FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF CONFEDERATES DESCRIBED THEIR BREAD RATIONS AS A CORN COB MIXTURE FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF The southern soldiers' bread rations were most often in the form of cornmeal which they learned to cook in a variety of ways. One man reported: The only way we had to cook it was to mix it with a little water and salt and then fry it. My share gave me such a pain in my stomach that I could hardly walk. The men would cook corn bread cakes called 'slapjacks' over open fires. They were brown wads of dough on sticks that were wrapped in a batter in shucks and cooked over hot ashes. However the men would choose to prepare the cornmeal, they often ended up with a very unpalatable bread, which were charred on one side and pasty on the other. It would kill a horse to digest them reported a Texan. Confederate soldiers described the poor quality cornmeal that was issued to them as: nothing more or less than a mixture of corn cob and saw dust. Another soldier said of their meal that they dare not sift it for there would not have been enough pure meal to fill a cup.