After six years hard-won experience in the war with Great Britain, Maj. Gen. Henry Knox (former bookseller and amateur military scholar) noted his appreciation of the crucial need to provide fuel for soldiers' bellies. "To subsist an Army well, requires the utmost attention and exertion. Unless an Army is properly fed, all calculations and schemes of enterprize are in vain. For the moment an expedition is to take place, the troops may be said to have wanted provisions for one, two, or more days, and that it will be impossible to begin a march until they shall be supplied. Experience has often convinced us of the truth of this assertion, and some times at too dear a rate." Soldiers' rations and food preparation stand at the most elemental level of an army's daily existence. In this the first of several articles examining the various elements necessary for feeding soldiers during the American War for Independence (1775-1783), we will discuss cooking equipment, with an emphasis on the most important item, camp kettles.
