How Does Food Affect The Civil War

Civil war and how food actually affected the war?

With the fundamental to life we all need food, water, and shelter maybe the necessities of life, but some may argue also love is needed to live a life we want. With some great home cooking with a little love in that food you can never be mad at anyone while eating this, but what happens when that food isn't available. Today, I researched what these civil war solders ate during this terrible time trying to steer this new nation in the their path. Some ate, plain things some barely ate anything starving to death, but really what was available at this desperate time? As advancements grew in technology and telegraph somethings never seem to change. As the union soldiers carried on with the
In a primary source quoted, ”Union troops were well fed but the food was not that much better than what the Confederates were eating.” by a union solider. Soldiers were constantly on their feet and without food they had no passion, drive, or energy to withstand an intense battle. Long hours of drills, preparation and running will get you hungry causing constipation, cant sleep, mood swing, constantly cold, and etc... This will effect performance, thought process, friendships and the old saying,” That an army marches on it's stomach” is very true. Since there were so many soldiers were in this war involved they revived poor quality food, but high official ranking generals and officers gained the luxury and the fine dinning because the theory was that the general need to explain, developed, and finalized strategies to defeat the confederates. The north ate the following things Hardtack Hard “crackers” made with flour, salt, and water. Meat Salted pork, bacon, or beef soaked with potassium nitrate (saltpeter) Flour Cornmeal Salt and pepper. Coffee or tea Sugar Rice or hominy Corn that has been soaked and washed to remove the hulls. Dried beans or peas Desiccated vegetables Dehydrated, shredded vegetables
In the end the south actually had several and harsh problems with their food supply. As recorded it cites,”Without Civil War food and water an army soon disintegrates into nothing more than a lot of starving people with no energy or will to fight.” and described in my first paragraph no man will survive on that field not being fed. “Confederate soldiers usually didn’t receive much food at all especially as the war dragged on.” showing that these men were dieing of starvation and at the point of surrendering. Now food isn't the exact way to win a war, but it may be the way the confederates lost. The Confederates completely forgot one thing they sent so many men to war that none were home to fix the garden/ plantation. Remember this and if they had been home 6 percent owned slaves at the time and what was their cash crop at that time? Their cash crop was cotton which tore the soil into crap(idk what to say besides that). So if they had to change they would have to first relocate their field, plant the seeds, wait for it to grow and not much men where there to do this labor because both the union and the south resorted to a draft for more men to battle for their side. The South not only were stuck inside there territory