Fort Smith Storehouse

Post Date & Time: 2007-09-11 07:41:58

Category: [structures]  

Camera: DSC-H1
Focal Length: 14.2 mm
Exposure Time: 1/1000 sec
Aperture: f 4
ISO: 64
Flash: Not Fired

This is the original building used as the storehouse at Fort Smith, an actual Fort on the western frontier, which is located in the city of Fort Smith, Arkansas.

The U.S. Army fed its enlisted men a monotonous diet in the 19th century. Field rations consisted mainly of salt pork, a preserved meat often called "salt horse" by the soldiers and hardtack, a hard cracker made from flour and water. Troops stationed at a garrison such as Fort Smith could look forward to fresh meat and bread. Noticeably absent from the official ration that the army provided were fruits and vegetables.

Daily ration, enlisted soldiers, U.S. Army, 1805-1889:

The daily ration allowed to the individual soldier remained largely unchanged through the nineteenth century. Imagine eating two meals a day based on this diet:

3/4 pound of pork or bacon or 1-1/4 pounds of fresh or salt beef
18 ounces of bread or flour or 12 ounces of hard bread or cornmeal
1 gill of whiskey
At the rate of: 4 pounds soap, 1-1/2 pounds candles, 2 quarts of salt, 4 quarts of vinegar, 8 quarts of peas or beans, to the hundred rations

In 1832, the whiskey portion of the ration was replaced with 6 pounds of coffee and 12 pounds of sugar per 100 rations.

Had no breakfast except some bean soup. I call that poor fare for a fellow that's on duty every other day.
- Private Henry Strong, (Company K, 12th Kansas Infantry, February 3, 1864)

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