Easter

April 24th I will sit down to a huge ham slice decorated with pineapple and cloves, the ham shining in a brown sugar and pineapple juice glaze. To add to the feast my overstrained plate will struggle under the weight of cheesy potatoes, an Arizona fresh fruit salad, steamed broccoli and something my brother in law will surprise us with. My fork will shovel thousands of calories of pleasure into my 21st Century body. After dinner, I’ll attempt to take a walk-to make room for pie.

Compare that with Confederate Carlton McCarthy’s post war reminiscence. “To be one day without anything to eat was common. Two days fasting, marching and fighting was not uncommon, and there were times when no rations were issued for three or four days. On one march, from Petersburg to Appomattox, no rations were issued to Cutshaw's battalion of artillery for one entire week, and the men subsisted on the corn intended for the battery horses, raw bacon captured from the enemy, and the water of springs, creeks and rivers. No doubt there were other commands suffering the same privations”- Carlton McCarthy, Richmond Howitzers.

Did you ever wonder when Easter was during the Civil War.? I did:
March 31st 1861
April 20th 1862
April 5th 1863
March 27th 1864
April 16th 1865


Below are some accounts of the meals Confederates (CSA) and Federals (USA) had on their Easter Sunday.

April 20, 1862
USA “This is Easter and a pretty day. We had 2 eggs a piece this morning” Alexander Gwin (Campbell, 25).

April 5th, 1863
CSA “Warrenton, Mississippi
“Captain Carter and myself have just finished eating a hearty dinner of crawfish (the first I’ve ever tried)”-William Chunn (Mills, 224).

CSA “Camp Gregg Near Guiney Station, VA or Fredericksburg, Va.
We get plenty to eat. Each man gets 2 ounces of meat a day, but it’s thick that 2 ounces will do a man generally about two days. It is fully one half inch think and on half of that is pure skin and you know that we ought not grumble. They say the next meat we draw will be a mule. I told the commissary to be certain and get a hind quarter” -G.J. Huntley (Tayler, 100).

CSA “Camp of the 23rd N.C. Reg.
Near Guinea Station, Va.
“The snow is about seven or eight inches deep. I don’t think we will have a very gay Easter today, as game is skearce, and we can get no eggs.” -Jer Coggin (Taylor, 134).


March 27, 1864
CSA “Rations- bacon, meal, rice, sugar, coffee, candles, soap, and salt. Tom cooked so I had nothing to do.”- James Peyton (Swank,21).

CSA “Had a cup of genuine coffee this morning for breakfast-something unusual” -John Jackman (Davis, 112).

CSA “Bacon or pork & cornbread” JP ( Hubb, 232).

USA “The beautiful Easter Sunday finds us all O.K. for it is as pretty and warm day, but we have no eggs. We could have them at 40 cents per doz. but I guess we will do without this time- Daniel Chisholm (Menge, 7).

FINAL THOUGHTS
While I prefer my Easter supper, I have eaten what they describe. In our food rich world it’s hard to fathom being hungry, to feel the pain of being able to think of little else. At some reenactments I’ve taken a ration issue I read about. With a half pound of bacon, flour and nothing else I would have to manage the amount, cook it up in the most efficient manner and not make a quick run to the kettle corn vendor, all in the name of authenticity. Saturday morning breakfast would usually be large, for I have no ability to manage. Saturday lunch would be a biscuit and piece of cold bacon. For supper I would make up the last of the bacon and flour-not much. Sunday, my canteen of water would be my only sustenance.

Being hungry is a humbling experience for little else matters but filling that hole in your stomach. No matter how hard I would try to enjoy myself, the drill, camaraderie of chums, talking the public and whatever else, the event offered was often tempered by hunger. And that was only a day. Surely I am not as strong, at present, as those I study. I’m not sure if it was the actual lack of food or the idea that I’m starving myself a mile from a Taco Bell. My undisciplined mind could not shake the thought of food. I remember the scene in the Andersonville movie, where two federal prisoners are talking about the perfect meal. One offers the idea of butter and the other mentions pie. Behind them the starving sergeant yelps his surrender. I found myself thinking about what I was going to eat after the event then wanting to surrender to the kettle corn.

My Easter goal is to remember these accounts as I go for seconds.

A RECIPE
Fry up your bacon, saving the grease for the biscuits. While the bacon cooks, mix flour and water to make dough that is not sticky. Make small flat discs. When the bacon is done, pull it out then place the dough in. Cook through. To wash it all down, a good glass of water or, if you’re pampering yourself, a cup of coffee.


BIBLIOGRAPHY
Campbell, Joseph, Judy Gowen. Marching Orders: The Civil War Diary of Alexander
Crawford Gwin. Altoona: Daisy Publishing, 1999.
Davis, William, ed. Diary of a Confederate Soldier: John S. Jackman of the Orphan
Brigade. Columbia:University of South Carolina Press, 1990.
Hubbs, Ward, ed. Voices from Company D: Diaries by the Greensboro Guards, Fifth
Alabama Infantry Regiment, Army of Northern Virginia. Athens: The University
of Georgia Press, 2003.
Lane, Mills edt. “Dear Mother: Don’t grieve about me. If I get killed, I’ll only be dead.”
Savannah: Library of Georgia, 1990.
Menge, W. Springer Menge, J. August Shimrak. The Civil War Notebook of Daniel
Chisholm: A Chronicle of Daily Life in the Union Army 1864-1865.New York:
Orions Books, 1989.
Swank, Waldbrook, Ed. Stonewall Jackson’s Foot Cavalry: Company A, 13rh Virginia
Infantry. Shippenburg: Burd Street Press, 2001.
Taylor, Michael. The Cry is War, War, War. Winston Salem: Morning side Press, 1994.