And keeping the lid on that hard tack
!["Hard Tack" ( Hartford, Conn. : The War Photograph & Exhibition Co., No. 21 Linden Place, [1863 February]; LOC: LC-DIG-stereo-1s02737)](https://www.bluegrayreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/1s02737r.jpg)
“Army Bread” = sore jaws
Too much history?
I thought this photo would be a great placeholder for a day I couldn’t come up with a post or was on vacation, but there is a bit too much information at the Library of Congress. This photo was taken at Acquia Creek in February, 1863. At the time of the photo James William Forsyth was serving as Provost Marshal for the Army of the Potomac. Having graduated from West Point in 1856, Forsyth served in the army until 1897. He fought in some of the Indian wars after 1865.
To get back to my point, the sands of time kind of overtook me. Based on the Wikipedia article, 150 years ago today Captain Forsyth was far from Virginia – in northern Georgia as adjutant to General Sheridan.
The Library of Congress link also features part of a verse about hard tack sung during the war:
“Many days we have crunched you until our jaws are sore,
Oh! “Soft Bread” come again once more.”
I did not see that particular verse in the lyrics at Wikipedia. Apparently there was food worse than hard tack though:
” Your were old and very wormy, but you’re pie beside that mush,—
O Hard Tack, come again once more.”
