Civil War Soldier Charlie in Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas

My Great-Grandfather James Lynch - Civil War Soldier for the Union

This month in Quilters' Book Club, we are reading and discussing Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas.  One of the first events in the book is Charlie Bullock "going for a soldier" to fight for the North in the Civil War.  If you'd like to make a quilt block to represent this event, I found several block patterns free on-line:
 
Army Star Quilt Block

Strength in Union Quilt Block

Union Square Quilt Block

Union Squares Quilt Block

Yankee Charm Quilt Block

In the book, Alice writes her sister Lizzie:  "Harve Stout is one of Charlie's five messmates, all of them from Iowa, and Harve's the best there is for making boiled pudding out of hardtack.  He breaks up the hard crackers and mixes them with water or sometimes a little whiskey, and bacon grease, pours the mess into a sock, and boils it.  I write, 'Is the sock clean?'

"'Shoot no,' Charlie writes back.  'How do you think it gets the flavor?'"

I did some internet research on hardtack.  "Hardtack was a biscuit made of flour with other simple ingredients, and issued to Union soldiers throughout the war.  Hardtack crackers made up a large portion of a soldier's daily ration.  Large factories in the North baked hundreds of hardtack crackers every day, packed them in wooden crates and shipped them out by wagon or rail.  Usually, the hardtack did not get to the soldiers until months after it had been made.  By that time, they were very hard, so hard that soldiers called them 'tooth dullers' and 'sheet iron crackers.'  Sometimes they were infested with small bugs the soldiers called weevils, so they referred to the hardtack as 'worm castles' because of the many holes bored through the crackers by these pests. Soldiers were usually allowed six to eight crackers for a three-day ration.  There were a number of ways to eat them - plain or prepared with other ration items. Soldiers would crumble them into coffee or soften them in water and fry the hardtack with some bacon grease."  http://americancivilwar.com/tcwn/civil_war/civil_war_cooking.html

 

Union Hardtack Recipe
2 cups of flour
1/2 to 3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon of Crisco or vegetable fat

6 pinches of salt

1.  Mix the ingredients together into a stiff batter.  Knead several times and spread the dough out flat to a thickness of ½” on an ungreased cookie sheet.

2.  Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

3.  Remove from oven, cut dough into 3-inch squares, and punch four rows of holes, four holes per row into the dough.

4.  Turn dough over, return to the oven and bake another 30 minutes.

5.  Turn oven off and leave the door closed. Leave the hardtack in the oven until cool. Remove and enjoy!

My great-grandfather James Lynch fought for the North in the Civil War.  He was 68 when my grandmother was born.  As a teenager, she interviewed him and wrote:

"On August 12, 1862, James enlisted and joined Company G of the Illinois Volunteer 74th Infantry on the side of the North in the Civil War.  His commander was General Thomas, whom he liked.  Some of the battles he fought in were:  Cableorchard (the first one), Peachtree Creek, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Francisville, Liberty Gap, and Perryville.  He was never wounded, but a bullet hit his canteen and he lost all of his drinking water.  He and his comrades were hungry many times.  They were sent out to forage from the farms around them.  Once he and another soldier tried to rob a bee tree, with many stings and little honey.  After the war, he was discharged at Nashville, Tennessee on June 10, 1865."

 Do you have any Civil War stories passed down through your family?  Inquiring minds want to know!  Please reply in the comment section.  (Remember to first click on the blog title if you're reading via email.)

By commenting, you are also entering your name in a giveaway for Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini.  Winner will be announced June 1.

You might also enjoy reading my previous blog post here.