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A Gill Filled with Taffia

Sound like a secret code?  In a way, it is.  Both the word “gill” and “taffia” are relics from 18th century language that described a unit of measure and a type of alcohol, respectively.  The words  first appeared in War Department correspondence on September 25, 1790 in a letter from James O’Fallon to George Washington.  The letter discussed the South Carolina based Yazoo Company, the Choctaw Nation, and lists various articles for rations given to the troops by contract with the merchant Yazoo.

Research on the two unknown nouns led to the discovery that a gill was a unit of liquid measure for spirits and was approximately 1/4 pint or double the size of a jack (which is double the size of a jigger).  Taffia was a low grade rum dispersed in daily rations for troops.

In a later letter from G. Washington the McHenry, Washington advised that liquor should be removed completely from the list of approved rations due to to its two-fold evil.  First, it intoxicated the troops which caused rowdy and lawless behavior.  Second, when soldiers used it as a trade-able good, the soldier who gained the spirits would become doublely intoxicated and at a loss for the other goods he traded for alcohol.  Thus the quality of the troops was compromised.

Unfortunately, there was little alternative to alcohol for durable provisions.  Unlike water or milk (two other drinks consumed during this period), alcohol rarely spoiled and could be kept in large quantities for a length of time.  Untainted water was difficult to obtain, and was highly dependent on the availability of fresh water rivers, lakes, or ponds.  It was safer to drink alcohol than to risk infection or death from contaminated water.  Therefore, alcohol was kept in the ration allotment along with the small list of other items.

Upon first examination it seems the rations allotted the troops was sadly lacking any vegetables, fruits, or dairy.   Instead, it favored salt pork/beef, corn, flour, and various types of distilled spirits all of which were cheap and were easily stored and transported.   However the list is partially misleading.  Troops were free to purchase other food with their pay or forage for edibles in the woods surrounding their encampment.   Yet that did not mean soldiers diets were complete by any stretch of the imagination.

Have any readers encountered good documentation of the types of illnesses suffered by soldiers due to malnutrition?  Is there any documentation on how it affected troops?  From basic research, fatigue due to lack of fluids seemed to be the biggest nutritional influence on the battlefield that was documented.