condition, and which tend rather to establish than contribute

to the removal of their maladies. And further, that in general the troops are not properly supplied with

that essential article, vinegar - so necessary to their health and comfort especially when served with

salted provisions.14

Continental Army rations (summary). A typical early–war ration was spelled out in General

William Heath's orders, Boston, 12 July 1777. Per man per day: "1 lb Flour or Bread," "1½ lb Beef

or 18 oz Pork," and "1 Quart of Beer." Per man per week: "5 pints of Pease," "1 pint of Meal," and "6

oz Butter." Per 100 men per week: "6 lb Candles ... for Guards," and "8 lb Soap." In addition there

was issued "Vinegar occasionally" and "1 Jill of Rum Pr. Man each Day on Fatigue [work detail] ...

such Articles as cannot be procured the Commissary is to pay Money in Lieu thereof agreable to the

established Rules in the Army." Winter months posed difficulties in feeding an army. In George

Washington's 8 February 1778 General Orders it was noted that the "Comissary Genl. proposes that

instead of the ration heretofore Issued there should be Issued a pound and a half of flouer, one lb of

Beef or ¾ Salt pork and a certain Quantity of Spirits ..." On 16 April a change in the food allotment

reflected an improvement in supply: "A ration for the future, shall consist of 1½ lb. flour or bread ...

1 lb. of Beef or Fish, or ¾ lb. Pork, and one gill of whiskey or Spirits, or 1½ lb. Flour or Bread, 1½

lb. Pork, or Bacon, ½ pint Pease, or Beans, one gill of Whiskey or Spirits. Four months later the

allotment had been amended once again; note that while butter was listed in this August 1778 list, it

remained a rarity the soldiers seldom saw:

That the whole army may be served with the same ration the Commissary Genl. is, till

further orders, to issue as follows: One pound ¼ flour, or soft bread, or 1 lb. of hard bread;

18 oz. beef, fresh or salt; 1 lb. pork, or 1 lb. of fish, & 2 oz. butter; a gill of rum or whiskey,

when to be had; the usual allowance of soap and Candles.

The ration set by Congress in 1775 and 1776 provided the basis for food allotments and was

modified when needed or supplemented whenever possible. Beer, molasses, milk, and butter were

eventually dropped from the official list, and while efforts were made to provide sufficient quantities

of "peas or beans ... or vegetables equivalent," supplies were never consistent. Vegetables procured

ranged from potatoes and onions to turnips and watercress and other greens when available. Army

orders at Valley Forge for 13 June 1778 noted, “The Poke in this and in the succeeding Month

begins to have a poisonous quality; the soldiers are therefore warned against the use of it.”

Only a few items in the authorized ration could be relied on for a more or less regular issue.

Here are the provisions issued to one regiments during active operations in late 1777. An

"Acco[un]t. of Rations drawn by the first Jersey Regiment Comanded by Coll. Matthias Ogden"

covered the period "from the first of September to the Nineteenth both days Inclusive 1777." During

this nineteen day period, the regiment received 2,806 pounds of bread, 3,015 pounds of flour, 4,163

pounds of beef, 1,435 pounds of pork, 167 pounds of gammon, 121 pounds of fish, 71½ pints of salt,

206 pounds of soap, 29 pounds of candles, and 161 pints of vinegar. As of 10 November 1777 the 1st

New Jersey contained 1 lieutenant colonel, 1 captain, 5 lieutenants, 3 ensigns, 1 adjutant, 1

paymaster, 1 quartermaster, 1 surgeon, 1 surgeon's mate, 13 sergeants, and 8 musicians; rank and

file, 115 present fit for duty, 29 sick present, 67 sick absent, 11 on command, and 5 on furlough, for a

total strength of 227.

A recounting of the rations drawn by the "first Jersey Regiment" for the month of December 1777,

lists 6,942 pounds of flour, 1,001 pounds of bread, 7,499 pounds of beef, 236 pounds of pork, 341

pounds of fish, 30½ pounds of candles, 72¼ quarts of salt, and 272 gills of rice. On 23 December

1777 Colonel Ogden's 1st New Jersey contained 2 captains, 9 subalterns, 12 sergeants, 8 musicians,

and 156 rank and file.

British Army rations (summary). Standard ration, 1781: A "memorandum ... found among some

British papers at York Town Virginia," in October 1781, listed the "Allowance of Provisions" listed

the soldiers' daily allowance: 1 pound beef or 9 ounces pork, 1 pound of flour or bread, 3/7 pint of

peas, and 1/6 quart "Rum or Spirits." Seven days' allowance of ½ pint oatmeal or rice and 6 ounces

of butter was also issued. It was noted that "Since the troops have been upon this island, spruce beer

has been issued at 8 quarts for 7 days. N.B. When the small species are not delivered, 12 oz of pork

are allowed." The "small species" for British troops at Yorktown included sugar, chocolate, and

coffee. Sauerkraut was also issued on occasion to minimize the effects of scurvy for troops in

garrison or winter quarters.

Regarding proper cooking, regimental orders for the British 40th Regiment, 20 June 1777,

emphasized boiled meals. "The Commanding Off[ice]r Expects the ... Provisions should be Dressd:

[and] that the men will provide greenes or Contrive to have something Warm Every day – The Cooks

must be Regularey Paraded by the Non Commiss[ione]d: [officers] for that duty who will be

Answerable to the Visiting Off[ice]r: that Kettles are all Boiled at one place & time ..."

A British officer noted the food eaten by the soldiers campaigning under General Burgoyne in

New York in 1777. He first told of raw beef being issued to the men, "which they eat, dressed upon

wood ashes, without either bread or salt"'and then went on to recount that, "Throughout the whole

campaign, the men had not a morsel of bread, but mixed up their flour into cakes, and baked them

upon a stone before a fire; very seldom spirits to cheer them after fatiguing days ... seldom fresh

provisions; scanty and miserable as the allowance to a soldier is, it was reduced to half its quantity on

the 3d of October."

German Sergeant Berthold Koch, of the Von Bose Regiment, described the period following the

Battle of Guilford Courthouse, fought in North Carolina on 16 March 1781. "We remained on the

battlefield for three days, under the open skies without tents ... However, the situation was now very

bad for us. We had won but we had no foodstuffs, no shoes on our feet, and no shirts on our bodies.

During these three days each man, officers as well as privates, received four measures of corn instead

of bread and for meat, such cattle as the enemy had left behind ... We placed the corn on the fire to

cook it. Then it was taken from the container and eaten. The meat was either boiled or roasted on

sticks and eaten. ... On 20 March we began our withdrawal ... We marched eighteen miles each day.

... At evening we camped and the royal militia brought us cattle and some flour. The cattle were

slaughtered and the meat was cooked or roasted and the flour made into cakes and cooked on a board

in the fire." They marched north, and "On 5 April we went to Williamsburg in Virginia ... We

received a double ration of rum each day at that place and our full provision of meat and ship's

bread."

Caloric Requirements and Intake. During the development of U.S. Army combat rations in 1940

the primary requirement was that they "should contain not less than 4,000 calories and preferably ...

4,500, as it has been found that this much food is required for the average soldier under field

conditions." This remains the present–day allowance for troops doing extraordinary labor; three

thousand calories is the approximate standard for the modern U.S. soldier's normal daily intake.

Massachusetts soldiers in the Seven Years' War living on British Army rations received about 2,400

to 3,100 calories per day, depending on whether the meat was beef or pork, salt or fresh.

Rations for campaigning soldiers provided a bare minimum. In July 1779 General John Sullivan's

Continental troops subsisted on 1¼ pounds salt beef and either 1 pound of hard bread or 1¼ pounds

soft bread, giving a range of 2,493 to 2,772 calories per day. A typical Union army marching ration

of ¾ pound of pork or bacon, and 1 pound of hardtack, .6 ounce of salt, 1.28 ounces of coffee, and

2.4 ounces of sugar supplied roughly 3,294 calories. Second World War combat rations also fell

short. The daily emergency allotment of three fortified chocolate D ration bars (1942) contained

1,800 calories; canned C rations (1943) contained 2,974 calories; boxed K rations (1943) "as a whole

contained from 3,145 to 3,397 calories, depending upon the meat component used in the supper

unit."

Caloric Values for Selected Ration Components, 1756–1918

Item Quantity Calories Item Quantity Calories

Salt beef 1 lb. 1,102 Salt pork 1 lb. 2,602

Fresh beef 1 lb. 1,577 Fresh pork 1 lb. 1,494

Bacon* 1 lb. 2,602 Bread 1 lb. 1,116

Corn Meal 1 lb. 1,648 Hominy 1 lb. 398

Rice** 1 oz. 105 Butter 1 oz. 200

Peas*** 1 pt. 462 Potatoes**** 1 oz. 26.4

Beans*** 1 pt. 450 Salt 0

Molasses 1 oz. 75.4 Sugar 1 oz. 110

Cider vinegar 1 oz. 3.97 Coffee***** 1 oz. 4.3

Rum or whiskey 1 oz.

