Did the Army purchase or rent cats during the Civil War?

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
I was doing some research on the Spanish American War and in the July 3rd 1898 New York Times was an article saying the Army was issuing requests for proposals for supplying cats to the US Army. It was not clear if the US Army intended to purchase cats or merely rent cats. Nor did the article say what the Army intened to do with all the cats. l am assuming the cats were to be used at food storage facilities to help keep down rodent activities. The proposals were to be sent to the Army Meat storage complex. Other possibilities are possible, but too disturbing to contemplate.

During the Civil War, cats certainly could have been useful at hard tack or meat storage facilities to help keep down rodent activities. Has anyone one seen examples of the Army purchasing or renting cats during the Civil War? I wonder if the price of cats was high during the Civil War?
 
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I came across that SpAmWar story last year, and wondered the same thing. I looked around for quite a while ... everywhere I could think to look, but could find no evidence of ACW cat-rental, or otherwise "recruitment" by the government. I have no doubt army storage facilities made use of feline pest-control (didn't everybody?), but they seemed to have left little or no documentation of it.
 
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One could probably pick up a good cat for $8 or $9 during the Civil War, so what would it cost to rent one for a week?
 
So proof for my thread about the Confederate Army enlisting cats. Appently cat were not soldiers but government contract vovilian workers, kind of like teamsters or contract physicians.
 
I came across that SpAmWar story last year, and wondered the same thing. I looked around for quite a while ... everywhere I could think to look, but could find no evidence of ACW cat-rental, or otherwise "recruitment" by the government. I have no doubt army storage facilities made use of feline pest-control (didn't everybody?), but they seemed to have left little or no documentation of it.


Soooooo when one reads of cathouses they aren't cat controlled food storage facilities?
 
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The 1916 Army Manual for Cooks makes specific mention of cats for the purposes of pest control.

Whether that applies to ACW or Spanish American War I cannot say for certain though it was probably a form of "received knowledge".

Historical texts suggest that cats have been "camp followers" for ... quite some time.

The conditions of life during the ACW must have provided them with such a bounty of prey that "conscription" would not have been necessary.

Goes a long way to explain why "they" put up with "us". ;-)
 
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