Hardtack Box Inspiration

...and their modern update "Hardtack Coolers"

Historical Inspiration: Hardtack Boxes


From a reply to an inquiry to The Company of Military Historians...
From Kautz's Custom's of Service Length- 26", height (ends)- 11" width- 18" Also from an article James R. Loba & Leslie D. Jenson in the Journal of The Company Of Military Historians Vol. XLVIII No. 3, fall 1996 contains diminsions of 3 original boxes: all measurements are length, height(ends), width and in inches. Robert Sterns, Brooklyn NY, Sept/62- 25 3/4, 10 3/4, 18. Kendall Bros & Co. June/63- 25 3/4, 10 3/4, 18 1/4. A.T. Hanks, Brroklyn NY, May/64- 25, 11 3/8, 17 7/8. Ends seemed to be of thicker wood that the sides and tops/bottoms. Also the originals examined for this article had the top/bottom pieces tounge and grooved from 2 similarily sized pieces. Two of the boxes retained vestiges of their sapling banding. I would suggest you obtain this issue for your files, as it is very informative. Lots of nice pictures too. http://company.military-historians.org/journal/journal.htm
The dimensions for hardtack boxes, bacon boxes, salt meat barrels, etc. are stated in U.S. Army Regulations of 1861 (rev. 1863) on pages 301-302 in the subsistence section under the heading "MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS." An "average box" for hard bread was to be 26 x 17 x 11 inches, exterior in measure. "The ends of a box of this size should be of inch, and the remainder of five-eighths, stuff, the package well strapped with green hickory or other suitable wood." The Cincinnati specs vary somewhat from those stated above. Also note the Regulation dimensions vary a little from what is stated in Kautz. In the 1863 CS Regulations (NHS reprint), sample box dimensions are listed on page 196, again in the subsistence section. However, no specific information is provided for hard bread boxes. I'm not sure why this isn't stated but it may reflect logistical realities--hard tack was likely less common in the C.S. Army as the war progressed due to wheat flour shortages. Also, on page 132, there is a table showing weight and bulk of rations so, I suppose, one could potentially extrapolate the necessary dimensions and weights of boxes using it as well as information provided elsewhere (I suspect there's a "hardbread" box according to Trans-Mississippi Confederate specs:
‎[LITTLE ROCK] ARKANSAS TRUE DEMOCRAT, October 1, 1862, p. 1, c. 7‎ To Carpenters.‎ Office Chief Commissary Trans-Mississippi Department,‎ ‎}‎ ‎ Little Rock, Sept. 27, 1862.‎ ‎}‎ ‎ Sealed proposals will be received at this office, until Monday, the 5th day of October, A. D. 1862, ‎for making Two Thousand Boxes for packing Hard Bread.‎ ‎ The Boxes are to be two feet long, 1 foot 6 inches wide and 1 foot 5½ inches deep, in the clear, ‎and to be made similar to a specimen which may be seen at the office of the Post Commissary.‎ ‎ I will furnish lumber and part of the nails, for which the contractor will pay cost prices.‎ ‎ The boxes must be delivered at the rate of 5 per cent per day, of the contract, and bids will be ‎received for five hundred boxes. Bond with approved security will be required.‎ ‎ John C. Palmer, Maj.‎ ‎ and Chief Commissary. ‎ The specs above (24 L x 18 W x 17 1/2 D) vary significantly from those mentioned in previous posts for Federal boxes. I'm not sure why this is so, but it likely had something to do with the actual size of the hard bread itself.e identical to those in U.S. Regulations). Some weeks ago, I was asked to provide the specs stated in a Commissary contractor bid solicitation originally published in the 13 December 1862 Louisville "Daily Journal." I finally rediscovered them and they are presented below:
ARMY SUPPLIES. OFFICE OF THE U.S. COMMISSARY OF SUBSTINENCE, LOUISVILLE, KY., December 13, 1862. Sealed proprosals made by first hands will be received at this office until 11 o'clock A.M. on Friday, the 19th of December, 1862 for furnishing the following substinence supplies: *[Require] 500,000 lbs best quality Pilot Bread, packed in hickory strapped boxes containing 50 lbs net each, of fully seasoned wood, of such kinds as will impart no taste or odor to the bread, bottom and top of single pieces, or, if of two pieces, tongued and grooved together. The boxes must be 13 1/2 inches square in cross section, external measure.*