80 proof 64.5

90 proof 73.5

100 proof 124

* Cooked **** Without skin

** Unprocessed ***** Based on value for instant coffee

*** Dried and cooked

Ration Compendium (sources): Fred Anderson, The People's Army: Massachusetts

Soldiers and Society in the Seven Years' War (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1984), 84-84, 129, 133.

Peter Force, American Archives, series 5, vol. I (Washington, D.C., 1837-1853), 865.

Charles Knowles Bolton, The Private Soldier Under Washington (Williamstown, Ma.,

1976), 79. General orders, 24 December 1775, John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of

George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745-1799, vol. 4 (Washington,

DC, 1931), 180. Washington to the President of Congress, 11 December 1775, ibid., vol. 4

(1931), 157. General William Heath's orders, 12 July 1777, Numbered Record Books

Concerning Military Operations and Service, Pay and Settlement of Accounts, and Supplies

in the War Dapartment Collection of Revolutionary War Records, Record Group 93,

National Archives Microfilm Publication M853, reel 3, vol. 18, target 4. Recommendation

of rations for the army by a Board of General Officers, 10 November 1777, George

Washington Papers, Presidential Papers Microfilm (Washington, D.C., 1961), series 4, reel

45. George Weedon, Valley Forge Orderly Book of General George Weedon of the

Continental Army under Command of Genl. George Washington, in the Campaign of

1777-8 (New York, N.Y., 1971), 217, 224-225. Ibid., 291. General orders, 6 August 1778,

"Jacob Turner's Book", Walter Clark, ed., The State Records of North Carolina, XII, 1777-

1778 (Wilmington, N.C., 1993), 526. General orders, 23 March 1779, Fitzpatrick, WGW,

vol. 14 (1936), 217. General Orders, 13 November 1779, ibid., vol. 17 (1937), 103. War

Office enumeration & valuation of rations, 26 June 1781, GW Papers, series 4, reel 79.

"Substance of the Contract for the moving Army", 9 July 1782, GW Papers, series 4, reel

86. William Heath to George Washington, 29 May 1783, ibid., series 4, reel 91. Continental Army (sources). General William Heath's orders, 12 July 1777, target 4, Numbered

Record Books (National Archives Microfilm Publication M853, reel 3, vol. 18); George Weedon,

Valley Forge Orderly Book of General George Weedon of the Continental Army under Command

of Genl. George Washington, in the Campaign of 1777–8 (New York: The New York Times &

Arno Press, 1971), 217, 224–225, 291; General orders, 6 August 1778, "Jacob Turner's Book,"

Walter Clark, ed., The State Records of North Carolina, XII, 1777–1778 (Wilmington: Broadfoot

Publishing Co.,1993), 526; Peter Force, American Archives, series 5, vol. I (Washington, D.C.:

Published by M. St. Clair and Peter Force, 1848), 865; Bolton, The Private Soldier Under

Washington, 79; Washington to the President of Congress, 11 December 1775, general orders, 24

December 1775, Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, 4 (1931), 157, 180; General Orders,

13 June 1778, and 13 November 1779, ibid., 12 (1934), 53–54, and 17 (1937), 103; "Accot. of

Rations drawn by the first Jersey Regiment Comanded by Coll. Matthias Ogden from the first of

September to the Nineteenth both days Inclusive 1777," Miscellaneous Numbered Records (National

Archives Microfilm Publication M859, reel 74), no. 21854; Rations issued the 1st New Jersey

Regiment in December 1777, William Shute, 10 December 1783, ibid., reel 74, no. 21856; "A

General Return of the Continental Army under ... General Washington, encamped at White Marsh,

November 10. 1777," Revolutionary War Rolls, National Archives Microfilm Publication M246, reel

137, no. 47; "A Return of the Brigades Belonging to Lord Stirlings Division Decr 23d 1777,"

(General William Maxwell's New Jersey Brigade), ibid., reel 136, no. 137.

British Troops’ Food (sources): "... memorandum ... among some British papers at York Town

Virginia," October 1781, Numbered Record Books (National Archives Microfilm Publication M853,

reel 29, vol. 103, 101–102); French Lieutenant Verger noted in October 1781, "The English soldiers

have received their regular rations throughout the siege [of Yorktown], including issues of sugar,

chocolate, coffee, and rum." Journal of Jean–Baptiste–Antoine de Verger (sublieutenant, Royal

Deux–Ponts Regiment), Howard C. Rice and Anne S.K. Brown, eds. and trans., The American

Campaigns of Rochambeau's Army 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783, vol. I (Princeton and Providence:

Princeton University Press and Brown University Press, 1972), 151; British Orderly Book [40th

Regiment of Foot] April 20, 1777 to August 28, 1777, George Washington Papers (Library of

Congress), series 6B, vol. 1, reel 117; Thomas Anburey, Travels Through the Interior Parts of

America, I, letter XXXII, Camp at Skenesborough, New York, 14 July 1777, 340–341; ibid, II, letter

XLII, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 17 November 1777, 8–9; Burgoyne, Enemy Views, 450–451.

Caloric Intake (sources). Harold W. Thatcher, The Development of Special Rations for the Army

(Hist. Section, Gen. Admin. Serv. Div., Office of the Quartermaster General, 1944), 13, 16, 35, 37;

Revised caloric values based on table in Fred Anderson, A People's Army: Massachusetts Soldiers

and Society in the Seven Years' War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, N.C., 1984),

83–90; Louise Welles Murray, ed., Notes from Craft Collection in Tioga Point Museum on the

Sullivan Expedition of 1779, (Athens, Pa.: n.p., 1929), 55; General orders, 11 July 1779, Orderly

book of Col. Oliver Spencer's Regt., 27 July 1779 – 28 September 1779, Early American Orderly

Books, 1748–1817, New–York Historical Society, reel 9, item 93, 31; Bell Irvin Wiley, The Life of

Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union (Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University

Press, 1978), 224; Caloric table values are revised from Anderson, A People's Army, 85. Additional

and revised values courtesy of Susan McLellan Plaisted, M.S. R.D., of Nutrition Services and

Consulting, and Heart to Hearth Cookery. See also, John U. Rees, “Soldiers’ rations,” Mark M.

Boatner, Encyclopedia of the American Revolution: Library of Military History, Harold E.

Selesky, ed. (2d Edition, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006), vol. 2, 1066–1068; Rees, "'The

foundation of an army is the belly.' North American Soldiers' Food, 1756–1945," ALHFAM:

Proceedings of the 1998 Conference and Annual Meeting, vol. XXI (The Assoc. for Living

History, Farm and Agricultural Museums, Bloomfield, Ohio, 1999), 49–64: part I. "'I live on raw

salt pork ... hard bread and sugar.': The Evolution of Soldiers' Rations"; part II. "Salt Beef to C

Rations: A Compendium of North American Soldiers' Rations, 1756–1945"

(World Wide Web, http://revwar75.com/library/rees/belly.htm).

51. General orders, 5 July 1777, Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, 8 (1933), 349;

Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed., Correspondence and Journals of Samuel Blachley Webb, I, 1772–

1777 (New York: Wickersham Press, 1893), 267; The Orderly Book of the First Pennsylvania

Regiment, 23 May 1779 to 25 August 1779, Pennsylvania Archives, 2d series, XI (Harrisburg: Lane

S. Hart, State Printer, 1880), 461–463.

52. Orders, 11 June 1778, Orderly Book, possibly belonging to Lt. Col. William Smith of Jackson's

Additional Regiment, 1777–1780, target 3, Numbered Record Books (National Archives Microfilm

Publication M853, reel 3, vol. 17, 10–11).

53. General orders, 2 June 1777, Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, 8 (1933), 171; General

orders, 4 August 1782, ibid., 24 (1938), 463.

54. Ford, Correspondence and Journals of Samuel Blachley Webb, I, 243.

55. General Orders, 4 August 1782, Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, 24 (1938), 463.

56. 27 July 1777 entry, John Chilton's Diary (captain, 3d Virginia Regiment), Keith Family Papers,

1710–1916, Virginia Historical Society.

57. Lloyd A. Brown and Howard H. Peckham, eds., Revolutionary War Journals of Henry

Dearborn, 1775–1783 (Chicago: The Caxton Club, 1939; reprinted Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books,

Inc., 1994), 123–125.

58. Timothy Pickering to Peter Anspach, 26 June 1782, Miscellaneous Numbered Records (National

Archives Microfilm Publication M859, reel 87), no. 25345 (Courtesy of Marko Zlatich); In March

1783 Pickering clarified just how the sheet iron camp kettles were "destroyed." "I cannot tell exactly

how long a camp kettle will last: but on an average probably not exceeding a year. As they are used

as frying pans, as well as kettles, they are thereby much sooner destroyed than if they were used only

in boiling." Pickering to Captain Walker, 22 March 1783, George Washington Papers (Library of

Congress), series 4, reel 91.

