Coffee–Civil War Style

By Sandra Scott

The morning tattoo sounded at 5:45. It was still dark and I wasn’t looking forward to another day of drilling and marching but I could smell the coffee cooking over the open fire and that was enough to get me up. I shook my husband, who was sleeping in the top bunk. “Time to get up, John, it’s a new day in the Civil War for us! Assembly will be in 15 minutes.”

We had signed up for the Civil War Adventure Camp, part of the Pamplin Historical Park, near Petersburg, Virginia. I volunteered for the Army of the Potomac and John joined the Army of the Confederacy. Dressed in my blue uniform, I stood next to John in his gray uniform as we were sworn in as privates.  We were issued a haversack, canteen, cartridge case, and cap case.

“Platoon Assemble!” barked First Sergeant Young. “A sorry looking bunch of fresh fish if ’er I saw one. Here is how you wear your uniform and equipment.” First Sergeant proceeded to make us look somewhat presentable and instructed us in commands: “Form columns by platoons!” “Count off!” “Dress right!” “Right face!” “Right Flank!” “March! One! Two!”

It took a bit of doing but we finally looked somewhat orderly. We learned to load our muskets, marched in formation, went on patrol, took part in a skirmish, and learned camp games. In the evening, after a hearty dinner of beef stew, fruit, hardtack, and coffee we took turns on patrol.  After a day of marching and drilling coffee was important to keep us alert on patrol. It is said that Stonewall Jackson had a soldier shot for falling asleep on guard duty.

In 1832 President Andrew Jackson added coffee and sugar to the basic military ration. It became so important to the soldier that dividing the “pick-me-up” was done to insure equal portions. One method was to place equal allotments in piles on a blanket taking care to make sure all the piles appeared to be the same size so as to avoid grumbling among the troops. The sugar was allotted in a similar manner.

Coffee was usually issued as green beans. Eric Slaughter, one of the re-enactors at Pamplin, explained how the soldiers prepared their coffee. “The soldiers could make coffee from green beans or they could roast them in a frying pan but most just roasted them in the bottom of their tin cup. They would use their bayonet to stir them until they were brown.” He went on to explain, “After the beans cooled they would break them up, often using their bayonet like a mortar and pestle. Cold water was poured on top of the grinds and then it was heated over the fire.”

One of the other rations was hardtack, a rock-hard biscuit made of flour and water. It seldom went moldy but the weevils loved it. Dunking the hardtack in the hot coffee would cause the weevils to float to the top where they could be easily removed.

Just when it seemed that John and I were getting with the program it was time to muster out. We assembled, received our “pay” and “walking papers.” The Civil War Camp Experience was one of those things that I am glad we did and glad I survived.  We spent the rest of the day touring Pamplin Historical Park where their Civil War Battle video, A War so Terrible, graphically depicts the realities of combat.

More information can be found at www.pamplinpark.org.

Sandra Scott is a frequent contributor to travel publications and to Copley News Service and has co-authored two books on local history. She lives in Mexico, NY.
Photos by J. J. Scott.

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