Tag Archives: United States Sanitary Commission

“A potato! A potato! My kingdom for a potato!” at Thanksgiving 1863

Which food would an Army cook want to serve a Maine regiment at Thanksgiving? Hardtack so old that Noah had served it on his ark — or apples and potatoes shipped directly from Maine? By Thanksgiving Day 1863, Maine soldiers longed for “real” food: apple pie like mom made, beans prepared with real molasses, bread […]

Isabella Fogg investigated reports of Army mistreatment of wounded Union soldiers

    Isabella Fogg had already encountered the horrors of war when the slaughter known as Antietam took place on Sept. 17, 1862. Then Fogg discovered the hell that is war. Surnamed Morrison, her parents had emigrated to New Brunswick from Scotland before Isabella’s birth in 1823. Practically a child bride when she married William […]