Soldiers Win with Coffee?

     So, no cup of coffee ever killed a soldier. 

     But a beverage can be a source of energy, and boost morale. In the second year of the Civil War, 1862, imports were down 40 percent.   

     President Lincoln recognized Liberia in 1862 and raised tariffs on coffee imports (4 cents a pound), which helped fund the war. A Union blockade in the South caused coffee imports that did arrive, $8/lb.

     All this was hard on Confederate discipline and morale, apparently. 

     When Sherman attacked Atlanta, he destroyed 500 sacks of coffee. His troops didn't need the sacks, and they knew the enemy did. Question: At Appomattox in 1865, do you think those who surrendered begged for some coffee?

     General Benjamin Butler encouraged his troops to drink coffee three times a day, because "it guaranteed success." And a soldier wrote, "What keeps me alive must be the coffee." 

     There was a post-war advantage for Liberian coffee growers. By 1885, U.S. coffee imports doubled those of the war years. Tea - not so much.

Smithsonian

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." - 2 Timothy 1:7