Cigars That Brought Comfort, Currency, and Change
The Civil War was fought with muskets and cannons, but it was survived through small rituals. For soldiers in blue and grey, cigars became a rare luxury — a pause from hunger, mud, and fear. They were passed around campfires, traded across enemy lines, and sometimes saved for the quiet moments after battle when survival itself deserved a smoke.
In Confederate camps, tobacco was close at hand, but a good cigar was still a prize worth savouring. For Union soldiers, scarcity made every cigar feel like treasure, often more valued than food. Some smoked rough “camp rolls” made from scraps and newspaper; others begged their families to tuck cigars into care packages.
The Cigar That Changed History
Perhaps the most remarkable story came in 1862, when three cigars were found in a Maryland field — wrapped in General Robert E. Lee’s Special Order 191. That forgotten bundle handed the Union an advantage at Antietam, the bloodiest single day of the war, and gave Abraham Lincoln the confidence to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
Listen to the Full Story
These are just glimpses of how cigars shaped life, and even history, in the Civil War. The full podcast episode takes you deeper — from pickets swapping coffee for tobacco under moonlight to soldiers lighting cigars beside the graves of their comrades.
