For soldiers in all wars, mealtime is a focal point of the day. Armies do indeed march on their stomachs, as Napoleon said. Soldiers of the Civil War armies, many away from home and mothers and wives cooking for the first time, were thrown back on their own resources both to prepare their own meals and often to stock their larders. No one in America, North or South, was prepared for the massive task of acquiring and distributing the uncountable tons of foodstuffs necessary to keep almost three million men fed. And yet food and mealtime were thedominant topics of interest and conversation, and...