Electronics. Freeze Drying. Material Sciences. Today’s modern-day technologies have made being prepared for short-term and long-term survival easier than ever. Unfortunately, electronics need a constant energy source, freeze dried food is not always on hand, and lightweight materials eventually wear out.
Though today’s sciences have made survival easier, it would behoove us all to keep in mind the survival skills learned and implemented by our forefathers.
For centuries, out ancestors lived without electronics, chemical preservatives, or highly engineered materials. A group of resilient individuals who were skilled at surviving the harsh elements with little rations and supplies were the men who fought during the American Civil War: both Union and Confederate.
During this time, a world run on electricity was left to the realm of science fiction. The men on the front lines during the various battles that took place had not computers, GPS, or digital anything. It was an analog world. Even though that sounds archaic in today’s hi-tech world, the durability of a brass and clockwork world has extended to modern times; whereas, many electronics do not last longer than a few years.
With that in mind, learning to use an analog compass could be one of the most important skills you could acquire.
Additionally, an analog watch would be another common tool that our forefathers carried. The most common style was of course a pocket watch, but a wristwatch would be just fine. What is important is the fact that the watch is a wind up and does not rely on batteries to operate. There are many wind up watches from the Civil War era that are still in use today. All you have to do is remember to wind it up every day and you’re set.
Tools should not be the only focus when looking for survival tips from the past. Food is another important aspect of survival and again we can look to the rations of the the Civil War soldier for ideas. The Confederates and the Federals had very similar diets in the beginning, which consisted primarily of salted pork and dry goods such as beans and rice.
Two main staples of a soldier’s diet was hardtack and desiccated potatoes.
Related recipe: Learn the original recipe of another amazing survival food, Pemmican! Pemmican is a portable, long-lasting, high-energy food that was invented by native Americans. Watch the below video for the full recipe.
Hardtack
The Ancient Romans had them. Nelson’s troops kept barrels of them in their naval vessels. And these cracker-like squares were a staple ration for American soldiers on both sides of the Civil War.
Though they’re called different things in different cultures, this basic recipe has been a staple for militaries around the world for centuries. Made of flour and water, and sometimes a bit of salt or sugar, they are sturdy, filling and will last a long time if kept dry.
A naval blockade kept wheat imports from reaching Confederate states, and so much of the hardtack rationed to soldiers earlier in the war was leftover from the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). Meanwhile, government bakeries in the north were supplying hardtacks to Union troops, who were rationed nine to ten each, per day.
Eating one will make it difficult to imagine how any human being could consume that many hardtacks each day. The dryness sucks out any moisture from your mouth. The heavy wafer in your hand feels just as heavy in the stomach. They are so dense, soldiers used to use them as small plates. And, of course, the flavor is incredibly uninteresting – you’re basically just eating flour. And that, of course, is the point of making them. Where other food blogs often just post old recipes, I’ve always insisted on making whatever I post – firmly believing that much about what you can learn about the history of the food comes from the actual making and eating of it.
Hardtack, or “hard tack” is a simple biscuit or cracker made from flour and water, and when salt was available to the makers it was added as well in years past. The recipe has been used for thousands of years.
The biscuit, or cracker if you prefer, was and still is, used today for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods. The name hardtack is derived, according to historians, from British sailor’s slang for food, which is “tack”, and of course, because it is very hard it is referred to as hardtack.
Hardtack as we know it today has been called pilot bread, ship’s biscuit, sea biscuit, cabin bread, and sea bread. Hardtack became a staple for soldiers fighting in the American Civil War (Colleary, 2013).
The biscuit was usually baked twice and this was done up to six months before being issued to troops to ensure it was dried out properly.
The bread for sea voyages was baked up to four times to ensure it lasted the long trips across the seas, and once cured the cracker lasted for years if it was kept dry. In fact, it was so hard it usually had to be soaked in liquid before eating. Pickle brine, coffee, and even water were used to soften it enough to eat.
There are actual hardtack rations that were issued to troops on display in some Civil War museums that are over 150 years old and still stable by all accounts.
Making Hardtack
Hardtack is an ideal survival ration, just flour, water, and salt if available. The recipe can be tweaked of course, but you have to keep in mind that the reason the cracker can last for years is lack of moisture.
The moisture is literally baked out of the biscuit. Typically it is baked twice, and again, you can adapt this to suit the situation. You may not need the hardtack to last 150 years, so you can add honey or mix some additional grains or spices in with the flour, again keeping moisture levels in mind.
