The 161st anniversary of the Civil War at Gettysburg and the enthusiasm surrounding Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address are reminders of the important role of horticulture and agriculture during the Civil War. In the agricultural sector, northern states produced half of the nation’s corn, four-fifths of its wheat, and seven-eighths of its oats.
Some of the oldest gardens were brought to the region by Pennsylvania Germans who settled in America in the 1700s. During the Civil War, these families grew gardens for basic survival to ensure they had food throughout the year. Surplus produce from the gardens helped ease the strain on the food supply of the general population. Gardeners took the surplus produce to nearby towns to sell at local markets. Most of their gardens were surrounded and protected by white picket fences that accentuated the beautiful gardens that residents proudly displayed.
Children also played an important role by helping their families with their gardens: fertilizing, plowing, planting, weeding, and helping to harvest vegetables, herbs, and fruit.
The government made deals with farmers to help feed the soldiers. Agents and traveling preachers were employed to collect produce and encourage rural residents to grow and harvest crops. Farmers were honored to help with the war effort. Some produce was taken through questionable means.
The 50-acre Sherphy Farm, located on Emmitsburg Road near Little Round Top, was an asset not only to the Sherphy family but to the community as well. Joseph Sherphy, a pastor, owned a famous peach orchard across from his home. His fresh peaches and other fruits were sold to the public, and Sherphy was well known for the quality of the canned peaches he sold. He also dried and cut the peaches with scissors to make “Confederate raisins.” The raisins were also used to flavor puddings. The Sherphy farming business supported Joseph, his wife Mary, and their six children. Interestingly, Joseph had three cherry trees at his home, one of which had a cannonball embedded in its trunk during the war. The gardens at Sherphy Farm are maintained to this day by the National Park Service and volunteers.
Vegetable species planted in the garden in the 1800s included sweet corn “Stowell's Evergreen,” lima beans “Christmas,” pumpkins “Quaker Pie,” tomatoes “Turner Hybrid,” and watermelon “Carolina.” Zinnias, French marigolds, and sweet alyssum were also grown in the garden.
Whenever “soda” was needed for baking bread, corn was shelled and red cobs were used, as they were considered to be more alkaline than white cobs. The cobs were burned in a clean place and the ashes were collected and placed in a jar or jug. Water was poured into the jar depending on the amount of ashes to get the right consistency. One tablespoon of alkali was used with the flour to make the bread.
During the Civil War, tea was a favorite drink of everyone. When tea became scarce, many substitutes for this precious commodity emerged. Leaves from blackberry and huckleberry bushes and holly leaves were dried in the shade to make tea. Coffee was also in short supply during the war. Dandelion roots (Taraxacum officinale) were dug up, washed, and roasted in an oven for about four hours to dry and turn a deep brown color. They were then ground and brewed to make a cup of “coffee.”
Moreover, horticulture was essential during the Civil War, as plants could be used as medicines, as artificial medicines were not available. Women harvested medicinal plants. Stimulants were obtained from calamus, lavender, partridgeberry, sassafras, and Virginia snakeroot. Astringents were obtained from sumac bark and leaves. Tonics were made from blackberries, dewberries, dogwood, hops, persimmon, sage, white oak, white willow, and wild cherry. Sedatives for diseases such as dysentery were made from blackberry root. Extracts of wild cherry, dogwood, and poplar bark were used for chills.
For coughs and lung ailments, a syrup made from mullein (verbascum thapsus), chickweed (trollius), and the bark, leaves and roots of the wild cherry tree was considered a cure-all. A hot toddy of hot elderberry wine provided a soothing relief. A tea made from elderberry flowers served as a mild laxative. Cardiac stimulants were obtained from wild cherry and bloodroot. Skunk cabbage grew abundantly in the spring and was used as an expectorant and respiratory sedative and for acute asthma attacks. Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) was used to treat heart problems, and the inner bark of sweetgum (liquidambar styraciflua) contained an astringent.
Alfred Hoyt Bill eloquently expressed the importance of gardening: “Across this country, women dug with their own hands in the soil of smokehouses and tobacco houses to extract saltpeter, the mineral potassium nitrate used in gunpowder. But these same women who dug were also angels of mercy, working alongside their male medics to care for the sick and wounded in uniform. Thankfully, Mother Nature worked with us in the soil, providing nutritious plants and healing herbs.”
The Master Gardener Hotline is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. If you have any gardening questions, please email them (with photos, if possible) to adamsmg@psu.edu or stop by Penn State Extension, 670 Old Harrisburg Rd, Gettysburg.
For timely and relevant topics and upcoming events, visit Penn State Master Gardeners, Adams County on Facebook and Instagram.
Carolyn Black is a Penn State Master Gardener from Adams County. The Penn State Cooperative Extension in Adams County is located at 670 Old Harrisburg Road, Suite 204, Gettysburg, 717-334-6271.
