The Continental soldier often had to provide his own eating utensils, but on occasion they came as standard issue. Maryland troops, for example, were provided a wooden trencher (plate), and bowl, as well as wooden and pewter spoons. Each man would have his knife, of course; and for quaffing his rum, cider, beer, or whiskey, a horn cup, which was extremely light compared with pewter or ceramic. Officers, as might be expected, had more refined utensils. George Washington’s mess kit, for example, was a very elaborate affair housed in a handsome fourteen-compartment wood chest lined with green wool.
James Peale (1749—1831)
Watercolor on ivory; 1 1/2 x 1 in. (3.8 x 2.5 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Watercolor on ivory; 1 1/2 x 1 in. (3.8 x 2.5 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Oil on canvas; 36 x 27 in. (91.4 x 68.6 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Oil on canvas; 61.5 x 89.5 cm. (24 3/16 x 35 1/4 in.) Princeton University Museum of Art, Princeton, NJ.
Oil on canvas; 20 1/2 x 29 7/16in. (52.1 x 74.8cm). Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Colonial Williamsburg, VA.
Oil on canvas; 20 3/8 x 29 5/8in. (51.8 x 75.2cm). Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Colonial Williamsburg, VA.
Oil on canvas; 55.9 x 47.6 x 2.5cm (22 x 18 3/4 x 1"). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Watercolor on ivory; 1 3/4 x 1 1/4 in. (4.4 x 3.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Watercolor on ivory; 1 7/8 x 1 1/2 in. (4.8 x 3.7 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Patriot Battles: How the War of Independence Was Fought (2007)