U.S. Government Bakery - Hopewell VA - U.S. Civil War Sites on Waymarking.com

U.S. Government Bakery

“After breakfast I mounted and rode...to look at the Bake House just completed. It will turn out 100,000 rations in 24 hours. Every thing is on a grand scale and of the most convenient & Economical character. They make most excellent bread.” - General Marsena Patrick, Provost Marshal, October 25, 1864

Feeding the Union army was not an easy task. Much labor was required to ensure that thousands of U.S. Soldiers received their daily rations. On August 30, 1864 the U.S. Military Rail Road Construction Corps received an order to construct “an immense building for a bakery...[&] to have a side track” built to accommodate the transportation of bread to Union troops at Petersburg. Construction of the bakery started a month later and was completed by the end of October.

The bakery complex consisted of five frame structures which included an office, a yeast house, two large bakeries and a storehouse. Numerous civilian bakers kept the ovens going day and night producing more than 100,000 rations of bread daily. The bread was loaded onto trains and transported to the front with such efficiency that Union soldiers often received warm bread. The bakery stood at the end of East Broadway, the present site of Heritage Gardens.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/25/2023 Don.Morfe visited it