This Day in Georgia Civil War History
January 12, 1861
Fort Pulaski Letter on Food and Training
A Georgia soldier at Fort Pulaski wrote his sister concerning the food - and the training - he was getting.
“…Patriotism at matins enabled me to destroy two slices of bread and a sailor’s biscuit, and a return of the same emotion at dinner ended in the assimilation of more bread with a small supply of beef. I feel now that I shall never starve for want of a profession, having learnt how to make an unmade bed and to wash dishes. If these hard times continue, I shall become either a chambermaid or cook. … Anything in the shape of meat and drink is now very acceptable. The state fare is rather rough, and few depend on it. … I spent this morning instructing recruits and in being instructed in heavy gun practice. …” Source: Mills Lane (ed.), “Dear Mother: Don’t grieve about me. If I get killed, I’ll only be dead.”: Letters from Georgia Soldiers in the Civil War (Savannah: Beehive Press, 1990), p. 1.
