What is "mule bread"??

In a book I am reading the author states the soldiers were eating "mule bread". An on line search did not help me much. I can not wrap my head around any explanation of what "mule bread" might be. Any possible explanation is a bit disturbing.

 

[Dan Kohli]

What exactly is the context? There are a few possibilities that I can think of.

 

[Rhea Cole]

I have had fun looking for mule bread entomology. It isn't English as far as I can see. As a result, I did a search in other languages.

It is probably apocryphal, but "mule bread" is an Anglicized version of " pumpernickel."

Pomper (mule) & nickle ( a bad person ) thus: bread only fit for mules… mule bread.

I have never seen it, which is saying something. The joy of studying the Civil War is that there is always something new. In this case, until a citation is found, this goes into the imaginative writing folder.

 

[major bill]

While the 1st Michigan Colored Regiment was in South Carolina "Soldiers reported enjoying tomatoes, peanuts, oranges, watermelon, corn and potatoes. Yet these improvements were intermittent , and they frequently reverted to basic rations - hardtack, cold mule bread, and coffee brewed from beans and other "trash" ( p.133, The 1st Michigan Colored Regiment Free Men Who Fought Slavery, by Maurice Imhoff.

Could Imhoff have lost a comma and the passage should be 'hardtack, cold mule, bread, and coffee.' But this would not make too much sense, why eat a mule cold? Did this get totally off and it should say 'corn meal bread'? Basic rations should be hardtack, salt pork, and coffee.

 

[donna]

Maybe Albert would know.

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

Maybe Albert would know.

Off hand, I am not certain of a recipe.
Did the author suggest anything in his notes? What did the source that he used say about it?

 

[major bill]

The author did not cite a source. Early in the paragraph he indicated that enlisted men usually ate standard army rations of salt beef, pork. and hardtack. Later he added the cold mule bread.

 

[iron bender]

While the 1st Michigan Colored Regiment was in South Carolina "Soldiers reported enjoying tomatoes, peanuts, oranges, watermelon, corn and potatoes. Yet these improvements were intermittent , and they frequently reverted to basic rations - hardtack, cold mule bread, and coffee brewed from beans and other "trash" ( p.133, The 1st Michigan Colored Regiment Free Men Who Fought Slavery, by Maurice Imhoff.

Could Imhoff have lost a comma and the passage should be 'hardtack, cold mule, bread, and coffee.' But this would not make too much sense, why eat a mule cold? Did this get totally off and it should say 'corn meal bread'? Basic rations should be hardtack, salt pork, and coffee.

Just an observation, and if it's not a punctuation issue, wouldn't 'cold mule bread' imply this is a food item preferred served warm?

 

[major bill]

Just an observation, and if it's not a punctuation issue, wouldn't 'cold mule bread' imply this is a food item preferred served warm?

That would seem possible. This helps to make the passage odder. Bread is usually eaten cold, but can be fried with bacon grease, kind of French toast without the eggs. With out the author adding mire context it may remain an open question. Who reportedly said this?

 

[Rhea Cole]

That would seem possible. This helps to make the passage odder. Bread is usually eaten cold, but can be fried with bacon grease, kind of French toast without the eggs. With out the author adding mire context it may remain an open question. Who reportedly said this?

I have read… I have no idea how many Civil War era letters, journals, newspapers… never seen a reference to "mule bread." The "…. mule , bread…" comma is the answer to the question.

 

[Don Dixon]

Could Imhoff have lost a comma and the passage should be 'hardtack, cold mule, bread, and coffee.' But this would not make too much sense, why eat a mule cold? Did this get totally off and it should say 'corn meal bread'? Basic rations should be hardtack, salt pork, and coffee.

I think Major Bill is correct that it was a punctuation error. When preparing for movement, troops were issued raw rations in the form of fresh meat, flour, etc, which they had to cook and then carry in their haversacks. To preserve meat as long a possible under these circumstances it would have to have been cooked literally to death, which would have made it very tough. The resulting rations were eaten cold on the march. Even having cooked the meat it was probably pretty funky after three or four days, particularly in the Georgia or Virginia summer sun. The resulting "cold mule" is soldier sarcasm. Its not surprising they had intestinal problems from bad food and worse water.

 

[Rhea Cole]

I think Major Bill is correct that it was a punctuation error. When preparing for movement, troops were issued raw rations in the form of fresh meat, flour, etc, which they had to cook and then carry in their haversacks. To preserve meat as long a possible under these circumstances it would have to have been cooked literally to death, which would have made it very tough. The resulting rations were eaten cold on the march. Even having cooked the meat it was probably pretty funky after three or four days, particularly in the Georgia or Virginia summer sun. The resulting "cold mule" is soldier sarcasm. Its not surprising they had intestinal problems from bad food and worse water.