59. Blair, The Soldier's Friend, or the Means of Preserving the Health of Military Men, 14–17

(Excerpts courtesy of Mike Williams, Detached Hospital, Brigade of the American Revolution,

Senior Surgeon, 1323 Shoreline Trail, Graham, NC 27253–9731).

60. Blair, The Soldier's Friend, or the Means of Preserving the Health of Military Men, 14–17; In

The Soldier's Friend William Blair often addresses food and cooking; here are some excerpts:

Nothing is so agreeable, and at the same time so wholesome to a soldier after a

fatiguing and perhaps a wet march, as some warm soup. * To boil the meat, is therefore

the mode of cooking which ought to be most generally used in the army. Every effort

should be made to procure vegetables to boil along with the meat. It is not necessary to be

very delicate in what are selected for this purpose. Besides the various kinds of cabbage,

carrots, parsnips, onions and potatoes, which are universally approved of; when these

cannot be procured, the wild or water cress, the brook lime, the scurvy grass, the wild

sorrel, and lettuce, which are to be found in every field, make wholesome as well as

agreeable additions to soup. When in the fixed camp, soldiers should be encouraged to

cultivate various kinds of culinary vegetables, and especially potatoes. It would add much

also to the salubrity as well as the nutritious qualities of these soups were every mess to

have a certain amount of barley; or, which afford more substantial nourishment,

decorticated oats, cut groats, dried peas, or rice, to add to their broth [“* The use of broth

or soup is particularly advantageous after great fatigue, because on these occasions, the

digestive organs are weakened and less liable to bear solid food than at other times.”]

Before salted meat is boiled, it should be carefully washed by repeated assusions of

fresh water. The scum which arises to the surface during boiling should be diligently

removed and not permitted to be eaten. As proof of the utility of attending to these

circumstances, Dr. Marshall cites the example of a new raised regiment which, on it's

arrival at Gibraltar lost a number of men at a time when the garrison was very healthy;

which at last was found to be owing to their ignorance of preparing salted provisions.

It was observed, during the late war in America, that the German regiments, who

always cooked or stewed with their meat whatever fruits the country supplied, escaped

many diseases, from which other troops engaged in the same service suffered severely.

Their Sour Kraut also preserves them from putrid complaints, and might be introduced

with advantage into our army.

Our reason for proposing to boil, and make soup of butchers meat is, that, when dressed

in this manner, it is not only more easily digested than that which is roasted, but the soup

or broth, made from the boiling, forms a valuable and nourishing article of food; which,

under proper management, makes the allowance go much farther than it would otherwise

do.

It is surprising to see the aversion which the generality of soldiers have to the boiling

of meat, or the conversion of it into broth or soup; when left to themselves, they always

prefer roasting both their fish and butchers meat, a practice which ought to be

discouraged; as roasted meat not only forms a heavier meal than that which is boiled, but

is at the same time more expensive and unprofitable

61. John U. Rees, "'... the unreasonable prices extorted ... by the market People': Camp Markets and

the Impact of the Economy," and "'Complaint has been made by many of the Inhabitants ...': Soldiers'

Efforts to Supplement the Ration Issue," Food History News, VII, 4 (Spring 1996), 2–3; VIII, 2 (Fall

1996), 1–2, 7; Provision returns for Jackson's 9th Massachusetts Regiment, 21 May to 8 September

1782, Henry Jackson Papers, 1777–1782, 4 vols. (microfilm edition: Library of Congress, 1978),

mss. access. no. 17,359, vol. 4, 379–443.

62. Martin, Private Yankee Doodle, 43.

63. Ibid., 76.

64. Ibid., 43, 103.

65. Robert C. Bray and Paul E. Bushnell, eds., Diary of a Common Soldier in the American

Revolution: An Annotated Edition of the Military Journal of Jeremiah Greenman, (DeKalb: Northern

Illinois University Press, 1978), 73–74. William Morris pension file, supporting deposition by

Nathan Davis: ”At the place called Tioga Point, we built a fort and left the women and sick with a

guard, with two brass field pieces and two howitzers. We then proceeded into the Indian Country

where we destroyed their towns, orchards and cornfields. The Indian corn was very large, & our

soldiers made corn meal of it by grating it on the outsides of old camp kettles which they first

perforated with bayonets.” (S1061), reel 1772, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land

Warrant Application Files, Record Group 15; see also, Bolton, The Private Soldier Under

Washington, 82–83; Dan L. Morrill, Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution (Baltimore:

Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1993), 148–149.

66. Pliny H. White, “History of the Expedition against the Five Nations, Commanded by General

Sullivan, in 1779, ” The Historical Magazine, and Notes and Queries, concerning the Antiquities,

History and Biography of America, vol. III, second series (Morrisania, N.Y.: Henry B. Dawson,

1868), 203.

67. Charles Stedman, The History of the Origin, Progress and Termination of the American War,

vol. 2 (two vols.; Dublin: privately printed, 1794), 225; see also Roger Lamb, soldier in the 23d

Regiment, who noted converting canteens into rasps during Cornwallis' southern campaign:

"Sometimes we had turnips served out for our food, when we came to a turnip field, or arriving at

a field of corn, we converted our canteens into rasps and ground our Indian corn for bread, with

our lean beef." Don N. Hagist, A British Soldier's Story: Roger Lamb's Narrative of the American

Revolution" (Baraboo, Wi.: Ballindalloch Press, 2004), 90.

68. Roger Lamb, An Original and Authentic Journal of Occurrences during the late

American War, from it’s Commencement to the Year 1783 (Dublin, 1809; reprinted, New

York: The New York Times and Arno Press, 1968), 381.

69. John Robert Shaw, The Life and Travels of John Robert Shaw, the Well-Digger, Now

Resident in Lexington, Kentucky (Lexington, 1807; reprinted, Louisville: George Fowler,

1930), 68.

70. Quaife, "The Memoir of Daniel Granger," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 546.

Force, American Archives, series 5, vol. III (1853), 453; 31 December 1778, James Abeel

Receipt Book, Lloyd W. Smith Collection, Morristown National Historic Park, reel 1, entry

656; 6 September, 5 October, 2 November 1779, Returns for Captain Maxwell's Company

(2d Mass. Regt.), 1775–1780, Folder 8E–10, WARS 8 VI, The Revolution, Box 5,

Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Historic Deerfield Massachusetts; Timothy

Pickering to Washington (with enclosed memorandum), 14 January 1781, George

Washington Papers (Library of Congress), series 4, reel 74; Pickering to Peter Anspach, 26

June 1782, Miscellaneous Numbered Records (National Archives Microfilm Publication

M859, reel 87), no. 25345.

71. John U. Rees, “’Our wants of the common conveniences were sometimes curiously

supplied …’: A Revolutionary Soldier’s Wooden Bowl,” Military Collector & Historian,

vol. 61, no. 3 (Fall 2009), 210–214.

72. Blank regimental ledger, 1 September 1779, Harmar Papers, Clements Library,

microfilm, vol. 27, reel 10; "Plan for the Cloathing of the Infantry," 1779, George

Washington Papers (Library of Congress), series 4, reel 63; “Estimate of Articles to be

imported in the Department of the Board of War & Defence,” June 1779, The Papers of

the Continental Congress (NA Microfilm Publication M247, vol. 3, reel 158, 424, 434–

435); “Estimate of Necessaries Requisite for an Army of 40,000 Men," [1781?], and

"Estimate of Stores &ca. for an Army of Twenty five thousand Men so far as concerns

the Quarter Master Generals Department," [1781?], Numbered Record Books (National

Archives Microfilm Publication M853, reel 29, vol. 103, targets 2 and 4).

73. 10 June 1779, James Abeel Receipt Book 1778–1779, Lloyd W. Smith Collection, 69

reels, Morristown National Historic Park, reel 1, entry 656; 6 September, 5 October, 2

November 1779, Returns for Captain Maxwell's Company commanded by Col. John Bailey

(2d Mass. Regt.) 1775–1780, Folder 8E–10, WARS 8 VI, The Revolution, Box 5,

Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Historic Deerfield Massachusetts; "A Return of

Quarter–Master–General's Stores in The Brigades at West Point & Constitution Island," 1

August 1779, and "A Return of Quarter–Master–General's Stores in the Second

Pennsylvania Brigade... at Camp West Point," 4 August 1779, Papers of the Continental

Congress (NA Microfilm Publication M247, vol. 3, reel 192, 3, 145, 153). A number of

other returns emphasize shortfalls in army–issue eating utensils:

A Return of officers and men Camp Equipage now Present in the 1st. Penna.

