Confederate Coffee

   I think we can all agree that coffee played a crucial role in the lives of Confederate soldiers. And, as it has become apparent to me recently, in reading articles and watching podcasts, some scholars really don’t grasp the usage of coffee in the Army of Northern Virginia. We hear the stories about how the Confederates in Virginia had to make do with no coffee and relied on plenty of coffee substitutes, like chicory, acorns, sweet potatoes, etc. But my research into Confederate foodstuffs while working on Feeding the Army of Northern Virginia over the past two years has led to some different conclusions. (The following is based upon 200 sets of letters and diaries, with a few reminiscences added in.)

   Coffee was a staple of life in the Old South. It was imported from Central and South America. In the early days of the war, it was issued to Confederate soldiers in Virginia. It was mentioned in letters home from Portsmouth and Ashland in May 1861. It was also issued green. “You would see much to amuse you especially about cooktime. Just imagine Charly Palmore standing over a hot fire parching coffee in a pan stirring with a big camp knife,” chronicled a soldier in the 3^rd Virginia Cavalry in June 1862, from Ashland.[1] Coffee continued to be issued through August. However, many soldiers speculated that this “treat” might be coming to an end. From Vienna, Virginia, a soldier in the 2^nd South Carolina Infantry wrote on August 3 that "We soldiers still get coffee for night and morning, but I do not doubt but that this luxury will soon be denied us. I say luxury. Coffee is the luxury in a soldier's life. A cup of hot coffee can be better appreciated in camp than anywhere else...”[2] By September 1, an Alabama soldier stationed near Fairfax Court House reported that they were out of coffee and sugar, yet reported on September 10 that they had coffee, but no sugar.[3] A member of the 4^th Georgia reported in October that they were drawing whiskey in leu of coffee.[4] This continued through October, although some soldiers who did not drink would sell their whiskey rations to soldiers who did, leaving a few tipsy men in the ranks.  On November 28 came the first mention of rye coffee. A Virginia soldier stationed near Huntersville, wrote home that "We are living well at present on venison, beef, corn and wheat bread, rye coffee & sweetened with maple sugar.”[5] Considering the soldier was stationed in present-day West Virginia, it could simply have been a problem of getting coffee that great distance.

   Coffee was being issued in early 1862. A Tarheel Heel soldier reported small issues of coffee and sugar at camp near Union Mills on January 18, and an Alabama soldier stationed at Louisa Court House wrote of a weekly coffee ration, without sugar.[6] Coffee then disappears from the letters. A member of the 3^rd South Carolina wrote at the end of April, while stationed on the Peninsula, that they never saw coffee being issued.[7] This holds true through May and the spring campaigns. There are sporadic mentions of coffee through October. Some soldiers reported having coffee, but it is unclear if they were being issued, or captured. (This is another topic for a future post.) Coffee was available for purchase. A Tar Heel officer, near Winchester in mid-November 1862, wrote that coffee was selling for $3.00 a pound.[8]

   By early 1863, coffee seemed to be in short supply. A member of the 45^th Georgia wrote of wheat coffee in January, while a Virginia officer made mention of “rye coffee well sugared.”[9] In March, a South Carolinian mentioned living on nothing but coffee and bread: “We buy the coffee from sutlers in one pound papers already ground for one dollar. It is Confederate coffee made of I dont know what. It is a rather poor substitute , but we make out very well with it.”[10] There are other mentions of “coffee” in various letters through the spring of 1863, but it is unclear if it was real coffee, or Confederate coffee. One Georgia soldier did make note in April 1863, while stationed near Hamilton Crossing, that “pure Rio coffee” was selling for $6.00 per pound.”[11] There are more mentions of rye coffee following the battle of Gettysburg. Charles Blackford, serving on James Longstreet’s staff, mentions rye coffee in letters dated July 16 from Bunker Hill, and July 30 from Culpeper.[12] This seems to carry true through the end of 1864. Capt. R. E. Park, 12^th Alabama, makes mentions of a sutler selling Confederate coffee for $1.00 per pound. The coffee was made of rye.[13]