The entire premise was to create a food that did not spoil and, could be carried by anyone under any circumstance and eaten as is, even months or years after the ration was issued.
To make, all you do is add water, a little at a time to flour, (start with 2 cups flour) and add just enough water to create dough, of course if you do add too much water just add more flour. You are not making bread so you would not knead the mixture. It just needs to be pliable enough to press out and cut into squares or circles or frankly whatever shape you want. Use a floured rolling pin to roll out the dough, roll to about 1/4 inch thickness. Preheat your oven to 250° F.
Cut all pieces to the same size so they cook evenly. The biscuits once done are not typically browned like bread or buttermilk biscuits. They should look more like a Saltine Cracker, for example.
Use a wooden rule as a guide for cutting by laying it across the dough as you cut into squares or use a biscuit cutter or a water glass to cut into a traditional biscuit shape. The typical ration size was a 3 inch x 3 inch square.
Once cut “dock” the pieces. Docking is putting holes in the squares to help them cook evenly and so they do not rise while baking. Use a fork, nail, chopsticks or any pointed object. A 3×3 ration square would have had 16 holes according to original recipes used during the Civil war.
Bake initially for four hours at 250° F. Turn the biscuit over after the first two hours for even baking, and once done cool on a rack. Because the biscuits are made from grain they can become infested with weevils so store in sealed pest proof containers.
Hardtack is still made today and it is the ideal survival food. It may lack taste, but it will keep you alive. The problem is that the biscuits will draw all the moisture from your mouth, so having an ample supply of water is important. You may very well have to soak the cracker in liquid or add pieces of it to stews or gravies to thicken or to add texture to other recipes.
They are very hard and difficult to chew. Break off a piece and let sit in your mouth until softened enough to chew and swallow, or dip/soak in coffee or water to soften.
Soldiers during the Civil War would fry salt pork and save the fat to fry hardtack in, which had been soaked in water.
Desiccated potatoes
Now Civil War Army Rations were fairly similar for both sides on paper, in reality the southern rations were normally not as good due to manufacturing and transportation problems. Everyone probably knows about the hard tack and salted beef and pork served to the troops by both sides during the civil war. But have you heard about desiccated vegetables.
Since fresh vegetables spoiled quickly, were heavy and hard to transport, a product called desiccated vegetables was issued to the troops. This product was a mixture of potatoes, cabbage, turnip, carrots, parsnips, beets, tomatoes, onions, peas, beans, lentils and celery. The vegetables were cleaned, shredded, mixed, dried and pressed into hard blocks. From the description of the products, they use a massive press to compress them and then dried the compressed blocks in large ovens. These blocks were expected to soften when boiled. They claimed a cubic yard of desiccated vegetables could contain 16,000 portions.
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As a member of the 3rd Iowa Cavalry Regiment reported, however, “We have boiled, baked, fried, stewed, pickled, sweetened, salted it and tried it in puddings, cakes and pies; but it sets all modes of cooking in defiance, so the boys break it up and smoke it in their pipes!” These were never very popular with the troops and were often called “desecrated vegetables”. These were supposed to provide a reliable source of fiber and prevent scurvy. They were issued to US troops starting in the 1850 and continuing well past the Civil War.. From what I can find out about them, their quality depended on two things. How they were stored and who made them. The ones that reached the troops were often old and of poor quality.
I give you the best recipe I could find after 2 days of research:
Ingredients:
Cabbage, 2 medium to large heads
Carrots 1/2 bag of sliced or baby
Turnips, 4 medium with the tops on them
Parsnips, half the volume of the turnips
Onions, 3-4 small yellow ones
Some other green matter, the identity of which you will refuse to divulge. Perhaps fibers from some green hemp twine from the craft store, or maybe a handful of sawdust from under your workbench.
Preparing the “Sanitary Fodder”: (Desiccated vegetable)
Quarter the cabbage, remove the stem and separate the leaves. Cut off the turnip tops and cut the turnips into really thin, small slices. Now chop the turnip tops up too, and throw them all in a pot together along with your mystery ingredient.
Slice the carrots, turnips, parsnips, and onions, and put them in another pot. Remember, the smaller you dice them the better they’ll stack and the quicker they’ll dry.
Put the two pots on to boil separately. Cook until completely done, but they should still retain a rough texture. Drain, strain, and press out as much water as you can ahead of time.
