TABLE Showing the Quantity in Bulk of any Number of Rations from 1 to 100,000. Letterpress broadside on cotton. N.p., 20 April 1864. 18 x 22 in., mounted and framed to 23 x 29 in. Period ink used to write “Hominy” above “Rice And Coffee,” as well as to cross out “& Hard Bread.” Modern pencil notation to verso indicating broadside’s date. Stenciled “Ration Table” to verso. 

A rare and large broadside, issued in April 1864, detailing the scale of rations available to soldiers during the Civil War. The sheet sets out the allotments in a clear hierarchy, ranging from single rations, to groups of 100, 1000, 10000, and even up to 100000, allowing quartermasters to calculate distributions of meats, dried goods, vegetables, and hygienic products in bulk.

At the outset of the war, both Union and Confederate armies adhered to the same federal ration standards inherited from the pre secession United States Army. Over time, however, the provisioning of men in the field diverged sharply. Union forces, backed by industrial agriculture and secure supply lines, had more reliable access to flour, preserved meats, and coffee. Confederate soldiers, by contrast, endured chronic shortages, and often depended upon foraging or subsistence from sympathetic civilians. Certain staples of the Southern agricultural economy, notably peanuts and tobacco, remained abundant, and contemporary accounts note that these were frequently traded with Union troops across picket lines, especially in exchange for the highly prized commodity of coffee.

Broadsides of this nature, issued for administrative and logistical purposes, were not designed for preservation, and are today virtually unknown in private hands. We have encountered no comparable examples sold at auction. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Broadsides, Ephemera, Printing, Posters, Handbills, Documents, Newspapers] 

Some ink stains to recto.