   The coffee shortage changed in early January 1864 (maybe even late December). Thomas Lupton, 39^th Battalion Virginia Cavalry, wrote that that were drawing coffee “real coffee, none of your confederate compounds with rice, potatoes and lard..."[14] Coffee was coming through the blockade, mostly through the port of Wilmington. While the Commissary General wanted this coffee reserved for sick and wounded men in the hospitals, coffee was making its way to the men in winter camps. A member of the 7^th Virginia Cavalry wrote on February 6 that they were being issued “a little real coffee and sugar.”[15] A member of the 44^th Georgia wrote on February 17: “We get genuine coffee occasionally.”[16] An officer in the 44^th North Carolina wrote of “genuine coffee” on February 19, and a member of the 48^th North Carolina mentioned “good old Rio coffee” on February 20.[17] This issue of real coffee continues through march and April, 1864.[18]

   Coffee rations (real coffee), seem to continue at a regular pace into mid-1864. A soldier in the 53^rd Georgia wrote from Petersburg on July 4 that he was drawing coffee and sugar. “We draw plenty of coffee. I am getting so I can't drink more than three or four cups of coffee for breakfast."[19] From the trenches, the same month, a member of the 27^th North Carolina thanked his family back home for not sending any coffee: “I am now and have been for the last 3 or 4 weeks having as much as I can use.”[20] This continued into early August, but by mid-August, there started to be mentions in the letter that they were not drawing any coffee and sugar.[21] Yet in October, a member of the 45^th Georgia wrote from Petersburg that they were getting “some coffee.”[22] Also from Petersburg on October 14, a member of the 18^th North Carolina wrote of receiving “pure coffee well sweetened.”[23] Likewise, a member of the 54^th North Carolina wrote in December that they were getting “pure coffee.”[24]

   There are sporadic mentions of coffee into 1865. Of course, by this time, a lot of soldiers were gone, either dead, deserted, or prisoners. Sources are limited. A soldier in the 5^th Alabama wrote of being issued sugar and coffee on February 26, and on March 2, and April 1. He does not indicate if it is real coffee, or Confederate coffee.[25]

   This is a topic that really seems to be misunderstood, and really needs some deeper scholarship. Was the issue of coffee the same for soldiers in the Army of Tennessee? Was it ever an issue for soldiers on garrison duty in Wilmington, or Mobile? How about the issue of coffee in hospitals? And then there is the issue of swapping Southern tobacco for yankee coffee in the many informal truces that occurred during the war. Did Southern tobacco rise in “price” during the trading when the North went through its tobacco crunch? Was coffee, or caffeine withdrawal, an impediment during battle? It seems that many times it is easier to fall back on the oft-repeated anecdotes that all Confederates were cut off from imported coffee for the duration of the war. That is simply not true. It is also interesting to note that Confederate soldiers, in the 200 or so letter and diary sets that I am using to write Feeding the Army of Northern Virginia, never mention making coffee from chicory, burnt corn, peas, or sweet potatoes. I’m not going to say that it did not happen, but the members of my test group are not writing about it. Maybe it occurred primarily in the civilian population, and not in the Army of Northern Virginia. Once again, this topic, on the Confederate side, needs much more research. 

   

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[1] Corson, My Dear Jennie, 2, 10; Wiggins, My Dearest Friend, 3-4.

[2] Wyckoff, The Civil War Letters of Alexander McNeill, 77-78.

[3] Hubbs, Voices from Company D, 42, 46.

[4] Allen and Bohannon, "Campaigning with 'Old Stonewall',"  28.

[5] Driver, 1st Battalion Virginia Infantry, 6-7.

[6] Monroe, “The Road to Gettysburg,” NCHR, 489; Carter, Welcome the Hour of Conflict, 130.

