Coffee to the rescue: How a cup of joe helped the United States to win a war

Many people take for granted how important coffee is to their daily routine. But funnily enough, a morning cup of joe was actually essential in winning an entire war.

The Civil War was one of the defining moments in US history. The industrial North, representing freedom and federalism, fought and won against the agricultural South, which defended the institution of slavery in a struggle with consequences that can still be felt today.

The North versus the South, brother against brother, one crucial supply helped the Union troops to get their hard-earned victory against the Dixie rebels.

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The Smithsonian Magazine writes that coffee played an important role in the US Civil War, described as being as vital as gunpowder.

The American Battlefield Trust website writes that coffee, a staple in many households before the Civil War, became a luxury during the conflict, particularly in the South.

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Coffee not only provided the necessary energy for Billy Yank during the long, difficult march to Dixie between 1861 and 1865. It also served as a morale booster, a bit of comfort before some of the bloodiest conflicts ever experienced on US soil.

One civil war historian, cited by the American Battlefield Trust, mentions that “coffee” is one of the most found words in Union soldiers vocabulary, along with “war”, “slavery”, and “Lincoln”.

However, while Union soldiers enjoyed their cup of joe, the Confederate troops had to get creative. Chicory, acorns, peanuts, dandelions, rye, and peas are just some of the insipid substitutes Johnny Rebs had to endure while fighting the North.

Winfield Scott’s Anaconda Plan blockaded southern ports, particularly New Orleans, limiting the export of cotton and the import of resources for the Confederacy, including Brazil, which was the main coffee supplier of the United States at the time.

According to the Smithsonian Magazine, the US government headed by Abraham Lincoln committed to provide each Union soldier with 36 pounds (ca. 16 kg) of coffee per year. However, this first became a challenge, due to the disrupted trade during the war.

The solution came from the young Republic of Liberia, in western Africa. Most of the Liberian elite were Black Americans that settled in the region, looking to start anew far from the racism and slavery in the United States.

One of these American-born Liberians was President Stephen Allen Benson, one of the largest coffee farmers in the African country.

With 500,000 coffee trees harvested by free Black Liberians, a shipment of 8,000 pounds (ca. 3,629 kg) of coffee traveled from the capital city of Monrovia to the United States, the first out of many throughout the war.

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Benson guaranteed a steady supply of coffee to the Union troops during the Civil War, proving vital for the Northern victory over the Southern rebels. Let’s raise a cup of coffee for that!

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