The Union Was Obsessed With Coffee...

connecticut yankee

First Sergeant
Joined
Jun 2, 2017
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For the Union, coffee was a big deal. In fact, the word “coffee” shows up in Union letters and diaries more often than any other word—including words like “war,” “bullet,” “Lincoln,” and “mother.”

Coffee was a more regular part of soldier life than fighting. Every soldier was given a ration of 16 kilograms (36 lb) of coffee per year, and they drank it every morning. One rifle company even made a rifle that had a coffee grinder in the stock. Since most troops only fought two weeks per year, the coffee grinder ended up being used more than the bullets.

The Confederates, on the other hand, hardly had any coffee. Union blockades kept the Confederates from getting their daily caffeine fix. Some Confederate soldiers were so desperate for a java fix that they would brew potatoes and rye until they turned black, just to have a caffeine-free, bitter drink that the soldiers could pretend was coffee.

Caffeine actually made a strategic difference in the war. One Union general would time his attacks based on when his men were most buzzed on caffeine, convinced that the extra rush from coffee gave his men a fighting advantage.


https://listverse.com/2017/03/23/10-little-known-stories-from-the-us-civil-war/
 
Some Confederate soldiers were so desperate for a java fix that they would brew potatoes and rye until they turned black, just to have a caffeine-free, bitter drink that the soldiers could pretend was coffee.
Sounds like a lotta work for a cup of decaf. :D I can still understand how that would go down good after a cold night sleeping on cold ground though.
 
I wonder if they knew about the appetite suppressant effect of caffeine in those days? Coupla cups of good,strong coffee probably went a long way on a long march, when all the eating had to be done on the move.
 
The Confederates, on the other hand, hardly had any coffee. Union blockades kept the Confederates from getting their daily caffeine fix. Some Confederate soldiers were so desperate for a java fix that they would brew potatoes and rye until they turned black, just to have a caffeine-free, bitter drink that the soldiers could pretend was coffee.

Caffeine actually made a strategic difference in the war. One Union general would time his attacks based on when his men were most buzzed on caffeine, convinced that the extra rush from coffee gave his men a fighting advantage.
https://listverse.com/2017/03/23/10-little-known-stories-from-the-us-civil-war/
The victory of the Union over the Confederates has now been explained to me.
 
I’m aleays amazed at how mucxh coffee was drank. Only because it is dehydrant and dyreetic. So drinking lots of coffee then marching 15 miles or going into battle...these
Young men must have had iron stomachs too!
 
I’m aleays amazed at how mucxh coffee was drank. Only because it is dehydrant and dyreetic. So drinking lots of coffee then marching 15 miles or going into battle...these
Young men must have had iron stomachs too!
Yep. And no wonder that water was such a precious commodity during and after the fight too.
 
It does seem that drinking coffee was critical to the northren soldiery. I always get the feeling that a cup of joe brewed in those times was much tastier than anything we can get today? Is there any basis in my thinking that?
 
Has anybody studied the addictive properties of caffeine?

I feel like I am addicted. I definitely feel withdrawal symptoms, although they are pretty mild in the grand scheme of things. Anyway, fortunately, it's a legal addiction....
 
They really believed in both the restorative and nutritious qualities of coffee. It was issued in bean form, unroasted, because this was the best way of discouraging contractor fraud such as mixing sawdust or dirt with the grounds before shipment. Troops roasted, or more likely, burned the beans in the company kettles, then ground them up with convenient heavy things, like a musket butt. I doubt that a cup of burned cracked beans boiled over a little stick fire yielded a product Starbucks should consider competition. But hunger is the best sauce, they say. It was warm and caffeinated. Soldiers liked to sweeten it with sugar or molassas which of course adds to the pick me up factor. I think there's a Chamberlain quote about ruining their health drinking gallons of hot bitter coffee, but someone else will have to supply it. I'm pretty certain a lot of young men came home with digestive problems from the coffee ration, too.
 
I read an anecdote in one of Catton's books where one soldier saw another soldier scooping water out of a hoofprint to get enough to boil coffee.

I like coffee as much as the next person, but.....NO. :nah disagree:
I would let that water boil a coupla extra minutes. :D
 
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