One soldier exclaimed that: "How often--after being completely jaded by a night march--and this is an experience to thousands--have I had a wish, if there was water to be had, made and drunk my pint or so of coffee, and felt as fresh and invigorated as if just arisen from a night's sound sleep!"

The coffee rations were considered a blessing by the troops as is evidenced by the soldiers quote.

Coffee was as prized as a pair of shoes by the Rebs and commanded outrageous costs. Sometimes when the coffee rats were non-existent, the boys would try substitutes such as: acorns, malted barley, parched corn, beechnut, beetroot, chicory root, cottonseeds, dandelion root, boiled-down molasses, okra seed, persimmon seeds, potato peels, rye grain, sassafras root, dried sweet potatoes, and wheat bran. Most of the time none of these items were available either but none filled the bill as well as the real thing.

The Yankees relied on the coffee rations as much as the Rebs but the troops in the north did not suffer as much as the boys in gray when it cam to the old java train. As related above, coffee was the most important part of a soldier's ration.

Armies during marches would halt even if only for a short respite in the weary march, picket and plank fences soon became firewood for brewing a strong cup of mud.

Many times if there was an excess of coffee rations it would be traded during those rare occurrences when Reb and Yankee soldiers would meet during lulls in the fighting.

Tobacco, was not a Union ration, and was traded for Northern coffee, a rarity to the Rebel troops as the war continued.

Coffee was in such demand that the Army developed something a commissary called "essence of coffee.” It came in tin cans and resembled axle grease and it must’ve tasted like the same. Eventually it was removed from the rations and replaced by the real coffee beans.