Odd bits of History
The Easterling Story
On Lexington Common there used to be a small, weatherworn monument bearing
the names of a handful of men. It honored American
Colonists killed or wounded in April's damp dawn when they tried to stop
the British Army.
The ancient monument was made of crumbling limestone and it was hard to read twenty years
ago. It may have become unreadable and was removed. On a recent visit to Lexington, I was unable to find it but I remember it from several previous visits.
It could have been the very first monument dedicated to the
Lexington heroes. Among names of the wounded was carved, "Prince Easterling, a
Negro man."
The First Encounter
Dispatch riders galloped through the night. "The Regulars
are out!!
Patriot militiamen mustered on Lexington Common.
Just after dawn the British troops marched into Lexington. The
were out to disarm the Americans.
As they approached the grassy Common, they saw before them a small group
of armed Americans . Minute Men. The British regulars drew up to face them. The
British column was led by Major Pitcairn.
Major Pitcairn yelled, "Disperse,
ye damned rebels!" He yelled it twice.
The Minutemen did not disperse.
Then Major Pitcairn gave the order, "Fire!"
When the smoke of the British volley cleared a handful of dead and wounded Americans lay in the
damp spring grass.
Among the wounded was Prince Easterling, a Negro Man.
The Second Encounter
Four black patriots were in the line of battle at Bunker (Breed's)
Hill. One
was listed as, "Salem Easterling."
The Park Service guides at Bunker Hill say that a black man
named Salem Easterling shot and
killed Major Pitcairn as he led his troops up Bunker Hill.
Were these Easterlings the same man? Was
"Prince" a nickname? No one is certain but I
like to think so.
The Boston
Massacre
On a miserable winter afternoon,
a member of the
British Garrison in Boston was looking to earn a few shillings to stretch the
miserable pay of a British private soldier. He went to a rope walk (rope
factory) and asked the Yankee owner if there might be any work for him.
The Colonial replied, "Sure, you can
clean my shithouse, you lobster-back bastard!"
The soldier went back to his barracks where he
told his comrades how he had been insulted. There already was a feeling of
hostility toward the Colonials. Among the townspeople there was a resentment about the oppressive presence of the British troops. It was
too much for free Englishmen to bear. The streets were filled with rowdy gangs
of "....Irishmen, boys and unemployed seamen" as it was reported in
the newspaper.
One of these groups surrounded a guard outside the
barracks and began berating him and taunting him, throwing snowballs, ice chunks
and
frozen horse turds at him. Seeing the excitement, passersby joined
the group. One of these was a man of mixed Negro and
Indian heritage named Crispus Attucks. He actually lived in
Framingham, a small town about fourteen miles outside of Boston. He was
noted for his troublemaking and his fondness for rum. He was enjoying both
as part of the crowd throwing curses at the British sentry.
The sentry called the Sergeant of guard who called the Officer of the Day. Things were looking nasty and an
armed squad was ordered out. One of the soldiers was the man who had been looking for
work at the rope walk. The crowd was getting bigger and more ill-tempered.
The nervous officer gave the command, "Present firelocks!" The Tower
muskets, the famous .75
calibre Brown Bess muskets came level and swung to cover the crowd. The crowd thought that the
British Army was bluffing until someone yelled, "Fire!" It
might have been the officer, but some people think that it was a half-drunk
demonstrator taunting the Redcoats.......or a member of the British squad.
Brown Bess roared and the crowd broke and ran. But some of
them were unable to run for they were dead, among them
Crispus Attucks. He had been wandering idly around town, four hours walk from
home when curiosity drew him to the most notable little riot in American history
and a place in history as the first black man to fall in the growing conflict.
Oh, how did Kilroy figure in this? He was the soldier who
had been offered a messy job that afternoon and he was part of the squad that
had been called out to face the rioters. He was one of those who fired the
volley.
And Kilroy also became famous in World War Two when
American service men scrawled "Kilroy was here" in a million
places all over the globe. However, man named Kilroy first came into history when he fired
into the crowd at what soon was known as "The Boston Massacre."
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Toward
the end of the Civil War, the Confederacy was in dire
straights. The excellent English shoes were not getting through the
blockade and money had run out. When Charleston fell, this shoe was found
in a Confederate warehouse. It is extremely crude, the soles are hand pegged
four to the inch. It even has pegs where the uppers are joined together. It seems to have been made by someone who had no
knowledge of shoemaking. Note the way that the top is cut. This and other
shoes are on display in the Museum of the Confederacy in Charleston, SC.
