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- Aug 25, 2012
Many senior officers had mess chests with some of them being elaborate.
Major General Benjamin F. Butler had a box 301/2 inches by 11 1/4 wide and 18 1/2 tall. It was filled with silver plates, cup etc. and silver cutlery from Tiffany.
When I was in the National Guard as a Captain I had a mess chest but really took it to the field. The number of times my lieutenants and I got to sit down and get served a meal were rather limited. Can I assume that Civil War mess chests in the field were mostly restricted to field grad officers? I do know early in the War Companies were issued mess chests, but it would seem to me these would have been put in storage when the company went on campaign.
Major General Benjamin F. Butler had a box 301/2 inches by 11 1/4 wide and 18 1/2 tall. It was filled with silver plates, cup etc. and silver cutlery from Tiffany.
When I was in the National Guard as a Captain I had a mess chest but really took it to the field. The number of times my lieutenants and I got to sit down and get served a meal were rather limited. Can I assume that Civil War mess chests in the field were mostly restricted to field grad officers? I do know early in the War Companies were issued mess chests, but it would seem to me these would have been put in storage when the company went on campaign.
Bringing the