Brigade Commanded by Coln. William Irvine” [included the 1st, 2d, 7th, and 10th

Pennsylvania Regiments. The original return is broken down by regiment.] June 3, 1778

Field Officers 10

Commissioned Officers 79

Staff Officers 14

Non Commissioned Officers 111

Rank and File 729

Wooden Bowls 4

Camp Kettles 128

(kettles sufficient for 768 common soldiers in six–man messes) A Return of officers and men Camp Equipage now Present in the 1st. Penna. Brigade Commanded

by Coln. William Irvine” (Included the 1st, 2d, 7th, and 10th Pennsylvania Regiments. The original

return is broken down by regiment.) Thomas Alexander, Brigade Quartermaster, 3 June 1778, Irvine

Family Papers, 1777–1869, no. 1743A, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. (Courtesy of Joseph Lee

Boyle)

A General Return of Stores in The Quarter Master General's Department with the Army

under the Command of ... Major General John Sullivan on the Western Expedition Fort

Sullivan, Tioga," 21 August 1779.

Unit strength August 1779:

Present Officers N.C.O.'s and Privates

Fit for Duty and Staff Present, Fit for Duty

Maxwell's Brigade 1225 83 1142

(1st, 2d, 3d New Jersey Regiments, and Spencer’s Additional Regiment)

Poor's Brigade 1049 85 964

(1st, 2d, 3d New Hampshire Regiments, 2d New York Regiment)

Hand's Brigade 800 66 754

(4th and 11th Pennsylvania Regiments, German Regiment, Morgan’s Rifle Corps,

Schott’s Rifle Corps)

Procter's Artillery 147 16 131

(4th Battalion, Continental Artillery)

Camp

Kettles Bowls

with Camp Iron and

Covers Kettles Cups Dishes Canteens

Maxwell's Brigade 184 26 80 957

Poor's Brigade 213 19 869

Hand's Brigade 109 555

Proctor's Artillery 13 39 180

Thomas Armstrong to Nathanael Greene, 21 August 1779, "A General Return of Stores in The

Quarter Master General's Department with the Army under the Command of ... Major General John

Sullivan on the Western Expedition Fort Sullivan, Tioga," Miscellaneous Numbered Records

(National Archives Microfilm Publication M859, reel 94), no. 27523; Charles H. Lesser, Sinews of

Independence: Monthly Strength Reports of the Continental Army (Chicago, Il. and London: The

University of Chicago Press, 1976), 124–125, July 1779 strength return; 138, Procter's Artillery

Battalion return, October 1779.

"A Return of Quarter–Master–General's Stores in The Brigades at West Point &

Constitution Island," 1 August 1779. Col. Clark’s North Carolina Brigade (1st and 2d NC)

(126 officers, 541 rank and file present, fit for duty; 128 rank & file sick, on command, and

on furlough)

122 camp kettles

Col. Bailey’s 4th Massachusetts Brigade (2d, 8th, 9th, Mass.)

(164 officers, 628 rank and file present, fit for duty; 229 rank & file sick, on command, and

on furlough)

136 camp kettles

19 wooden bowls

30 iron cups

General Patterson’s Brigade (10th, 11th, 12th, 14th, Mass.)

(223 officers, 981 rank and file present, fit for duty; 147 rank & file sick, on command, and

on furlough)

174 camp kettles

64 wooden bowls

32 iron cups

"A Return of Quarter–Master–General's Stores in The Brigades at West Point &

Constitution Island," 1 August 1779, Papers of the Continental Congress (NA Microfilm

Publication M247, vol. 3, reel 192, 3, 145, 153).

“Return of the Pennsylvania Division in the service of the United States,

Commanded by The Honble Major General Arthur St: Clair. October 1st. 1779.”

4,032 rank and file (not including officers, staff, and non–commissioned officers) covered kettles 60 good

common kettles 389 good, 41 wanting repair

bowls 51 good, 5 wanting repair

spoons 84 good

“Return of the Pennsylvania Division in the service of the United States, Commanded by The

Honble Major General Arthur St: Clair. October 1st. 1779.” (Transcribed by Mathew Grubel, 6

October 2003, from photostats in the collections of Morristown National Historical Park filed

under United States Army, Returns. Original manuscripts at the Historical Society of

Pennsylvania.)

3d, 5th, 6th, 9th Pennsylvania Regiments, plus “Brigadier and others.” The brigade returned 4 covered camp kettles (two with the 5th Regiment, two with the

brigadier general), 196 camp kettles (61 (3d), 48 (5th), 41 (6th), 44 (9th), and two with the

“Brigadier and others”), 36 wooden bowls (10, 17, 2, 6), and 20 iron spoons (12, –, –, 8).

Total brigade strength was:

3d (55 officers, 240 rank and file present, fit for duty; 80 rank & file sick, on command, and

on furlough)

5th (51 officers, 201 rank and file present, fit for duty; 78 rank & file sick, on command,

and on furlough)

6th (41 officers, 162 rank and file present, fit for duty; 42 rank & file sick, on command,

and on furlough)

9th (40 officers, 138 rank and file present, fit for duty; 51 rank & file sick, on command,

and on furlough)

"A Return of Quarter–Master–General's Stores in the Second Pennsylvania Brigade ... at Camp West

Point," 4 August 1779, Papers of the Continental Congress (NA Microfilm Publication M247, vol. 3,

reel 192, 3, 145, 153); Lesser, Sinews of Independence: Monthly Strength Reports of the Continental

Army, 124, July 1779 return.

“Return of Quarter–Master General Stores on hand in the first Connecticut Brigade

Commanded by J Huntington B.G.,” “Camp Highlands,” 25 May 1781. 1st. Regiment (45 officers, 147 rank and file present, fit for duty; 224 rank & file sick, on

command, and on furlough)

42 camp kettles

7 wooden bowls

3d Regiment (42 officers, 187 rank and file present, fit for duty; 144 rank & file sick, on

command, and on furlough)

73 camp kettles

18 wooden bowls

1 iron pot

1 brass kettle

5th Regiment (39 officers, 118 rank and file present, fit for duty; 177 rank & file sick, on

command, and on furlough)

54 camp kettles

23 wooden bowls

B[rigadier]. & staff

4 camp kettles

“Return of Quarter–Master General Stores on hand in the first Connecticut Brigade Commanded by J

Huntington B.G.,” “Camp Highlands,” 25 May 1781, Miscellaneous Numbered Records (National

Archives Microfilm Publication M859, reel 94), no. 27553; Lesser, Sinews of Independence:

Monthly Strength Reports of the Continental Army, 202, May 1781 return.

74. Jonathan Todd to his father, 9 November 1777 (W2197), reel 2395, Revolutionary War

Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, Record Group 15; John N. Cummings to

John Ladd Howell, 24 February 1781, Howell Papers, Stewart Collection, Savitz Library, Rowan

State College, Glassboro, New Jersey; See also, William B. Lapham, ed., Elijah Fisher's Journal

While in the War for Independence ... 1775–1784 (Augusta, Me.: Badger and Manley, 1880), 7;

"Journal of Ebenezer Wild," Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 2d series, vol. VI

(Boston, 1891), 103–104.

75. Donald Wickman, ed., "The Diary of Timothy Tuttle," New Jersey History, 113, nos. 3–4

(Fall/Winter 1995), 69. Massachusetts Captain Moses Greenleaf, at Fort Ticonderoga, breakfasted

often on chocolate, and told of other meals as well:

“23rd

of April 1777 Arrived at Ticondaroga the Sun half an hour high P.M. found all Officers &

men in Good Spirits, supped with Adjutant Francis on fry’d fish & Pidgeons Turn’d In at Ten

oClock”

“Thursday 24th April Turn’d out at ½ past 5 Breakfast on Tea … Dined on Beef & Peas, Supped

on American Teal …”

“Friday 25th April [1777] Turn’d out at ½ past five … Breakfast on Chocolate … dined on Peas

& Beef ”

“Saturday 26th April … Breakfast on chocolate & Beef dined on Beef & Greens … Supp’d on

Tea …”

“Thursday May 1st 1777 Turn’d out at ½ past 5 Breakfast on Coffee dined on stew’d Pidgeons

Supp’d on Coffee Turn’d in at Ten”

Donald H. Wickman, ed., "‘Breakfast on Chocolate’: The Diary of Moses Greenleaf, 1777," The

Bulletin of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum, vol. XV, no. 6 (1997), 485–488.

76. Suppawn: "supspawn," "boiled corn meal mush." (sepan, sepon, supaen, suppaen, soupaan),

William A. Craigie and James R. Hulbert, eds., A Dictionary of American English on Historical

Principles, four volumes, 3 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938–44), 2268 (courtesy of

Sandra L. Oliver); Supawn (suppawn, supon, supporne, sepon, sepawn, sipawn) Dutch, sapaen,

supaen, 17th century. “A kind of porridge made of maize flour boiled in water until it thickens.”

Oxford English Dictionary, Compact Edition, two vols. (Glasgow, New York, and Toronto:

Oxford University Press, 1971), I, 1880; II, 2632, 3157; Octavius Pickering, The Life of Timothy

Pickering, I (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1867), 147.

77. Marquis de Chastellux, Travels in North America in the Years 1780–1781–1782, (originally

published 1827; reprinted New York: Augustus M. Kelley, Publishers, 1970), 51–52.