The Charleston Museum of the Confederacy is open
only on Saturday and Sunday. It was forced out of its original downtown
home by Hurricane Hugo and then Political Correctness prevented its return. A few
gallant Daughters of the Confederacy keep the museum open despite the
pressure. Whether your hearts are with the Blue or the Gray, you
will find a worthwhile enterprise maintained against great odds. Whenever you
get to Charleston, visit the museum; be sure to see their displays and drop a
few dollars in the kitty.
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Instant Coffee
in the Civil War
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EXTRACT
OF COFFEE
For the Army
INSTANT
COFFEE
in
The War Between the States
By
Art Ayotte (Fugawee Corp)
37th Congress Ex
Doc.,
2nd Session No. 16
LETTER
Of
THE SECRETARY OF WAR
in answer to
A resolution of the Senate of
the 6th instant, relative to the
purchase of extracts of coffee
for the use of the troops.
War Department
Washington, January 15, 1862
Sir:
In compliance with a resolution of the Senate on the 6th instant, I
have the honor to transmit
herewith "all orders, instructions and correspondence relating
to the purchase of extracts of coffee for the use of the
troops."
SIMON CAMERON
Secretary of War
1. It contains all the nourishing and stimulating properties of the
coffee, with the addition of the nutritive element of the milk.
2. It is prepared in vacuo at a temperature of only I10 degrees
F.
3. Increased efficiency in the actual use [by the means] of the
coffee. Saving waste from bad
means of roasting, grinding and cooking in the camps.
4. Facility of furnishing coffee on the march wherever cold or hot
water can be had.
5. Economy and convenience of transportation, distributed in sealed
tin cans enclosed in
barrels.
6.
Saving in loss in transportation and distribution of raw coffee and
sugar. "Ordinary"waste of coffee I to 5 per cent: "ordinary" waste of sugar
3 to 10 per cent.
7. The
extract, including milk will cost the government two mills (2/10 of
a cent) per
ration more than raw
coffee and sugar of the same quality without milk in the ration,
which difference would be
more than counterbalanced by the saving in cost of transportation.
8."The coffee and sugar radon for 100, 000 men for twenty days
weighs two hundred and
fifty tons, one half of which would be saved ... reducing the number
of wagons for this radon in half."
Further on
in the 'remarks' section, the writer says, "Borden's
Concentrated Coffee, combined with milk and sugar, will mingle with
either hot or cold water. It furnishes better coffee than is usually
furnished in this city and challenges the criticism of
epicures."
The
report recommended that Extract of Coffee should be tested in one or
more of the new volunteer regiments. The report was enthusiastic
about the new product: .... "ensuring to the soldier, on the march or in
camp, a supply of coffee as good as could be procured at a
first-class hotel.."
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Extract of Coffee was the invention of Professor W.L.
Tilden. The Sanitary Commission's earliest reports of
tests of Professor Tilden's Extract of Coffee were dated
July 13, 1861. Later bidders for contracts were the
American Desiccating Company and Borden, also known as
the New York Condensed Milk Company.
Among the three bidders, Borden had
the lowest price at $2.66 per gallon. The American
Dessicating Company offered its product at $3.00 per
gallon and Tilden was the highest with a price of $3.11.
The Tilden product was the best in
the opinion of many of the testing officers while others
preferred the Extract of Coffee supplied by Borden. The American
Desiccating Company presented a coffee powder
product which met instant disapproval. American
Desiccating then tried to follow the examples of Tilden
and Borden by presenting a product in fluid form. This,
too, appears to have been rejected by the examiners.
____________
Office of the New York Condensed Milk Company
33 Canal Street, New
York,
November
21, 1861
Dear Sir:
Herewith
we hand three samples of
Borden's
concentrated coffee, milk and sugar combined. Nos. 2 and
3 are nothing but coffee, milk and sugar and are samples
of the lot of some 1,800 or 2,000 pounds which the
company will deliver , at 4 State Street , tomorrow
or Saturday.
These
samples differ only in that No. 3 is a little less sweet
than the No. 2. Sample No. I has a small
proportion of chicory: cannot say the exact amount till
further advised by Mr. Borden. We furnish this sample
under the impression that a small portion of chicory
improves RIO, in order that, if any competitor thus
improves his preparation, this company may have a sample
of the same kind to exhibit.
It seems strange that the Secretary of War would have to
submit to a Senate resolution and open his
files to a Congressional Committee over something as
simple as a good cup of coffee. Perhaps
there is something here that does not meet the eye.
'The
Extract of Coffee, was first issued to men at the
Soldiers' Rest. It met with their instant
approval. The same thing
happened when Extract of
Coffee was issued to men in Washington area hospitals.
Next came trial issue on the regimental level. Units
encamped in the area received rations of Extract of
Coffee and were enthusiastic.
