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| Mess kettles and A mess pan. |
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Once in a while a ration of ham or bacon was dealt out to the soldiers, but of such quality that I do not retain very grateful remembrances of it. It was usually black, rusty, and strong, and decidedly unpopular.
Once only do I recall a lot of smoked shoulders as being supplied to my company, which were very good.
They were never duplicated.
For that reason, I presume, they stand out prominently in memory.
The bean ration was an important factor in the sustenance of the army, and no edible, I think, was so thoroughly appreciated.
Company cooks stewed them with pork, and
when the pork was good and the stew or soup was well done and not burned,--a rare combination of circumstances,--they were quite palatable in this way. Sometimes ovens were built of stones, on the top of the ground, and the beans were baked in these, in mess pans or kettles.
But I think the most popular method was to bake them in the ground.
This was the almost invariable course pursued by the soldiers when the beans were distributed for them to cook.
It was done in the following way: A hole was dug large enough to set a mess pan or kettle in, and have ample space around it besides.
Mess kettles, let me explain here, are cylinders in shape, and made of heavy sheet iron.
They are from thirteen to fifteen inches high, and vary in diameter from seven inches to a foot.
A mess pan stands about six inches high, and is a foot in diameter at the top. I think one will hold nearly six quarts.
To resume;--in the bottom of the hole dug a flat stone was put, if it could be
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