78. James Thacher, Military Journal of the American Revolution (Hartford, Ct.: Hurlbut, Williams

& Company, American Subscription, 1862), 180.

79. 26 July 1777 entry, John Chilton's Diary, Keith Family Papers, Virginia Historical Society.

80. Quaife, "The Memoir of Daniel Granger," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 546.

81. Martin, Private Yankee Doodle, 174–175; John S. Pancake, This Destructive War: The British

Campaign in the Carolinas 1780–1782 (University: University of Alabama Press, 1985), 215.

"Diary of the Pennsylvania Line. May 26, 1781 – April 25, 1782," John Blair Linn and William H.

Egle, Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution, Battalions and Line 1775–1783, vol. II (Harrisburg:

Lane S. Hart, State Printer, 1880), 710, 713; see also, "Journal of Lieut. William McDowell of the

First Penn'a. Regiment, in the Southern Campaign. 1781–1782," William H. Egle, ed., Pennsylvania

Archives, 2d series, XV (Harrisburg: E.K. Meyers, State Printer, 1893), 311.

82. Dann, The Nagle Journal, 6–7

83. “The Autobiography of Charles Willson Peale,” Lillian B. Miller and Sidney Hart, eds., The

Selected Papers of Charles Willson Peale and His Family (New Haven and London: Yale

University Press, 2000), vol. 5, 52–53.

84. Joseph Lee Boyle, "From Saratoga to Valley Forge: The Diary of Lt. Samuel Armstrong," The

Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, CXXI, 3 (July 1997), 258.

85. Wickman, "The Diary of Timothy Tuttle," New Jersey History, 69, 71, 72; C. Anne Wilson,

Food and Drink in Britain: From the Stone Ages to the 19th Century (Chicago, Il.: Academy of

Chicago Publishers, 1991), 199–200; Sandra L. Oliver to John Rees, 15 March 1997 (author's

collection).

86. Nathanael Greene to Washington, 15 February 1778, Richard K. Showman, ed., The Papers of

General Nathanael Greene, II (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980), 285.

87. C. Anne Wilson, Food and Drink in Britain, 199–200.

88. Commager and Morris, The Spirit of 'Seventy–Six, 530–531; Journal of Jehiel Stewart, 1775–

1776 (W25138), reel 2290, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files,

Record Group 15; My thanks to Donald Wickman who brought this journal to my attention with his

article "A Most Unsettled Time on Lake Champlain: The October 1776 Journal of Jahiel Stewart,"

Vermont History, 64, 2 (Spring 1996).

89. George Fox, “Corporal Fox's Memoir of Service, 1766–1783: Quebec, Saratoga, and the

Convention Army," J.A. Houlding & G. Kenneth Yates, eds., Journal of the

Society for Army Historical Research, vol. LXVIII, no. 275 (Autumn 1990) 160–161 (Courtesy of

Steve Rayner); British recipe for dumplings: "To make Hard Dumplings. Mix flour and water with a

little salt, like a paste, roll them in balls as big as a turkey's egg, roll them in a little flour, have the

water boiling, throw them in the water, and half an hour will boil them: they are best boiled with a

good piece of beef. You may add for change a few currants; have melted butter in a cup." Hannah

Glasse, The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy (London, printed for the Author, 1796; originally

published 1747. Reprint, Hamden Ct.: Archon Books, 1971), 256.

90. John Bell Tilden, “Extracts from the Journal of Lieutenant John Bell Tilden, Second

Pennsylvania Line, 1781–1782,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 36 (1912), 54.

91. Information and sources whippoorwill peas:

Cow Pea, Cowpea, Southern Pea; Vigna unguiculata 'Whippoorwill'; Family: Papilionaceae;

Genus: Vigna; Species: unguiculata; Cultivar: Whippoorwill; Category:

Annuals, Vegetables, “Dave’s Garden” (World Wide Web)

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1218/index.html; see also, Whippoorwill peas––Identification,

“Garden Web” (World Wide Web),

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/heirloom/msg0814275011223.html?6

For seed purchasing see, “Heirloom List,” South Carolina Foundation Seed Association

1162 Cherry Road Box 349952, Clemson, SC 29634, Telephone: 864–656–2520

http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/seed/newpage21.htm, and, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, 2278

Baker Creek Road, Mansfield, MO 65704, www.rareseeds.com

92. Emil and Ruth Rosenblatt, eds., Hard Marching Every Day: The Civil War Letters of Private

Wilbur Fisk, 1861–1865 (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1992), 30–31.

93. Washington to Thomas Mifflin, 28 July 1777, John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of

George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745–1799, vol. 8 (Washington:

Government Printing Office, 1933), 492–493.

94. William M. Dwyer, The Day is Ours! (New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, 1983), 136, 376;

Jonathan Todd to his father, 9 November 1777 (W2197), reel 2395, Revolutionary War Pension

and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, Record Group 15. 95. Commager and Morris, The Spirit of 'Seventy–Six, 530–531; Journal of Jehiel Stewart, 1775–

1776 (W25138), reel 2290, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files,

Record Group 15; My thanks to Donald Wickman who brought this journal to my attention with his

article "A Most Unsettled Time on Lake Champlain: The October 1776 Journal of Jahiel Stewart,"

Vermont History, 64, 2 (Spring 1996).

96. George Fox, “Corporal Fox's Memoir of Service, 1766–1783: Quebec, Saratoga, and the

Convention Army," J.A. Houlding & G. Kenneth Yates, eds., Journal of the

Society for Army Historical Research, vol. LXVIII, no. 275 (Autumn 1990) 160–161 (Courtesy

of Steve Rayner); British recipe for dumplings: "To make Hard Dumplings. Mix flour and water

with a little salt, like a paste, roll them in balls as big as a turkey's egg, roll them in a little flour,

have the water boiling, throw them in the water, and half an hour will boil them: they are best

boiled with a good piece of beef. You may add for change a few currants; have melted butter in a

cup." Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy (London, printed for the Author,

1796; originally published 1747. Reprint, Hamden Ct.: Archon Books, 1971), 256.

97. Ibid., 368–369. Henry Knox to Washington, 24 March 1781, George Washington Papers,

series 4, reel 76. Division orders, 1 December 1778, The Orderly Book of the First Pennsylvania

Regiment. Col. James Chambers. July 26, 1778 – December 6, 1778, John B. Linn and William H.

Egle, eds., Pennsylvania Archives, 2d series, XI (Harrisburg: Lane S. Hart, State Printer, 1880), 388.

98. Henry Knox to Washington, 24 March 1781, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 76.

99. Ibid.

100. Joseph Brown Turner, ed., The Journal and Order Book of Captain Robert Kirkwood of the

Delaware Regiment of the Continental Line (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1970), 82.

General Orders, 5 July 1777, Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington, vol. 8 (1933), 351.

Observations on the army, Jedediah Huntington to George Washington, 1 January 1778, George

Washington Papers, series 4, reel 46.

101. Henry Knox to Washington, 24 March 1781, ibid., series 4, reel 76.

102. Ibid..

103. Ibid.

104. General Orders, 23 August 1776, Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington, vol. 5 (1932), 478-479.

105. General Orders, 2 September 1776, ibid., vol. 6 (1932), 7.

106. On 3 May 1777, Christopher Ludwick was appointed "superintendent of bakers, and director of

baking, in the grand army of the United States." Worthington Chauncey Ford, Journals of the

Continental Congress 1774–1789, vol. VII (Washington, D.C., 1907), 323–324. General orders,

10 June 1777, Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington, vol. 8 (1933), 212. Washington to Israel Putnam,

25 July 1777, ibid., 475. Turner, The Journal and Order Book of Captain Robert Kirkwood of the

Delaware Regiment, 124.

107. Washington to Christopher Ludwick, 25 July 1777, Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington, vol. 8

(1933), 466.

108. General orders, 7 and 10 September 1777, Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington, vol. 9 (1933),

165-166, 200.

109. "Journal of Bayze Wells of Farmington May, 1775-February, 1777 At the Northward and in

Canada," Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, vol. 7 (1899), 269. Joseph Plumb Martin,

Private Yankee Doodle: Being a Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a

Revolutionary Soldier, George F. Scheer, ed., (Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Company,

N.Y., 1962), 23-24.

110. Howard H. Peckham, Memoirs of the Life of John Adlum in the Revolutionary War (Chicago:

The Caxton Club, 1968), 72. Dwyer, The Day is Ours!, 102-103. Original source Charles Willson

Peale, "Journal by Charles Willson Peale, Dec. 4, 1776-Jan. 20, 1777," Pennsylvania Magazine of

History and Biography, vol. 38 (1914), 271-286.

111. Martin, Private Yankee Doodle, 90, 97.

112. Johann Ewald, Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal, Joseph P. Tustin, trans. and

ed. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1979), 138, 387 (note 145). J.C.P. von Krafft,

Journal of Lieutenant John Charles Philip von Krafft (New York, 1968), 49, 51. Robert A. Selig,

"Deux-Ponts Germans: Unsung Heroes of the American Revolution", German Life

(August/September 1995), excerpts from the journal of Private Georg Daniel Flohr, 51-52.