The
Surgeons and inspectors at the United States Naval
Laboratory in New York. noted Borden's as "far
superior." (Other testers favored
Tilden's product.)
Preparing
the coffee beverage required only a supply of hot water
although the Extract of Coffee was said to
be usable with cold water. Best of all, the
beverage was consistent in taste and quality. Extract of
Coffee was easy to transport and almost impossible to
spoil. The troops could at last get decent coffee on a
regular basis.
It
was a delicious as well as a reliable product, superior
in every way to the uncertain brew made By tossing moldy
green coffee beans into a greasy skillet, scorching them
until they were half burned, pounding the charred
stuff into powder with a musket butt and
boiling it in ditch water. The Sanitary Commission also
was quick to point out the health advantages, believing
that it would help eliminate intestinal
disorders.
The advantages of the new product
were manifold: It occupied only 40% to 48% of the space
of the green coffee and sugar it replaced, it weighed
half as much, and it freed valuable transport for other
things.
Various types of raw coffee were used
to make the extract, including Rio and Java. Rio, the
standard for government rations seemed to have the
edge.
Extract of Coffee was a combination
of concentrated coffee; milk and sugar, all vacuum
distilled down to a thick paste. It came packed in
several size containers
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from five gallon tins down to one quart
cans. One gallon was supposed to make one
day's ration of coffee for one hundred men.
Tilden packed his tin containers in barrels
while Borden used wooden cases.
We don't know what politics, bribes and
manipulation for contracts was going
on
behind the scenes but competition was stiff.
Reading the correspondence concerning
Extract of Coffee we suddenly come across
the following to Col. Eaton :
DECEMBER 10, 1861,
COLONEL: By direction of the Secretary of
War, you will make no more
purchases of the extract of coffee.
Very
respectfully your most obedient servant,
J.P. Taylor
Commissary
General of Subsistence
Within days, numerous units raised such
a ruckus that within two weeks the following
order went out to the Army:
War Department
Washington December 24, 1861
Sir: The order grants the petition of
fifty (emphasis
added)
regiments
in the
field
to be allowed to use, on their
requisition,' " Tilden's
extract
of coffee" ..
SIMON CAMERON
Secretary of War
On December 31, 1861,
Professor Tilden wrote to the Secretary of
War that he
would not be able to furnish the 5,000
gallons of Extract of Coffee due to be
delivered that week but that he had about
1000 gallons on hand in Washington to help
fill the need. Five
thousand gallons of Tilden's Extract of
Coffee made up into 170,000 rations of
coffee
. It was a big army and it loved its coffee.
Borden apparently had no
such difficulty in making deliveries. Dr.
Borden had invented
Condensed milk some twenty years earlier and
it was a common product by the time
of the war. Borden already had
machinery that could be adapted to coffee
production.
The extract of
coffee was produced by drawing away the
water in a vacuum chamber at a temperature of 110
degrees F. It must have been very
powerful stuff. Chemists of the time
reported that the Borden product used 22 to
24 parts of water to one part of extract.
Tilden's product could handle 34 parts of
water.
For use in a modern-day
encampment, a close copy may be made by
combining
instant coffee and condensed milk.--
Condensed milk is the original, thick,
heavy-sugar product invented by Dr. Borden
in the 1830s. Although other brands may
be found, I like to use "Borden's"
brand condensed milk. It brings us just a
little
closer to the original. Do not use
evaporated milk. It is not thick enough and
does
not contain sugar.
After unsuccessful
experiments with liquid coffee and even espresso
I tried present
day instant coffee crystals mixed directly with
Borden's condensed milk. I think that this
mix makes a close copy of the
original.
You can mix the dry crystals
directly into the condensed milk but
this makes it look a little spotty and it is
harder to mix. For better results, place one half cup of
instant coffee crystals in a bowl and add a
few drops of boiling
water, Use as little water as possible,
adding just a few drops at a time. It
doesn't
take much water to break down the crystals.
When the crystals have barely dissolved,
you should have no more than a teaspoonful
of water mixed into half a cupful of
coffee powder.
Next, empty one can of
Borden's condensed milk into a suitable
bowl. You may heat the condensed milk (but
not the can) slightly in the microwave or on
the stove. This is not necessary but will
help with the mixing. Now mix the coffee
paste and the condensed milk until it is
all blended together. The resultant Extract
of Coffee will be a thick paste that looks
like liquid fudge. Pack the Extract of
Coffee in any suitable container.
A large tablespoon of
this Extract of Coffee, mixed into a tin cup
of hot water will produce Civil War instant
coffee, as made from Professor Tilden's
original Extract of Coffee, one of the most
popular but long-forgotten food items issued
to the Federal troops.
END
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