(Mental Floss) -- Even in the midst of the Civil War, there was still one thing the North and South shared -- a serious addiction to caffeine. Confederate troops were less likely to get a cup of coffee. In that respect, the Union clearly had an advantage. Not only did the North have more than two-thirds of the population and control most of the heavy industry, railroads, and financial reserves in the country, it hoarded supplies of the highly addictive little bean, leaving the Confederacy to wage its own war against java deprivation. Coffee: It's what's for breakfast, lunch and dinner
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Coffee was a hot commodity in the Civil War
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Union troops had it for breakfast, lunch, dinner
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Suppliers sometime ground dirt into beans
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Blockade kept coffee had to get for Confederate troops
Union
Beyond caffeine cravings, @placeholder troops loved their coffee because it was, literally, the best thing on the menu.
Union
Needless to say, the @placeholder army was soon back on the bean.
Confederate
Confederacy
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Once pre-war stockpiles ran out, however, the same amount was running as high as $60 in @placeholder money.