113. General William Heath's orders, 12 July 1777, Numbered Record Books Concerning Military

Operations and Service, Pay and Settlement of Accounts, and Supplies in the War Dapartment

Collection of Revolutionary War Records, Record Group 93, National Archives Microfilm

Publication M853, reel 3, vol. 18, target 4. See also, "... the following Rations to be delivered ... one

pound and a half of Beef, or eighteen Ounces of Pork ... One pound of Flour pr man each day –

Hard Bread to be dealt out one day in a week, in lieu of Flour," general orders, 24 December

1775, Fitzpatrick, Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, 4 (1931), 180; "the Ration allow'd

to the Army in future ought to be ... One pound & one quarter of a pound of Beef or One Pound

Pork ... 1¼ lb Flour or soft bread or 1 lb hard bread," recommendation of rations for the army by

a Board of General Officers, 10 November 1777, George Washington Papers (Library of

Congress), series 4, reel 45; Samuel Dewees, A History of the Life and Services of Captain Samuel

Dewees ... The whole written (in part from a manuscript in the handwriting of Captain Dewees) and

compiled by John Smith Hanna (Printed by R. Neilson, 1844), 179. "Ship stuff," Richard M.

Lederer, Colonial American English – A Glossary (Essex, Ct.: Verbatim, 1985). Ford, Journals of

the Continental Congress, vol. VIII (1907), 574-575.

114. "Revolutionary Journal Kept by Abiel Chandler of Andover, From December 2, 1776 Until

April 1, 1777, During Service on the North River, New York," Essex Institute Historical Collections,

vol. 47 (1911), 183. "... the following Rations to be delivered ... one pound and a half of Beef, or

eighteen Ounces of Pork ... One pound of Flour pr man each day - Hard Bread to be dealt out one

day in a week, in lieu of Flour," General orders, 24 December 1775, Fitzpatrick, Writings of

Washington, vol. 4 (1931), 180. "Boston July 12th. 1777 [per man per day] 1 lb Flour or Bread [and]

1 1/2 lb Beef or 18 oz Pork," Heath's orders, 12 July 1777, Numbered Record Books (Natl.

Archives), reel 3, vol. 18, target 4. "the Ration allow'd to the Army in future ought to be ... One

pound & one quarter of a pound of Beef or One Pound Pork ... 1 1/4 lb Flour or soft bread or 1 lb

hard bread," Recommendation of rations for the army by a Board of General Officers, 10 November

1777, George Washington Papers, series 4, reel 45.

115. Dewees, A History of the Life and Services, 179.

116. British haversack pattern (1992), Brigade of the American Revolution. Haversack kit

available from Roy P. Najecki, Sutler, 1203 Reynolds Rd., Chepachet, RI 02814. Brent

Tarter, ed., "The Orderly Book of the Second Virginia Regiment, September 27, 1775-April

15, 1776", The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 85, no. 2 (April 1977), no.

3 (July 1977), 165-166. "Plan for the Cloathing of the Infantry", 1779, George Washington

Papers, Presidential Papers Microfilm (Washington, D.C., 1961), series 4, reel 63. John

Knox, captain, 43rd Regiment, The Siege of Quebec and the Campaigns in North America,

1757-1760, Brian Connell, ed., (Edinburgh, U.K., 1976, originally published 1769), 50.

Order Book of the 64th Regiment of Foot, Washington Papers, series 6B, vol. 3, p. 2.

117. Joseph Plumb Martin, Private Yankee Doodle: A Narrative of Some of the Adventures,

Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier (New York, N.Y., 1962), 81.Samuel

Chase to Thomas Jenifer, 10 February 1776, "Journal of the Maryland Convention, July 26-

August 14, 1775/Journal and Correspondence of the Maryland Council of Safety, August

29, 1775-July 6, 1776," William Hand Brown, Archives of Maryland, vol. 11 (Baltimore,

Md., 1892), 150. A "rough draft of the new Invented napsack and haversack in one that is

adopted by the American regulars of Pennsylvania, New Jersey & Virginia ...," Samuel

Chase to J. Young, 9 February 1776, (includes a rough sketch of new invented knapsack and

haversack, Maryland State Papers, (Red Books), Archives of the State of Maryland, access.

no. MdHR 4561, loc. 1-6-3-38, 4, item 13. Regimental Orders, 26 May 1779, The Orderly

Book of the First Pennsylvania Regiment, Col. James Chambers, 23 May 1779 to 25 August

1779, John B. Linn and William H. Egle, eds., Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution,

Battalions and Line. 1775-1783, II (Harrisburg, Pa., 1880), 442.

118. Orders, 4 October 1777, Orderly Book, possibly belonging to Lt. Col. William Smith

of Jackson's Additional Regiment, 1777-1780, Numbered Record Books Concerning

Military Operations and Service, Pay and Settlement of Accounts, and Supplies in the War

Dapartment Collection of Revolutionary War Records, Record Group 93, National Archives

Microfilm Publication M853, reel 3, vol. 17, target 3. M.M. Quaife, ed., "Documents - A

Boy Soldier Under Washington: The Memoir of Daniel Granger", Mississippi Valley

Historical Review, XVI, 4 (March 1930), 546. Martin, Private Yankee Doodle, 117. General

orders, 30 July 1779, Order Book of Lt. Col. Francis Barber, 26 May 1779 to 6 September

1779, Louise Welles Murray, ed., Notes from Craft Collection in Tioga Point Museum on

the Sullivan Expedition of 1779, (Athens, Pa., 1929), 55.

119. Benjamin Warner (pension no. S14798) served was born in New Haven,

Connecticut in 1757, and served as follows: On 8 May 1775 enlisted as a private in Capt.

Caleb Trowbridge's company, Wooster's Connecticut Regiment, discharged 6 September

1775; enlisted in Capt. Oliver Hanchet's company, Benedict Arnold's Connecticut

Regiment and was at the Siege of Quebec, discharged April 1776; on 6 August enlisted in

Capt. Goodyear's company, Colonel Thompson's Connecticut Regiment, was at the Battle

of Long Island, discharged in early December 1776; on 28 April 1777 enlisted in Captain

Parmelee's company, Major Atkinson's Connecticut Regiment, discharged in early

December 1777; enlisted in May 1779 and served three months in Capt. William

McClure's company, Colonel Crane's 3d Artillery Regiment. Christopher Fox, Anthony

D. Pell Curator of Collections at Fort Ticonderoga, notes, “The [Warner] knapsack was

one of the museum's earliest acquisitions. Inside the knapsack was found a note by

Benjamin Warner which reads ‘This Napsack I Caryd Through the war of the Revolution

to achieve the Merican Independance. I transmit it to my olest sone Benjamin Warner, jr.

with directions to keep it and transmit it to his oldest sone and so on to the latest posterity

and whilst one shred of it shall remane never surrender your liberty to a foren envador or

an aspiring demegog. Benjamin Warner, Ticonderoga March 27, 1837."

120. "Return of the Weight for the Cloathing, Arms, Accoutrements ... Necessary's &Ca of a

Grenadier, upon a March," Arthur Baillie, lieutenant, to Henry Bouquet, 28 August 1762,

Scott Stephenson, "'The Camp Looks So Pretty With all the Lanterns': Thoughts on

Reconstructing the Physical World of the British Soldier on Campaign in North America",

Standing Orders: A Newsletter for Researchers of the British Army in North America, 1739-

1765, vol. 3, no. 1 (November 1990). Thomas Anburey, Travels Through the Interior Parts

of America in a Series of Letters by an Officer (New York, N.Y., 1969), vol. I, letter

XXXVI, 378-381.

121. The Orderly Book of the First Pennsylvania Regiment, Col. James Chambers, 23 May

1779 to 25 August 1779, John B. Linn and William H. Egle, eds., Pennsylvania in the War

of the Revolution, Battalions and Line. 1775-1783, II (Harrisburg, Pa., 1880), 449, 470.

Louise Welles Murray, ed., Notes from Craft Collection in Tioga Point Museum on the

Sullivan Expedition of 1779, (Athens, Pa., 1929), 55. General orders, 11 July 1779, Orderly

book of Col. Oliver Spencer's Regt., 27 July 1779 - 28 September 1779, Early American

Orderly Books, reel 9, item 93, p. 31.

122. Bruce E. Burgoyne, Enemy Views: The American Revolutionary War as Recorded by

the Hessian Participants (Bowie, Md., 1996), 160-162. Mike O’Donnell, U.S. Army &

Militia Canteens, 1775-1910 (Alexandria, Va.: O’Donnell Publications, 2008), 14-40. See

also, George C. Neumann and Frank J. Kravic, Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the

American Revolution (Harrisburg, Pa., 1975), 59-63.

123. Kate Mason Rowland, The Life of Charles Carroll of Carrolton 1737 - 1832 with his

Correspondence and Public Papers, vol. I (New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons,

1898), 217-218. .