In support of Don Dixon's post, don't know how many times I have read that soldiers issued 3 day's marching rations cooked & ate the whole thing right away.

A little know episode of the Tullahoma / Chattanooga Campaign was General Rosecrans' order reserving the limited south bound rail capacity exclusively hay & grain for the army's equines. Ammunition & rations were relegated to wagons.

These, what General Wilder called "lumpy hills" & the food desert of the Highlands Plateau was where the wagon trains were headed. Wagon drivers doubled teams to labor their way uphill only to face another & another. In order to lighten the load they would sometimes drain the brine out of the barrels of salt meat. What state the product was in upon arrival is best left to the imagination.

 

[Rhea Cole]

Here is some background information that will be helpful.

This is an excerpt from the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum Civil War Rations page.

MARCHING RATIONS

Only when a march took them beyond the range of army wagons, as happened from time to time with the fast-moving cavalry, or when a battle separated them from their primary depots did Union soldiers go without food. The most famous example of the latter was the aftermath of the 1 863 battle of Chickamauga, Georgia. There, by luck and a Union command error, the Confederates routed the Federals from the field and chased the Northerners into Chattanooga, where a siege followed. For about a month, Union soldiers in Chattanooga went on half rations and even ate feed grain meant for the Army's starving animals. When the siege lifted in October, 10,000 horses and mules had died. Still, the Federal ration was more than ample in terms of quantity and calories. It was larger than that of the British, French, Prussian, Austrian, and Russian armies of the same period.

The real trouble began when Billy Yank received the ration. On a march, it usually consisted of four parts: three-fourths pound of salt pork, one pound of hard bread (hardtack), coffee, and sugar. Few soldiers knew much about cooking, and the Army was still about a half century away from training cooks. Further, the soldier's issue of equipment did not include any cooking utensils beyond camp kettles and mess pans, for use by the company in camp or in garrison. Faced with few tools, little culinary skill, a hunk of pickled pork, and around ten thick and large hard crackers made of flour and water, Federal soldiers began to cook. As time went by, they acquired utensils such as cutlery and a tin plate and cup, fashioned boilers by adding a wire bail to an empty tin can, or rigged a frying pan from discarded canteen halves with a green stick to serve as a handle. They also discovered that by forming a mess of approximately five soldiers, preparing meals became a social occasion. The soldier who demonstrated the greatest culinary talent was often appointed the cook. This duty became the envy of other soldiers, because the cook was excused from all other camp chores. After much experimentation and many digestive complaints as a result, Federal soldiers settled on a few tried and true methods of food preparation. There was not much that could be done with salt pork beyond frying it, boiling it, or adding it to a stew. If there was no time for these small luxuries, it could be placed between two pieces of hardtack and eaten as a primitive sandwich. Salt beef, derisively labeled "salt horse" by the soldiers, was hardly fit for consumption. It was so heavily impregnated with salt that it had to be soaked overnight in a running stream. Even then, it was still often rusty from improper packing and gave off an incredible stench. Salt horse was so foul that upon occasion angry soldiers used it-as ammunition with which to pelt the commissary's tent, or staged a mock burial and laid the putrid stuff to rest, complete with feigned military honors.

Link:

Feeding Billy Yank: Union Rations Between 1861 and 1865 — Subsistence & Culinary Arts: History | U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum

Feeding Billy Yank: Union Rations Between 1861 and 1865 — Subsistence & Culinary Arts: History & Heritage of Quartermaster. Content provided by the Quartermaster Foundation. | U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum, Fort Lee, Virginia

qmmuseum.army.mil

 

[rvbgrif]

Pomper (mule) & nickle ( a bad person ) thus: bread only fit for mules… mule bread.

That is not what pumpernickel means.

Pumper means to pump or to fart and Nickel is short for Nicolas.

Essentially means fartbread.

Pumpernickel was traditionally rye bread that had been cooked on low heat all day until it was a dark toasted color. It was seen as cheap bread for poor people.

 

[Rhea Cole]

That is not what pumpernickel means.

Pumper means to pump or to fart and Nickel is short for Nicolas.

Essentially means fartbread.

Pumpernickel was traditionally rye bread that had been cooked on low heat all day until it was a dark toasted color. It was seen as cheap bread for poor people.

Oddly enough, I found both translations. As I indicated, the mule bread English translation was probably apocryphal. It is, however, appropriate to the theme of this thread.