The Quartermaster Review – September-October 1928 THE COMMISSARY DEPARTMENT The Commissary Department is the great heart that sends the life-blood bounding through the veins of an army. Other departments are useful and necessary, but this is absolutely indispensable. To it the soldier looks for his daily food; without it no army could exist, no victories would be won. The wise commander will see that the haversack, not less than the cartridge-box, is well filled; for the hungry soldier, however abundantly supplied with powder and ball, is lacking in the one great essential to success-physical strength and endurance. The immense importance of such a bureau, supplying the nerve and sinew of the army, caring for the lives and health of thousands of men, and involving such vast consequences as the fate of a battle or the result of a campaign, will be seen at a glance. Few of those inexperienced in military life, however, have any definite conception of its practical workings; and it is with the design of giving the public an inside view of this department, as it exists in one army, that it is made the special subject of this chapter. As remarked, the business of the Commissary Depart¬ment is to supply the army with subsistence, or food. Of this subsistence, the regulations provide that each man shall be entitled to a certain fixed amount daily, which amount is designated a ration. Rations consist of beef, salt and fresh, pork, bacon, flour, pilot or hard bread, corn¬meal, coffee, sugar, beans, peas, rice, hominy, molasses, vinegar, soap, candles, and desiccated vegetables. The latter are usually potatoes, cut, scalded, dried, and put up in barrels. When thus prepared they have very much the appearance of coarse cornmeal, and are used as a preventive of scurvy. Each days ration-subsistence for one man-in bulk averages 3 pounds in weight. A ration of whiskey-1 gill daily-is allowed in cases of excessive fatigue and exposure, but is issued only on special order. The negroes in camp also draw rations, principally made up of bacon, corn-meal, and molasses. All of these rations, forming the entire subsistence of the army, are under the charge of the Chief Commissary, by whom the corps commissaries are supplied; and these in turn supply the division commissaries. Brigade officers draw from the division commissaries, and regimental from brigade officers. The men draw their rations by companies, and they are then divided among the messes. The cost of each ration, including transportation, is about 20 cents. All provisions are purchased by contract, proposals to furnish them having been invited by public advertisement. The salt meats and fresh beef for the army are brought from the north. About one hundred head of cattle are used per day; and they arrive in lots of some five hundred at a time. Those now at camp came from Chicago, and nearly all that are used are from Illinois. The pilot bread is chiefly made in Cincinnati, New Albany, St. Louis, and Chicago, and its average cost is about 5 cents a pound. The quartermaster provides transportation for all subsistence from the place of delivery by the contractors to the army, and the buildings in which to store it. The special duty of the commissary is to keep watch of the amounts on hand, maintain a full supply, and notify the quartermaster to furnish transportation and storehouses when needed. The supply of cornmeal is constantly kept up. Large quantities of the kiln-dried article are brought from the north, and a mill is constantly in operation at army headquarters manufacturing it. When in camp, the entire army is supplied with fresh bread three days out of five. On the march the hard bread is used exclusively. Each brigade is, as a general thing, supplied with portable bake-ovens, with all the necessary appliances, such as kneading troughs, baking pans, etc. The yeast used is made of hops and, when they can be obtained, potatoes. Troops who have been some time in the service make mud ovens, wherever they are camped, similar to those found in primitive settlements. Their construction is easy and simple, and when completed they answer every purpose of a larger and more pretentious structure. A pile of wood is built up to fix the size and shape of the oven, and braces are put across the top to prevent the roof from falling in. The whole is then plastered over and covered thickly with mud, the wood burned out, and the result is a good oven, which lasts much longer than one would suppose. The heat cracks it sometimes, it is true, but the cracks are speedily stopped with mud, and the whole is as good as new again. The advantages of these ovens can hardly be estimated, for nothing contributes more to the health and strength of an army than good bread. In an emergency, troops can subsist upon it alone. In camp each man consumes very nearly the whole of his rations. Whatever is saved by not drawing full rations is called the company savings, for which they are allowed a commutation in money. Each full company can save about $15 per month while in camp, and more when on the march, as but little over half the army ration is then consumed. The more active an army, the less the expense of transportation and subsistence; for the reason that men at leisure think more of their wants than they would if busily engaged. This is a matter of everyday experience with all classes of men. Anyone who has ever traveled on a steamboat will acknowledge its truth at once. It is astonishing on how little troops will sometimes subsist when in active service. One of our generals recently remarked that he did not see how his men lived on the march. They had scarcely any rations at all-just enough to call them such-and yet were in fine health and spirits. This explains why armies that march the most have the least sickness. They eat less and exercise more. The food of a soldier is strong and hearty and is intended to produce stout and healthy men, but in camp too much is eaten and too little done to insure good health. Of late, onions have been largely introduced as an article of food. These and potatoes are eagerly desired by the men, so much so that if they could be constantly supplied with them they would be willing to forego one-fourth of their rations. Twenty thousand bushels of potatoes and 10,000 bushels of onions could be consumed in the army every month, with incalculable advantage to the men composing it. And yet, strange to say, they are so scarce that it is difficult, and at times impossible, to procure them in anything like sufficient quantities. This, too, when the quarter of any county in the Ohio Valley-say, 5,000 acres-will grow enough to feed the entire