124. General orders, 19 September 1780, John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George

Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745-1799, vol. 20 (Washington, DC,

1937), 349-350. 26 and 27 July 1777 entries, John Chilton's Diary (captain, 3rd Virginia

Regiment), Keith Family Papers, 1710-1916, Virginia Historical Society.

125. Journal of Jehiel Stewart, 1775-1776, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty - Land -

Warrant Application Files, National Archives Microfilm Publication M804, reel 2290,

W25138. Excerpts of this journal are covered in Donald Wickman, ed., "A Most Unsettled

Time on Lake Champlain: The October 1776 Journal of Jahiel Stewart", Vermont History,

vol. 64, no. 2 (Spring 1996), 98, endnote 7. William B. Lapham, ed., Elijah Fisher's Journal

While in the War for Independence ... 1775-1784 (Augusta, Me., 1880), 7. Martin, 192-193.

6. General orders, 3 June 1777, Fitzpatrick, WGW, vol. 8 (1933), 175. General orders, 9

August 1780, ibid., vol. 19 (1937), 348.

126. General orders, 8 July 1777, Fitzpatrick, WGW, vol. 8 (1933), 369-371. Timothy

Pickering to George Washington, 8 February 1782, Numbered Record Books Concerning

Military Operations, Letters sent by Timothy Pickering, Quartermaster General. Jan. 3-May

9, 1782, vol. 83, reel 26, p. 72-73.

127. John F. Reed, Campaign to Valley Forge: July 1, 1777-December 19, 1777

(Philadelphia, Pa., 1965), 214. "Return of Cloathing wanting in the Brigades ... Camp at

Towamensing", 13 October 1777, The Papers of the Continental Congress 1774-1789,

National Archives Microfilm Publications M247, (Washington, DC, 1958), reel 38, pp. 117-

118. Robert C. Bray and Paul E. Bushnell, eds., Diary of a Common Soldier in the American

Revolution: An Annotated Edition of the Military Journal of Jeremiah Greenman, (DeKalb,

Il., 1978), 119. William Maxwell to George Washington, 5 June 1778, GW Papers, series 4,

reel 49.

128. Kenneth Coleman, The American Revolution in Georgia 1763-1789 (Athens, Ga.,

1958), 106-108. Charles Pinckney to William Moultrie, 24 May 1778, William Moultrie,

Memoirs of the American Revolution. vol. I (reprint, New York, N.Y., 1968), 212-214.

129. Edward Hand to George Washington, GW Papers, series 4, reel 56. Receipts for

equipment, New Jersey troops, 29 January, 27 April, 25 May 1779, James Abeel Receipt

Book 1778-1779, Lloyd W. Smith Collection, Morristown National Historical Park Library,

Doc. #LWS ???. For unit strengths see Charles H. Lesser, Sinews of Independence: Monthly

Strength Reports of the Continental Army (Chicago, Il. and London, 1976), 100, 112.

Orderly book of Col. Oliver Spencer's Regt., 27 July 1779 - 28 September 1779, Early

American Orderly Books, 1748-1817, Collections of the New York Historical Society,

microfilm edition (Woodbridge, N.J., 1977), reel 9, item 93, p. 31.

130. Timothy Pickering to Robert Morris, 29 September 1782, Numbered Record Books

Concerning Military Operations, Letters sent by Timothy Pickering, Quartermaster General,

vol. 84, reel 27, p. 163 (Document courtesy of Marko Zlatich, Washington, D.C.). "Weight

of Camp Kettles [May] .1782." ibid., vol. 103, reel 29, pp. 100-101.

131. General orders, 10 September 1777, Fitzpatrick, WGW, vol. 9 (1933), 200.The Orderly

Book of the First Pennsylvania Regiment, Col. James Chambers, 23 May 1779 to 25 August

1779, Linn and Egle, Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution, 447.

132. Howard H. Peckham, Memoirs of the Life of John Adlum in the Revolutionary War

(Chicago, Il., 1968), 49. William M. Dwyer, The Day is Ours! (New York, N.Y., 1983),

103. Original source Charles Willson Peale, "Journal by Charles Willson Peale, Dec. 4,

1776-Jan. 20, 1777," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 38 (1914),

271-286.

133. Orderly Book of Lt. Col. Charles Mawhood, 17th Regiment of Foot, 11 October 1776-

28 December 1776, pp. 97-98, Collections of the New-York Historical Society.

Worthington Chauncey Ford, Journals of the Continental Congress 1774-1789, vol. VIII

(Washington, D.C., 1907), 446. George Weedon, Valley Forge Orderly Book of General

George Weedon of the Continental Army under Command of Genl. George Washington, in

the Campaign of 1777-8 (New York, N.Y., 1971), 216-217.

134. Loftus Cliffe to Jack, 24 October 1777, Letters of Loftus Cliffe, officer, 46th Regiment

of Foot, William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

135. Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 330, 340.

136. Robert Latham, The Shorter Pepys (Berkeley, Ca., 1985), edited version of Samuel

Pepys' diary, 1660-1669, 932. 27 July 1777 entry, John Chilton's Diary (captain, 3rd

Virginia Regiment), Keith Family Papers, 1710-1916, Virginia Historical Society. Martin,

Private Yankee Doodle, 286. 137. James Abeel Receipt Book 1778-1779, Manuscript Collection of Morristown National

Historical Park Collection (microfilm edition), roll 1, entry 656).

93. John Sullivan, 24 March 1776, Report on Utensils, George Washington Papers, Presidential

Papers Microfilm (Washington: Library of Congress, 1961), series 4 (General Correspondence.

1697–1799); Brig. Gen. John Sullivan’s March 1776 command comprised the following

regiments: Col. James Reed’s 2nd Continental (New Hampshire), Col. John Nixon’s 4th

Continental (Massachusetts), Col. John Stark’s 5th Continental (New Hampshire), and Col.

Enoch Poor’s 8th Continental (New Hampshire). For the ensuing campaign, these units were split

between the Northern (2nd, 5th, and 8th regiments) and Main armies. Charles H. Lesser, Sinews of

Independence: Monthly Strength Reports of the Continental Army (Chicago, Il. and London: The

University of Chicago Press, 1976), 20-21, 24-25; Fred Anderson Berg, Encyclopedia of

Continental Army Units: Battalions, Regiments and Independent Corps (Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole

Books, 1972), 32-33.

138. John G. Frazer, “A Return of Camp-Utensils &c in Store at Medford,” 25 March 1776,

George Washington Papers (Library of Congress, 1961), series 4.

139. In his memoirs Joseph Martin noted the camp kettle he carried when serving with the

Connecticut militia in 1776: "There were but three men present [in the mess]. We had our cooking

utensils ... to carry in our hands. They were made of cast iron and consequently heavy." Joseph

Plumb Martin, Private Yankee Doodle: A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and

Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier (Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Co., 1962), 51; Peter

Force, American Archives, series 5, vol. III (Washington, D.C.: Published by M. St. Clair and Peter

Force, 1853), 453.

140. Peter Force, American Archives, series 5, vol. I (Washington, 1848), 294.

141. "Return of all Public Property in the Quarter Masters Department with the Southern Army," 31

August 1781, Miscellaneous Numbered Records (The Manuscript File) in the War Department

Collection of Revolutionary War Records 1775-1790's, (National Archives Microfilm Publication

M859, roll 94), RG 93, NA, Washington, DC: GPO, no. 27556

142. Journals of the Provincial Congress of New York, vol. I (Albany, 1842), 324. Force, American

Archives, series 5, vol. I, 1344.

143. "A Return for Stores Wanting on [Board?] Gundalo Providence ...," 3 August 1776, Misc. Nod.

Records, NA, no. 21134, roll 69. Philip K. Lundeberg, The Gunboat Philadelphia and the Defense of

Lake Champlain in 1776 (Basin Harbor, VT, 1995), 36-43. See Howard Hoffman, Ship Plan,

Gondola Philadelphia, drawing no. 00122, sheet 13 of 16, Anchors, Fireplace and Cooking Utensils,

Division of Armed Forces History (Naval Section), National Museum of American History,

Smithsonian Institution. Harold L. Peterson, The Book of the Continental Soldier (Harrisburg, PA,

1968), 147-148. George C. Neumann and Frank J. Kravic, Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia of the

American Revolution (Harrisburg, PA, 1975), 91. George C. Neumann to John U. Rees, 6 May 1997

(letter, author's collection). Most of the articles described as coming from the Philadelphia are at the

Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.. The three-legged skillet is in a private collection.

144. Neumann and Kravic, Collector's Illustrated Encyclopedia, 92, 94. Peterson, Book of the

Continental Soldier, 148-149. William Louis Calver and Reginald Pelham Bolton, History Written

With Pick and Shovel (New York, 1950), 216. Charles Knowles Bolton, The Private Soldier Under

Washington (Williamstown, MA, 1976), 82-83. Dan L. Morrill, Southern Campaigns of the

American Revolution (Baltimore, 1993), 148-149.

