Plate and cup

From the collections of PVMA • Digital image © Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Assoc. • Image use information

About this item

The daily ration for Union soldiers in camp included pork, beef, cornmeal, bread, beans, peas, potatoes, coffee, salt, sugar, and vinegar. The marching ration was far less generous: hard tack, salt pork, sugar, coffee and salt. Just getting the food to the rank and file was frequently a problem. As one soldier put it, “some days we live first rate, and the next we don’t have half enough.” The food that did make it through was often barely edible. One soldier reported that they had found “32 worms, maggots, & c” in one piece of hard tack.” Another man recalled that, “all the fresh meat we had came in the hard bread…and I preferring my game cooked, used to toast my biscuits.” This tin plate and cup held army rations for Jesse L. Delano of Sunderland, Massachusetts.

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Details

Item typeHousehold Objects
Food Service Equipment
Datecirca 1861
PlaceSunderland, Massachusetts
TopicMilitary, Wars, Battles
Food, Cooking, Beverage, Alcohol
EraCivil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877
EventAmerican Civil War. 1861–1865
MaterialMetal
Process/FormatMetalworking
Dimension detailsDiameter: 9.00 in
Catalog #1927.12.08
View this item in our curatorial database →
Plate and cup. ca. 1861. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/1927-12-08/. Accessed on December 6, 2024.

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