[7] Everson, Far, Far from Home, 117-118.

[8] Taylor, The Cry is War, War, War, 128.

[9]  McCrea, Red Dirt and Isinglass, 392; Welsh "A House Divided," 410.

[10] Wyckoff, The Civil War Letters of Alexander McNeill, 249.

[11] Allen and Bohannon, "Campaigning with 'Old Stonewall', 228.

[12] Blackford, Letters from Lee's Army, 198.

[13] Park, “Diary of Capt. R. E. Park,” SHSH 26:23.

[14] Driver, 1st Battalion Virginia Infantry, 62.

[15] Williams, Rebel Brothers, 187.

[16]  Burnett, “Letters of a Confederate Surgeon, McGarity,” 2:187.

[17] Wright, The Confederate Letters of Benjamin H. Freeman, 34; Dear Aunt, February 21, 1864, "Taking Care of Madison W. Richardson," 42.

[18] Hancok, Four Brothers in Gray, 253; McCrea, Red Dirt and Isinglass, 469; Hubbs, Voices from Company D, 232; Mellon, "A Florida Soldier," 270; Wright, The Confederate Letters of Benjamin H. Freeman, 35.

[19] Ronald, ed. The Stilwell Letters, 272

[20] Wagstaff, “Letters of Thomas Jackson Strayhorn,” NCHR, 323.

[21] Blackford, Letters from Lee's Army, 272; Wiggins, My Dearest Friend, 147.

[22] McCrea, Red Dirt and Isinglass, 518.

[23] Hancock, Four Brothers in Gray, 283.

[24] Henry, Pen in Hand, 136.

[25] Hubbs, Voices from Company D, 357, 365.

Davidson County

It has been a while since we looked at one of North Carolina’s counties and the war. So, I thought we would pick up and take a look at Davidson County, located in the Piedmont section of the state.

Davidson County was formed in 1822 from Rowan County and was named for William Lee Davidson, a patriot during the Revolutionary War who was killed at the battle of Cowan’s Ford, on the Catawba River, in 1781. The county seat is located in Lexington, named for the 1775 battle of Lexington at the start of the Revolution. The railroad arrived in Davidson County in 1855. Another principal town is Thomasville.

In 1860, Davidson County had a total population of 16,601 people, including 3,076 slaves and 147 free people of color. In the 1860 presidential election, 1,186 men voted for Bell, 728 for Breckinridge, and 15 voted for Douglas. In the February 1861 vote on whether or not to call a convention to consider secession, Davidson County men voted 368 for and 1806 against the convention. Their elected delegates were Benton C. Douthitt and Benjamin A. Kittrell. Douthit was born in 1811 and served in the house of Commons in 1844 and the State Senate in 1858. He was a Unionist who switched when Lincoln called for troops. Kittrell was born in 1831, attended UNC, and studied law under Judge Pearson. He also opposed secession.

Davidson County sent nearly 2,000 men into Confederate service. Some of those men served in Companies B and I, 14th North Carolina Troops; Company A, 21st North Carolina Troops; Companies A and I, 42nd North Carolina Troops; Company K, 45th North Carolina Troops; Companies B and H, 48th North Carolina Troops; and Company A, 54th North Carolina Troops.

There are many interesting sites throughout the county. Several soldiers took advantage of the depot at Thomasville and left for the war from that point. A NC Civil War Trail Marker marks the site. Near Main Street and Salem Street in Thomasville is another marker. This one teaches us about a site nearby that was a hospital and a refugee camp. The hospital started out for Confederate soldiers, but later provided care for soldiers from both armies. Not far away is the Thomasville City Cemetery. There are 36 soldiers interred in the soldiers’ plot. Certain websites write that the Thomasville City Cemetery is the only cemetery in the world where Confederate and Union soldiers are buried together in a single gravesite. Thomasville was also the site of a shoe factory that helped supply Confederate soldiers during the war. In Lexington, the county courthouse was burned in February 1865 and General Kilpatrick stayed at the home of Dr. Holt at the close of the war. General Stoneman was stopped in a skirmish on April 12, 1865, at the Yadkin River bridge, and Jefferson Davis camped in a “pine grove” on April 16, 1865, as he sought to evade Federal troops.

