Civil War wood chimney using a barrel

John Davis Billings (1842-1933) from Massachusetts, was a soldier during the Civil War. Later he wrote a book about Army life, first published in 1887.

For another Veteran's Day. Thank you all who served or are serving. My father fought all the way up Italy in the mountains against fascists, so that is why I try to compile a post for Memorial Day and Veteran's Day.

Food History talks and conferences (25) below.

Hardtack and Coffee or The Unwritten Story of Army Life:

"The chimney was built outside, after the southern fashion. It stood sometimes at the end and sometimes in the middle of one side of the stockade. It started from a fire-place which was fashioned with more or less skill, according to the taste or mechanical genius of the workman, or the tools and materials used, or both.

In my own company there were two masons who had opportunities, whenever a winter camp was pitched, to practice their trade far more than they were inclined to do. The fire-places were built of brick, of stone, or of wood. If there was a deserted house in the neighborhood of the camp which boasted brick chimneys, they were sure to be brought low to serve the Union cause in the manner indicated, unless the house was used by some general officer as headquarters.

When built of wood, the chimneys were lined with a very thick coating of mud. They were generally continued above the fireplace with split wood built cob-fashion, which was filled between and lined with the red clayey soil of Virginia, but stones were used when abundant.

A CHIMNEY ON FIRE
Very frequently pork and beef barrels were secured to serve this purpose, being put one above another; and now and then a lively hurrah would run through the camp when one of these was discovered on fire. It is hardly necessary to remark that not all these chimneys were monuments of success. Too often the draught was down instead of up, and the inside of some stockades resembled smoke-houses. Still, it was “all in the three years,” as the boys used to say. It was all the same to the average soldier, who rarely saw fit to tear down and build anew more scientifically.

Billings, John Davis. Hardtack and Coffee or The Unwritten Story of Army Life. Boston: G. M. Smith & Co., 1887.

Thanksgiving post by Hagley - includes mills (even a tidal mill) to grind flour & spices and a patent model stove. A Seasoning for the Holiday Season: A Heaping Helping of Thanksgiving Patent History. Hagley Museum and Library. HERE

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