War's Hardening Ways-- Part 2: "Waiting For This Fellow To Die"

**  "Am waiting for this fellow to die, so I can get his watch and ring."

--Confederate soldier Jim Randall after being asked by a comrade why he was sitting near a wounded Union officer after a battle.

********************


**  "We passed the night high up the mountain, where we moved to reach our supply wagons.  A cold rain was falling, and before we found them ... I had lunched comfortably from the haversack of a dead Federal.  It is not pleasant to think of now...."

--  Confederate General Richard Taylor on an incident that occurred during the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862, in his memoirs.

--Secesh

Top Ten Civil War Innovations-- Part 1: Canned Food and Pocket Watches

From the December 12, 2012, Discovery News.  Slide Show.

I had never known about the first four.

1.  CANNED FOOD--  Gail Borden patented condensed milk in 1854.  Sold Navy condensed coffee and cider.  By 1862, soldiers were eating his tinned goods: meat biscuits, condensed coffee and milk.

Entrepreneurs like Van Camps, Armour and Swift began producing single-serving cans of meat.


2.  POCKET WATCH--  Before the war, portable time pieces were a luxury for the ultra rich.  Waltham Watch Company in Massachusetts figured out how to make interchangeable pieces for their pocket watches, making them affordable for everyone.

This breakthrough coincided with the beginning of the war and soldiers took watches with them.  These watches often had inscriptions.

Pass the Coffee, Please.  --Old Secesh