5fish
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Here is a good tale about coffee saving the Union Army from disease, while the Confederate Army's lack of coffee left it unprotected... Opening story about Coffee and the walk...
Great name for a magazine: Coffee or Die"...
How Coffee May Have Started — and Ended — the Civil War
With 36 pounds of coffee issued annually to Union soldiers, federal troops consumed the bitter drink at an unprecedented rate. Coffee consumption among federal troops was so high that some Sharps rifles even came with a small grinder built into the buttstock. Across the battlefields of America’s deadliest war, Union camps gleamed with thousands of tiny campfires all boiling water for the morning brew.
This seemingly insignificant act of boiling water for coffee coincidentally purified it and helped stem the spread of dysentery. Foot soldiers of every era can attest to the debilitating effects of that disease; whether a bout of dysentery proves fatal or not, a soldier struggling through the throes of bloody bowel movements is combat ineffective. So while Union troops greedily guzzled their caffeinated beverages, they inadvertently protected themselves from the deadly waterborne bacteria. As the war progressed, Confederate forces found themselves increasingly lacking in healthy, hearty troops, and ultimately entered some of the war’s pivotal contests with insufficient forces. In part, one could conclude, this was due to a lack of coffee.
Great name for a magazine: Coffee or Die"...
How Coffee May Have Started — and Ended — the Civil War
With 36 pounds of coffee issued annually to Union soldiers, federal troops consumed the bitter drink at an unprecedented rate. Coffee consumption among federal troops was so high that some Sharps rifles even came with a small grinder built into the buttstock. Across the battlefields of America’s deadliest war, Union camps gleamed with thousands of tiny campfires all boiling water for the morning brew.
This seemingly insignificant act of boiling water for coffee coincidentally purified it and helped stem the spread of dysentery. Foot soldiers of every era can attest to the debilitating effects of that disease; whether a bout of dysentery proves fatal or not, a soldier struggling through the throes of bloody bowel movements is combat ineffective. So while Union troops greedily guzzled their caffeinated beverages, they inadvertently protected themselves from the deadly waterborne bacteria. As the war progressed, Confederate forces found themselves increasingly lacking in healthy, hearty troops, and ultimately entered some of the war’s pivotal contests with insufficient forces. In part, one could conclude, this was due to a lack of coffee.
