The crates marked "Army Bread" held what every soldier in the field knew as hardtack — a flour-and-water cracker three and a half inches square and half an inch thick, baked hard enough to last months in transit, hard enough that the men called them "tooth-dullers" and "sheet-iron crackers." A standard ration was nine or ten per man per day, eaten softened in coffee, broken into stew, or fried in bacon grease. When the crates arrived weevil-infested — which they often did by the second year of the war — the men dunked them in coffee, skimmed the floaters off, and ate the rest without comment.

The twelve-piece set is everything a Civil War camp scene needs and no figures: three wooden barrels for water or commissary stores, two hardtack crates with period contractor markings, a stack of three Springfield rifle muskets in the proper stacked-arms formation (the self-supporting tripod a regiment formed at every halt), two more muskets laid out on the ground, a pile of knapsacks and bedrolls, and a smaller ammunition crate. Pair the set with at-rest figures like the Confederate Infantry at Rest or the Federal Infantry Standing at Rest three-figure set to build a bivouac or quartermaster diorama, or use it as the ground-level setting for a planning conference with the Two Seated Union Officers with Dog.

W. Britain 31268 Civil War Encampment Accessory Set. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm compatible), matte-painted metal and resin. Twelve-piece set: three wooden barrels, two "Army Bread" hardtack crates, stack of three rifle muskets in stacked arms, two laid-out muskets, knapsack/bedroll pile, ammunition crate. No figures included. Boxed.