In September 1905, “Several thousand people from Davidson and surrounding counties gathered to witness” the unveiling of Davidson County’s Confederate monument. Among the throngs were an estimated 300 to 400 Confederate veterans. The monument was originally in the center square in front of the courthouse, and it was frequently hit by automobiles. In the 1950s the monument was relocated to a less dangerous place, not far from the original site.

John W. Hilton - 58th NCT/US Navy

The information that I found in the Navy Widows’ Pension Applications has intrigued me. So, yesterday I did a little digging. I have been able to find sixteen men who were members of the 58th NCT, and later joined the US Navy. Not all of them appear to have pension records. I have not gone through all of these, but I did find another yesterday: John W. Hilton.

According to the NC Troops (Vol. 15, pg. 411), Hilton’s date and place of enlistment are not recorded (probably in the autumn of 1863). [Possibly mustered in as a private in Company L, 58th North Carolina Troops.] Hilton was captured at Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, November 25, 1863. Sent to Nashville, Tennessee. Transferred to Louisville, Kentucky, where he arrived on December 11, 1863. Transferred to Rock Island, Illinois, where he arrived on or about December 14, 1863. Released at Rock Island on or about February 5, 1864, after taking the Oath of Allegiance and joining the U. S. Navy.

I’ll let Hilton tell you his story (spelling is his):

“In March 1861 and from that time until August 28, 1862, I lived two miles from Thomasville, Davidson County, North Carolina, and during that period my occupation was Wagon and Buggy Manufacturer.

On said August 28, 1862, I was arrested and imprisoned in jail at Lexington, North Carolina, under accusation of entertaining principles and sentiments in favor of the United States government, was refused bail and kept in prison until the 4th day of November, 1862 when I was allowed to give bail and was released upon giving $5000.00 bond, conditional for good and peaceful behavior towards the Confederate Government.

Thereupon, I returned to my home and said business and resumed the same for about twenty days, when on November 25, 1862, after having planned with other union sympathizers to release Federal soldiers imprisoned at Saulsbury, North Carolina, and learning that the plot was discovered and that I was about to be arrested for complicity in it, I fled to avoid capture… to Forsythe County, North Carolina, and there lay in concealment under care of my friend Joseph Nott Singer, until June 1863.

About the last of June, 1863, while attempting to pass through the confederate lines on my way North, I was captured by confederate soldiers near Taylorsville, Tennessee [present day Mountain City, Tennessee].

Six days after, I eluded my guard and laid concealed in various places, principally in Davidson and Forsythe counties, North Carolina, until September 15, 1863, when I started north again, and was recapatured on the 15th day of October, 1863, near Wytheville, Virginia, by confederate soldiers while enroute North, who deprived me of my money, knife, and valuables on my person.

I espaced from them the night that day and by circuitous route and managing to keep concealed during the time, I succeeded in reaching a point near Chattanooga, Tennessee; lair there concealed until after the battle of Lookout Mountain, where soon after, I voluntarily came to the Federal army at Chicamauga Station then in pursuit of Bragg’s army. whereupon I was placed in the custody of the Federal Provost Marshal, and in his custody returned with the Federal forces to Chattanooga, whence as a prisoner was sent to Rock Island… and there kept as such until my enlistment as landsman in the United States Navy on January 20, 1864…"

Hilton wrote the above in August 1891. The Pension Board wanted Hilton to clarify his Confederate service. Hilton appears to be a little more forthcoming in his reply in December 1891. Hilton writes:

