A number of soldiers were well-to-do young men who had happily signed on as privates. As a result, a few units dined sumptuously on the fine foods prepared by their own slaves, body servants who served them in camp. One man recalled that his company feasted on “Champagne, madeira, and sherry, paté de fois gras, and French green peas, sardines and Spanish olives, Spanish cigars, and other luxuries.”
He ruefully added that later on, when their commissary was much tighter, they would have considered a single sweet potato a fine repast.
Source:
Detzer, David. “The Boys on the Beach.” Allegiance: Fort Sumter, Charleston, and the Beginning of the Civil War. New York: Harcourt, 2002. 194. Print.
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