army for a whole year. Potatoes cost now (in the latter part of April, 1863) $1 a bushel-the contract price at the Ohio River-and onions $2 a bushel. At these prices the farmer can produce no more profitable crop. It is estimated that from 800 to 1,000 bushels of onions can be grown on a single acre, which, even at one-half the present prices, would prove most remunerative to the producer. Forty acres, thus planted, could be easily cultivated by a few contra-bands, and, with half the labor expended on the more usual crops, be made doubly and trebly more profitable. These suggestions are thrown out in the hope that they may meet the eye of someone who will appreciate their importance and induce him to take some steps towards remedying the scarcity which has called them forth. These vegetables are necessary to the health of the soldier. Without them and others, scurvy will inevitably make its appearance and the efficiency of the army be totally destroyed. But, if the war continues, the supply must be largely increased, or it will be absolutely impossible to furnish them, except in quantities too limited to be useful. Already prices have more than doubled and are steadily increasing. The subject is worthy the attention of north¬ern farmers. The country is at war, and, while the war continues, all the energies of the people should be directed to its prosecution. Such articles as are needed in the army should be produced to the exclusion of others, especially when profit as well as patriotism prompts to such a course. But potatoes and onions are not the only vegetables that are, or can be, used with similar beneficial results. Beans have become a staple article of food. Some 250 bushels are used daily in this army; and so great is the demand that the price has risen from 70 and 80 cents to $2.88 a bushel. Sour-krout and pickles are also excellent antiscorbutics and are issued pro rata in lieu of other things, when procurable. But there is always a deficiency of these articles. The people should see that more of them are put up, and that less is allowed to waste and rot. They, too, command a good price, and with a little care an abundant supply for the whole army could be furnished. Another very excellent article, both common and cheap, is canned tomatoes. These can be used with great advantage at all times, and are especially desirable in hospitals. The necessarily coarse and substantial army fare, when long used and unvaried, wears upon the constitution and eventually breaks it down. These vegetables afford a variety and prevent all. injurious results, and thus save the lives of thousands of soldiers. The Government does everything in its power to furnish a sufficient quantity, but upon the people at home the soldiers must mainly depend for them. The demand will always exceed the supply, and, unless more of them are grown, prices will necessarily rule too high to make them as abundant in the army as could be wished. Other things being equal, the regiment that has the best cooks will be the healthiest and most effective. One good cook is worth ten doctors, as may easily be seen by an examination and comparison of the different messes in camp. One of our Pennsylvania regiments was especially noticed for the unusually healthy and contented appear¬ance of the men. Inquiries revealed the fact that it was supplied with an excellent cook, whom the officers declared they would rather have than all the doctors in the army. This is a point which has been too much neglected, but is now coming to be better understood and appreciated. Many of the negroes who flock to the camps are fine cooks, and as such are very generally employed, to the manifest benefit of the men and an equal advantage to the service. The Commissary Department of the army has been managed with signal ability. The supply of provisions was at first found to be scant, and immense quantities had to be transported by wagon trains a distance of 35 miles. Even after the railroad was completed, this wagon trans¬portation was continued, and brought to the army large amounts of subsistence in addition to the many carloads that came daily by rail. By earnest and unremitting ef¬forts, thirty days provisions were accumulated, and the army began its advance, which it could not have done without this supply. A battle and the period of rest neces¬sarily following consumes nearly all of the stock, and new stores must be gathered. Taking advantage of the high water in the river, immense cargoes of everything eatable were brought in and thence forwarded by rail to the army. Many otherwise unoccupied houses are filled from cellar to roof with commissary stores, and even then much of it is unhoused. The visitor is struck upon his arrival with the enormous piles of hard bread he sees near the depot. He has heard of a mountain of stuff, but never before so fully realized it. One mass is larger than a common two¬story house, and around it are clustered other and smaller heaps, reminding him of the outhouses surrounding some stately mansion. Were all communication cut off with the north, the army, with the supply now on hand, together with what can be gathered from the surrounding country, could easily subsist itself for six months, and on short rations for a longer time. Such an accumulation inspires confidence in the masses of the soldiery. It tells of a foresight promising well for the future, and leaves no room for the disheartening influences which invariably attend an uncertain and irregularly supplied commissary. They know that all that can be done for them will be done; and, with such assurance, they will put their hands boldly to the musket and look not backward until the end of their march shall have been reached. The preceding account of the commissary department will show that its head sustains a responsibility hardly second to any in the army. At all times his services are very important, but in time of battle even more so, if such a thing is possible. He must always be ready to issue when called upon, whether it be by day or night. He must also exercise a careful foresight with a view to meet contingencies of every kind. In short, it requires a peculiar talent, which every man does not possess, to become a practical, successful commissary. It is no small matter to cater for 50,000 men and to so arrange that a full supply shall al¬ways be on hand. The efficiency and capability of the chief commissary of this army may well be inferred from the length of time he has held the position, and the universal satisfaction given by him, to which no word of comment need be added.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 00:21:06 +0000