“That on or about the last of October 1863, I was endeavoring to pass through the Confederate lines and while doing so was captured in west North Carolina near the Tennessee line by a body of North Carolina State Militia in the Confederate service and carried a prisoner to Raleigh, North Carolina, and while so a prisoner in said Raleigh was compelled by the Confederates authorities to join as a private, captain Eller’s Company L of the 48th North Carolina Regiment of Infantry, which was about the 14th or 15th of November 1863. That I continued as such private in said company L 13 or 14 days (and did not exceed 14) days and was sent back as an invalid to the supply train of General Bragg’s army at Chickamauga Station about the 29th or 30th day of November 1863. I made my escape from the Confederate authorities, sought and found the Federal forces and delived myself to them.”

The Captain that Hilton refers to is Capt. Calvin Eller, Company L, 58th NCT. While Hilton refers to the 48th NCT, the 48th was a Army of Northern Virginia regiment. It is interesting how Hilton changed his story. In the earlier version, he voluntarily went to the Missionary Ridge area, after escaping from Federal soldiers near Wytheville, Virginia. In the later version, he was actually captured, imprisoned, and forced into Confederate service.

After joining the US Navy, he was assigned to the USS Princeton. Hilton was later injured. It appears that he fell from a ladder and broke an ankle and banged his head. He was discharged in May 1865. Hilton later went to California, where he died on January 21, 1898. He is probably buried in Los Angeles.

I wonder what else I will be able to find in those Navy Widow Pension Records…

Union County

For our next county, we will turn our attention to the southern piedmont area: Union County.

Union County, originally populated by Native American tribes known as the Waxhaws and the Catawbas, was created from portions of Anson and Mecklenburg counties in 1842. The area had been settled since the early 1700s by Presbyterian Scots-Irish, Welsh, and Germans. The name “Union” was a compromise. The Democrats wanted to name the county in honor of Andrew Jackson, and the Whigs in honor of Henry Clay. Monroe, the county seat, was named in honor of President James Monroe. While Mecklenburg County, to the west, had prospered with an "industrial revolution" in the 1850s and 1860s, Union County was still predominantly a planter- and tenant-farmer-based society, with a small number of artisans. The county, one of the largest cotton-producing counties in North Carolina, also produced an abundant amount of tobacco. In 1860, Union County had a population of 11,202, including 2,246 slaves. The county voted for Breckinridge in the 1860 presidential election.

In February 1861, the county voted 548 for and 483 against calling a convention. Hugh M. Houston was the elected delegate for the convention.

Union County sent numerous men to serve in the Confederate army. These men served in Co. C, 10th Battalion, North Carolina Heavy Artillery; Co. F, 2nd North Carolina Junior Reserves; Co. I, 4th North Carolina Senior Reserves; Co. B, 15th North Carolina Troops; Co. B, 26th North Carolina Troops; Co. F, 35th North Carolina Troops; Co. D, 37th North Carolina Troops; Co. B, 43rd North Carolina Troops; Cos. A, E, F, and I, 48th North Carolina Troops; and Co. I, 53rd North Carolina Troops. Regiments like the 26th and 37th NCTs were some of the hardest fighting regiments of the Army of Northern Virginia.

The landscape of Union County remained untouched until the very last year of the war. On March 1, 1865, a skirmish was fought between Confederate cavalry under the command of Joseph Wheeler and Federal cavalry under Judson Kilpatrick. That same day, a group of Federal raiders rode into Monroe, stealing horses, mules, a train of ten wagons, “and nineteen negro men…” After reading the ORs, it appears that the wagons belonged to the African-Americans, thirteen of whom later escaped and returned to Monroe.

There were both UCV and UDC Camps in Union County after the war.

On the grounds of the old Union County Court House is a monument dedicated to local Confederate soldiers. The marker was dedicated on July 4, 1910. A parade with floats opened the festivities, followed by the unveiling of the monument. Next, the UDC pinned crosses of honor on the veterans present (about 150), before adjourning to the Masonic hall for dinner.

For more information, check out this web page.