October 2023
a pioneer in the oyster canning business going back at least to 1851, according to the Boston City directory.
After New Orleans fell to the Union, and the local canneries along with it, did Confederates have access to canned foods besides stoneware or glass jars from home? Certainly. A soldier in the 27th Arkansas Infantry died after eating improperly processed food from a tin can. A colonel in the Army of Northern Virginia recalled making gruel from cornmeal over a campfire in a tin can when rations got short, and further that the tin can as a cooking vessel had to be shared. There were also canned goods shipped to Confederate hospitals for the patients. A Confederate prisoner of war in Camp Douglas near Chicago mentioned receiving canned milk specifically. There were enough Southerners exposed to safe and
edible food in tin cans that postbellum the sales of canned food in the South skyrocketed.
Craig L. Barry was born in Charlottesville, Va. He holds his BA and Masters degrees from UNC (Charlotte). Craig served The Watchdog Civil War Quarterly as Associate Editor and Editor from 2003–2017. The Watchdog published books and columns on 19th-century material and donated all funds from publications to battlefield preservation. He is the author of several books including The Civil War Musket: A Handbook for Historical Accuracy (2006, 2011), The Unfinished Fight: Essays on Confederate Material Culture Vol. I and II (2012, 2013). He has also published four books in the Suppliers to the Confederacy series on English Arms & Accoutrements, Quartermaster stores and other European imports.
