| Summary: | During the Civil War, James Hall served as a captain in Company K of the 24th Alabama Infantry regiment. During the Civil War, James Hall served as a captain in Company K of the 24th Alabama Infantry regiment. In the letter he discusses their brother Bolling, who was wounded in battle; conditions in camp; the position of Confederate and Union troops in the area ("We are in line of battle all the time, nearly two miles from the enemy...They have large canon on these forts and could easily knock to pieces the tent fly under which I am now sitting, with their shells"); the responsibilities of his servant; and food available for the soldiers. He describes a special dish, "cush," in detail: "One gets tired of eating cold food. So we invented a new dish called cush. We cant have any thing out here to cook in but a frying pan. So we take some bacon & fry the grease out. Then we cut some cold beef in small pieces and put it in the grease, then pour in water and stew it like hash. Then we...crumble corn bread or buisuit [sic] in it and stew it again till all the water is out, then we have a pan of cush, real confederate cush. Now I expect you would turn up your nose at it if Nora was to hand you some at the table but I tell we confederate soldiers consider it quite a luxury now." A transcription is included.
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