145. Jeffrey H. Fiske and Sally Ostergard Fiske, eds., Journal of Park Holland: Soldier of the

Revolution and Shays’ Rebellion, Maine Surveyor, and Early Penobscot Settler (New Braintree, Ma.:

Towtaid, 2000), 16, 17. Examples of available dishes, bowls, and plates of the Revolutionary era are

pictured in George C. Neumann and Frank J. Kravic, Collector’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of the

American Revolution (Harrisburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1975), 110–114.

146. Park Holland, “A Visit to Judge Stephen Jones, at Machias, 1784,” The Bangor Historical

Magazine, vol. IV (July, 1888-June, 1889), Joseph W. Porter, editor and publisher (Bangor, Me.:

Benjamin A. Burr, 1888-1889), 104 (Google Books).

147. Edwin M. Stone, The Life and Recollections of John Howland, late

President of the Rhode Island Historical Society (Providence: George H. Whitney,

1857), 66 (World Wide Web), http://tiny.cc/7THqK .

148. John Greenwood, "Memoirs of the Life of the late Mr. John Greenwood, Mechanical and

Surgeon Dentist, of New-York City: Compiled by E. Bryan," The American Journal of Dental

Science, devoted to Original Articles, reviews of Dental Publications; the latest Improvements in

Surgical and Mechanical Dentistry, and Biographical Sketches of distinguished Dentists (Kelley

and Fraetas, Printers, New York, 1839), 103 (Google Books). The unit he belonged to is

identified on page 99; major of his regiment was Henry Sherburne, his captain was Thomas

Theodore Bliss, 15th Continental Regiment.

149. “Letters of General William Irvine to his Family ... Mrs. Ann Irvine, Carlisle, Penn,” The

Historical Magazine, and Notes and Queries, vol. VII (New York: Trubner and Co., 1863), 81-82

(Google Books).

150. Thomas Tallow (Tulloh), pension application (W6334), transcribed by Will Graves.

http://revwarapps.org/w6334.pdf, Southern Campaign Revolutionary War Pension Statements

& Rosters, (World Wide Web) http://www.southerncampaign.org/pen/

___________________________________

Works by John U. Rees related to food in the armies of the American Revolution: "’It was my turn to cook for the Mess’: Provisions of the Common Soldier in the

Continental Army, 1775–1783,” Food History News, 7, no. 1 (Fall 1995): 2, 8.

"’Sometimes we drew two days rations at a time.’: The Soldiers' Daily Issue,” FHN, 7,

no. 3 (Winter 1995): 2–3.

"’Drew 2 pound of Shugar and 1 pound of Coffee’: Extraordinary Foodstuffs Issued

the Troops,” FHN, 8, no. 1 (Summer 1996): 2–3.

"’The unreasonable prices extorted ... by the market People’: Camp Markets and the

Impact of the Economy,” FHN, 7, no. 4 (Spring 1996): 2–3.

"’Complaint has been made by many of the Inhabitants’: Soldiers' Efforts to

Supplement the Ration Issue,” FHN, 8, no. 2 (Fall 1996): 1–2, 7.

"’Whilst in this country’: Sullivan's Expedition and the Carolina Campaigns,” FHN, 8,

no. 3 (Winter 1996): 2, 6–7.

"’Hard enough to break the teeth of a rat.’: Biscuit and Hard Bread in the Armies of the

Revolution,” (Also in the same issue, information on cooking with biscuit and hardtack

during the American Civil War and the War for Independence in "Joy of Historical

Cooking: Using Hardtack & Crackers."), FHN, 8, no. 4 (Spring 1997): 2, 3–5, 6–7.

"’The essential service he rendered to the army’: Christopher Ludwick, Superintendent

of Bakers,” FHN, vol. IX, no. 1 (Summer 1997), 2, 6. http://tinyurl.com/cjf9lle

“’The Gingerbread Man’: More on Washington’s Baking Superintendent, Then and

Now,” FHN, 17, no. 1 (Summer 2005): 2.

"’As many fireplaces as you have tents’: Earthen Camp Kitchens,” FHN, 9, no. 2 (Fall

1997): 2, 8–9, plus “Matt and I Dig a Kitchen: Recreating an 18th–Century Cooking

Excavation,” FHN, 9, no. 3 (Winter 1998): 2. Also published as "Earthen Camp

Kitchens,” Muzzleloader, 30, no. 4 (September/October 2003): 59–64. For online version

see (World Wide Web), http://revwar75.com/library/rees/kitchen.htm

"’Our pie–loving ... stomachs ... ache to even look.’: Durable Foods for Armies, 1775–

1865,” FHN, 9, no. 4 (Spring 1998): 2, 7–8.

"’Tell them never to throw away their ... haversacks or canteens’: Finding Water and

Carrying Food During the War for Independence and the American Civil War,” FHN, 10,

no. 1 (37): 2, 8–9.

"’The victuals became putrid by sweat & heat’: Equipment Shortages, the Burden of

Rations and Spoilage During the War for Independence and the War Between the States,”

FHN, 10, no. 2 (38): 2, 6–7.

"’False hopes and temporary devices’: Organizing Food Supply in the Continental

Army”:

part I. “’To subsist an Army well’: An Organizational Overview,” FHN, 12, no. 3 (47): 2,

9–10.

part II. “’Owing to this variety of waste …’: Producing, Storing, and Transporting

Bread,” FHN, 12, no. 4 (48): 2, 9–10.

part III. “’We now have 500 head of fat cattle’: Procuring, Transporting, and Processing

Livestock,” FHN, 12, no. 4 (48): 2, 8–9.

“’A perfect nutriment for heroes!’: Apples and North American Soldiers, 1757–1918,”

FHN, 14, no. 1 (53): 2, 6.

“’The oficers are Drunk and Dancing on the table …’: U.S Soldiers and Alcoholic

Beverages,” FHN, 14, no. 2 (54): 2.

“’The repast was in the English fashion …’: Washington’s Campaign for Refined

Dining in the War for Independence,” FHN, 14, no. 3 (55): 2.

"’Give us Our Bread Day by Day.’: Continental Army Bread, Bakers, and Ovens”

(http://tinyurl.com/d6t385f) :

part I. “’Waste and bad management …’: Regulating Baking,” FHN, 15, no. 4 (60): 2, 9.

part II.“’A bake–house was built in eleven days …’: Contemporary Baking Operations and

Army Masonry Ovens,” FHN, 15, no. 1 (61): 2, 8.

part III. “’Seeing that the Ovens may be done right …’: Bake Oven Designs,” FHN, vol.

15, no. 3 (63): 2, 8.

part IV. “’The mask is being raised!!’: Denouement: Early–War Iron Ovens, and a

Yorktown Campaign Bakery,” FHN, 16, no. 4 (64): 2.

“’Invited to dine with Genl Wayne; an excellent dinner …’: Revolutionary

Commanders’ Culinary Equipage in Camp and on Campaign”:

part 1 “’Plates, once tin but now Iron …’: General Washington’s Mess Equipment,”

FHN, 17, no. 2 (66): 2, 8.

part 2 “’40 Dozens Lemons, in a Box’: British Generals’ Provisions and Mess Equipage,”

FHN, vol. XVII, no. 3 (67): 2, 8.

part 3 “’A Major General & family’: Nathanael Greene’s Food Ware,” FHN, vol. XVII, no.

4 (68), 2.

part 4 “’My poor cook is almost always sick …’: General Riedesel Goes to America,”

FHN, vol. XVIII, no. 1 (69): 2–3,

"’We had our cooking utensils ... to carry in our hands.’: Light-Weight Military Kettles,

1775-1782,” (Included in the endnotes: “Tin Kettles, 1759-1771”; “British and German

Kettles”; “Kettle Capacity and Weight, and Excavated Artifacts, Circa 1750-1815”),

FHN, vol. XX, no. 1 (77), 2, 7, 10.

"’They were made of cast iron and consequently heavy.’: Eating Utensils and Less

Commonly Used Cooking Implements, 1775-1783,” FHN, vol. XX, no. 2 (78), 2, 4-5.

“’A capital dish …’: Revolutionary Soldiers and Chocolate,” FHN, vol. XX, no. 3

(79): 2, 9, 12. http://tinyurl.com/ce22e6t

"’A better repast’: Continental Army Field and Company Officers’ Fare,” FHN, vol.

XX, no. 4 (80), 2–3.

“`Six of our regt lived together …’: Mess Groups, Carrying Food … (and a Little Bit

of Tongue) in the Armies of the Revolution”

Mess Groups

Food Distribution

Carrying Food

The Burden of Rations

And … Tongue

http://revwar75.com/library/rees/pdfs/tongue.pdf “The common necessaries of life …” A Revolutionary Soldier’s Wooden Bowl,”

including, “’Left sick on the Road’: An Attempt to Identify the Soldier Left at the Paxson

Home, ‘Rolling Green,’ June 1778.”) http://tinyurl.com/at3dj3e