Civil War Cooking

Civil War re-enactors: The battles are only part of the experience

For Oregonians, the words Civil War more often conjure up colors of yellow and green or orange and black than blue and gray.

But as the U.S. observes the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War (1861-1865) , hundreds of hardy Northwest souls pull on wool uniforms and fill paper cartridges with gunpowder to re-enact the battles and daily life of the War Between the States.

In May, the Mount Pisgah Battle Reenactment and Living History event at Howard Buford Park in Eugene drew hundreds of re-enactors and nearly as many spectators. One-thousand re-enactors are expected July 2-4 at the 21st annual Civil War re-enactment at Willamette Mission State Park north of Keizer.

"Some members of the public might stay away because they just see these re-enactors as fanatics," said Robert Harrison, who teaches Civil War history at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany and accompanied students to the Mount Pisgah event. "It's not really about living out a fantasy that maybe the South could have won. It's about teaching the public the material details of Civil War life."

Whether they're Yankees or Rebels, re-enactors spend countless hours researching everything from military maneuvers and rifled muskets to hoop skirts and 19th-century cooking.

"Their basic mission is to honor the people who fought and suffered on both sides," Harrison said.

"My friends think the whole thing is very odd, and they make fun of me constantly," said re-enactor Jemima Bentley, in the Confederate Camp at Mount Pisgah. She caught the re-enacting bug after taking Harrison's class.

"I don't really mind, since it sounds pretty odd to a lot of people. (But) my family thinks it's great."

The 20-year-old decided against portraying a civilian woman, "because, honestly, they spent a lot of time washing and baking corn bread, and I figured I can do that at home. I like being a soldier. I don't get to do this anywhere else."

Re-enacted battles like Mount Pisgah's aren't based on actual combat events, and they have pre-determined outcomes: The South won in the morning, the Union prevailed in the afternoon.

"The re-enactments ... sort of bring to life some of the things that I talk about in class," Harrison said. "If I do a lecture on the Battle of Gettysburg, then I take the students to a Civil War re-enactment. They can see what it means for a group of soldiers to move to a certain area. They didn't just march. It was difficult.

Vintage Cookery: Civil War Cooking

This is the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. Over the next 4 years there will be all sorts of doings associated with the remembrance of this historical event. There will be civil war reenactments, quilt shows featuring antique quilts of the civil war era and reproduction quilts of that type. For Pat's take on what was supposedly Abraham Lincoln's mother's quilt: click here . The recipe for plum duff was somewhat like a boiled pudding, which got me to thinking about plum pudding, an English and an early American traditional holiday dish. As I understand it, the word "plum" in olden days referred to any dried fruit. Finding this solved the puzzle for me as to why none of the recipes for plum pudding called for plums. Plum duff called for plums which I didn't have so I made plum pudding in the slow cooker. This was a spicy version, relatively low in fat, which I served with a lemon pudding sauce. The basis for the recipe I got from, All Maine Cooking , and amended it somewhat for what I had on hand. The sauce came straight from the book. Here is a picture of the final result. The top was a little messed up because it stuck to the bottom of the slow cooker. No matter, it was a winner. The recipe follows the picture. Pour into a well greased baking insert for the crockpot or any suitable dish which will fit into your crockpot. Put the cover on the baking insert or cover your dish with foil. You should have put about an inch of hot water in the bottom of the crockpot. Cook on high for about 4 hours. This could be cooked on the stove or in the oven, but you will have to shorten the time to use these methods.  My wife, Pat, and I run quiltersmuse.com website. She writes for The Quilter magazine and I provide the photos for her articles. I also cook. I have been putting up the occasional recipes on our website, but wanted to do more with cooking information. I have a great interest in old time recipes, vintage cookware and vintage textiles. You will find many old time stamping patterns used to illustrate the posts. These patterns, if copied may be used in outline stitch embroidering of kitchen textiles; speaking of which, I will also show and discuss kitchen textiles from our collection. Many of the recipes shown have been culled from old cookbooks. Some are old family recipes originating from who knows where, perhaps the back of a box or an old clipping. Be sure to check quiltersmuse.

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Food and Recipes of the Civil War (Cooking Throughout American History):

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