The Essential Cooking Tool That Kept Revolutionary War Soldiers Fed

Facts

The Essential Cooking Tool That Kept Revolutionary War Soldiers Fed

Back in the Revolutionary War days, George Washington calculated the yearly food needs for the Continental Army, and the results were staggering: roughly 20 million pounds of meat plus 100,000 barrels of flour. This is an incredible amount of food, but how was it prepared in the 1700s? Long before the days of the ready-made, vacuum-sealed meals soldiers frequently eat on modern battlefields, a single device helped soldiers prepare food during wartime: the camp kettle.

Camp kettles were distributed at a ration of one kettle to six soldiers. Fashioned from tin or sheet-iron, camp kettles held nine quarts and weighed only two to three pounds. Set over hot coals, kettles allowed soldiers to cook food using methods suc