If you have a food dryer, use a plastic 4 x 4 x 3 freezer container with holes drilled or punched into it. Press the veggies in as densely as possible in the following layers: 1/2 inch of green mix, then 1/2 inch of carrot mix layer, another green mix layer, etc. Keep packing them down. You want to end up with green mix on the top and bottom layers. In the end, you should end up with a three-inch thick vegetarian lasagna.
If you are using an oven, put the veggies in a 9 x 13 pan, layered as described above. Place a wire mesh on top and weigh it down with a couple of bricks. Cook at 200-250. Check the mix periodically by prodding it to see if it’s dried yet. You’ll have to set your own cook time when you see what works for you. Remember in an oven you run the risk of singeing the veggies on the outside if you cook it too long. Be sure to prop the oven door open so the moisture can escape, otherwise your bespectacled physiognomy will be greeted with a blast of superheated steam as you open the oven door, rendering you temporarily blind and leaving a first degree burn on your face that will make you look like a raccoon in reverse. Ask me how I know. On second thought, don’t ask.
In the end, if done right, and after the block cools, use a miter box or hacksaw to trim your brick into 2-4 inch squares. Be sure to wrap these squares in plastic wrap. Then, go find that roll of 3M Masking Paper you use to roll cartridges and wrap the little plastic-wrapped bricks up and tie them with string so the plastic doesn’t show. Store the little bricks in a Ziplock so they will stay properly mummified. The paper and string treatment isn’t actually authentic, but it beats the sight of a plastic bag poking out of your haversack. It would make Billings proud. Amazingly, this is about three days’ period rations for an individual Civil War soldier. A little bit of a cube crumbled into a bucket of salt pork & army bean soup goes a long way. Despite the rather bizarre (by modern standards) list of ingredients and method of preparation, it was well received by the soldiers.
Ingredients:
Cabbage, 2 medium to large heads
Carrots 1/2 bag of sliced or baby
Turnips, 4 medium with the tops on them
Parsnips, half the volume of the turnips
Onions, 3-4 small yellow ones
Some other green matter, the identity of which you will refuse to divulge. Perhaps fibers from some green hemp twine from the craft store, or maybe a handful of sawdust from under your work bench.
Preparing the “Sanitary Fodder”: (Desiccated vegetable)
Quarter the cabbage, remove the stem and separate the leaves. Cut off the turnip tops and cut the turnips into really thin, small slices. Now chop the turnip tops up too, and throw them all in a pot together along with your mystery ingredient.
Slice the carrots, turnips, parsnips, and onions, and put them in another pot. Remember, the smaller you dice them the better they’ll stack and the quicker they’ll dry.
Put the two pots on to boil separately. Cook until completely done, but they should still retain a rough texture. Drain, strain, and press out as much water as you can ahead of time.
If you have a food dryer, use a plastic 4 x 4 x 3 freezer container with holes drilled or punched into it. Press the veggies in as densely as possible in the following layers: 1/2 inch of green mix, then 1/2 inch of carrot mix layer, another green mix layer, etc. Keep packing them down. You want to end up with green mix on the top and bottom layers. In the end, you should end up with a three-inch thick vegetarian lasagna.
If you are using an oven, put the veggies in a 9 x 13 pan, layered as described above. Place a wire mesh on top and weigh it down with a couple of bricks. Cook at 200-250. Check the mix periodically by prodding it to see if it’s dried yet. You’ll have to set your own cook time when you see what works for you. Remember in an oven you run the risk of singeing the veggies on the outside if you cook it too long. Be sure to prop the oven door open so the moisture can escape, otherwise your bespectacled physiognomy will be greeted with a blast of superheated steam as you open the oven door, rendering you temporarily blind and leaving a first degree burn on your face that will make you look like a raccoon in reverse. Ask me how I know. On second thought, don’t ask.
In the end, if done right, and after the block cools, use a miter box or hacksaw to trim your brick into 2-4 inch squares. Be sure to wrap these squares in plastic wrap. Then, go find that roll of 3M Masking Paper you use to roll cartridges and wrap the little plastic-wrapped bricks up and tie them with string so the plastic doesn’t show. Store the little bricks in a Ziplock so they will stay properly mummified. The paper and string treatment isn’t actually authentic, but it beats the sight of a plastic bag poking out of your haversack. It would make Billings proud. Amazingly, this is about three days’ period rations for an individual Civil War soldier. A little bit of a cube crumbled into a bucket of salt pork & army bean soup goes a long way. Despite the rather bizarre (by modern standards) list of ingredients and method of preparation, it was well received by the soldiers.
Read more about our ancestor way of life and how they coped with the hard times they had to endure each day in this amazing book. The Lost Ways.
