Close, But No Cigar: Tobacco Usage During the Civil War Era

(Library of Congress)

(Benjamin M. Roy, Gettysburg College) ...Captain Frank Donaldson of the 118th Pennsylvania Infantry tried his first chew of tobacco during the battle of Chancellorsville. He was tired, hungry, and worst of all, out of tobacco for his pipe. Donaldson decided to try chewing tobacco out of desperation. He hoped it might satiate his riotous stomach and reinvigorate his exhausted mind. Continued