Storing flour in the US Capitol 1861

Flour barrels everywhere - “I shall have no visitors.”
Jan 6 - Five years. Never forget the horrific attack on the police and the Capitol building in 2021. I never will. Staff included the teenage pages - one of my sons was a page during the summer some years ago. I spent several years researching the Civil War bake ovens in the Capitol and wrote a booklet in 2014.

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.

"Fitting out" a Midshipman's sea chest 1820

Memorial Day
Never forget that many gave their lives over the last 250 years for us to live in a free democracy.

Cruikshank's 1820 image showed what was needed to outfit a very young midshipman (in blue), including food and drinks.

Bread for soldiers in 1821 manual

General Regulations for the Army included instructions for quartermasters to inspect the bakery and officers were to read articles on "Baking" in..... encyclopaedias. Printed in Phila.

Thanks to all those in the military and veterans.

World War I trenches - dining & baking

Memorial Day - never forget.

Soldiers had a rough time in the trenches, and civilians at home were asked to...
"FEED A FIGHTER Eat only what you need – Waste nothing – That he and his family may have enough" 1918.

Click to enlarge images.

WWI and WWII bakers and cookery schools

A World War I recruiting poster. Enlist as a group and serve with your "pals" in a Company of Bakers. For experienced or trainees up to 45 years old.

A World War II school in the desert in Egypt used ovens out of petrol tins and oil drums. Both images from Library of Congress.

Army bake oven with a barrel

Memorial Day - To remember all who sacrificed their lives to preserve our democracy.

The Manual for Army Cooks 1896 image of an above ground dirt oven and an iron dutch oven.

Revolutionary War comes to the Tatnall and Lea mills in Delaware

During the Revolutionary War the Tatnall and Lea flour mills of Brandywine, by Wilmington, Delaware furnished flour to the American army. Washington and Lafayette visited Joseph Tatnall. Before the battle of the Brandywine, Washington ordered the top grinding stones of the mills to be removed and hidden from the British troops.

Army chef used umbrella to protect fried croquettes - 1854

Memorial Day... never forget.

During the Crimean War, the chef for Prince George (Lt. Gen. & cousin of Queen Victoria) was preparing a dish of fried croquettes in the rain before the Battle of Alma (Sept. 1854)

Eating and sleeping in the Capitol at the start of the Civil War, April 1861

To honor our troops now sleeping on the floor of the US Capitol and visitor's center to protect it from another terrorist assault...

Civil War bake ovens in the US Capitol

First and foremost, thanks to all Veterans and those who are serving now.

Following the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861, four thousand soldiers moved into the newly remodeled Capitol. Men from Mass. quickly built two ovens in the basement to make the bread portion of their rations. Other ovens were built, producing 65,000 loaves a day (24/7) for a year and a half.

Memorial Day - Never forget

Remember those who served... and those still serving to protect us.


John Billings’ Hardtack and Coffee. Boston: 1887

Soyer’s Army Barrack Cooking Apparatus and obit 1858

Alexis Soyer (1810-1858) was born and trained in France, became a famous chef in London, designed the Reform Club kitchen and other cooking equipment.  He helped during the Irish famine, and the military during the Crimean War (which shortened his life).

4th of July 1819 in Philadelphia

"Independence Day celebration in Centre Square" Philadelphia, 1819 by John Lewis Krimmel [Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia].

Military campaign chairs and tables

Years ago I wrote a post on Army tables and chairs with creative ways to close and transport on mules or wagons during the Rev War and Civil War ... 39 examples HERE

World War I - 100 years ago - rolling kitchen

This year is the 100th anniversary of the end of The Great War.  The photograph shows a World War I rolling kitchen from 1918.  Library of Congress: "Machine Gun Battalion, Company G, Second Brigade, rolling kitchen. Hermitage, France. March 11, 1918."

Crimean War steamers Abundance (bakery) and Bruiser (flour mill)

The famed cook Alexis Soyer (1810-1858) wrote Soyer's Culinary Campaign (1857) about his experiences to improve the cooking and baking for the British Soldiers during the Crimean War (1853-56).  Floating bakeries on ships were described at length; from "working of the flour" to 15+ thousand rations baked each day.  More on floating mills HERE

Flour as a war target

Flour barrels in the Capitol at the start of the Civil War. A tale from the Revolutionary War, below, from an 1831 children's book, described how a miller trickily did not lie while protecting barrels of flour from the British.

Easter scratched egg with the Battle of Bunker Hill

Germans in Pennsylvania and Maryland dyed their eggs in brown onion skins or logwood, then scratched designs on the shells to give as gifts. A young Capt. Wm Beatty carved the Battle of Bunker Hill on an egg!! The incredible design was described by a British officer, prisoner in 1781 Frederick, Md. Eggs in photo were made by Tom Martin of Landis Valley museum.

Baron von Steuben's French chef at Valley Forge

Cooking beef on a string.  Steuben's "cook of celebrity" couldn't prepare their ration of beef and bread without utensils. He asked their 'wagoner" how to cook the meat and was told "by hanging it up by a string, and turning it before a good fire..."