Their Last Suppers: Legends of History and Their Final Meals Read online

  With little wind, progress was painfully slow, and Nelson took the time to write a will in his great cabin, witnessed by his reliable Number Two, Thomas Hardy. He left everything to Emma and their baby, Horatia, who along with the Navy were the only real loves he’d found in his life. Then he dressed for battle in his best uniform and went on deck. His captains begged him to move to a smaller, faster frigate where he would be safer and able to see more of the battle, but Nelson refused, wanting to be in the forefront of the coming action. He had even put on all his glittering medals and decorations, making him the most impressive target on the most impressive ship. Flying the message “England expects every man today to do his duty” from its rigging, the Victory bore on. At midday the fleets engaged, with the French firing first, then the British unleashing their broadsides as they cut through the French lines at almost walking pace.

  Patrolling his deck, viewing every aspect of the battle, Nelson was shot by a sniper from the rigging of a French ship just after 1 P.M., the bullet passing through his shoulder and lungs, eventually severing his backbone and paralyzing him from the waist down. Grief-stricken officers carried him gently to his cabin. For another 2 hours the battle raged outside as Nelson writhed in agony below, until finally Hardy came and told him that some fifteen French ships had been sunk or captured, with no British losses. “Only fifteen?” asked Nelson, his lungs now filling with blood. (The figure later became twenty.) Reminding his doctor that his family must be looked after by the country, he succumbed to his wounds and died surrounded by weeping officers.

  A mood of sadness swept the fleet as confirmation of his death spread, but he had saved England, as a bitter Napoleon realized his hopes of invasion were gone. He went on to meet another outstanding English general on his own day of reckoning at Waterloo.

  Nelson was returned to England, his body ironically preserved in a cask of French brandy, to the biggest funeral the country had ever seen. Fifty streets were named after him in London alone, and more than 100,000 people paid their respects to his body in only 3 days. Horatio Nelson had written some years earlier, “A glorious death is to be envied.”

  MENUS

  Fully stocked, HMS Victory carried approximately 4 months of supplies for some 900 men, although the diet of the common sailor consisted of 2 pounds of salted beef or pork and weevil-infested biscuits most days, washed down with either the 8 pints of weak beer or 2 pints of rum they were issued daily.

  Nelson tried to give them fresh foods as often as possible. He was famous for the quality of the food served in his great cabin. The Victory carried many live animals for the admiral’s table. Nelson and his officers ate breakfast together around 7 A.M., with tea, hot rolls, toast, and cold tongue. Then they concentrated on the ship’s business until 2 P.M., when a band would began to play, announcing the end of their work for the day.

  At 2:45 P.M., to the tune of “The Roast Beef of Olde England,” it was announced that dinner was ready. The meal usually lasted for about 2 hours, always three courses, each with different wines, then the band played again as the officers strolled on deck taking liqueurs. Cakes, biscuits, and rum punch usually rounded the day off at about 8 P.M.

  An invitation to Nelson’s table was greatly anticipated by all the officers in his fleet, and although he ate sparingly himself, he knew that his famed hospitality was another way of maintaining the high morale of his captains.

  Menu

  Celery and Stilton Soup

  “Dry Devils” Roast Pheasant

  (dry with Seville orange sauce)

  Asparagus in Crisp Rolls

  New Potatoes and Spiced Hollandaise

  Celery and Stilton Soup (6)

  2 oz salted butter

  4 tbsp plain flour

  8 oz milk

  1 pint clear unseasoned stock

  8 oz coarsely grated Stilton

  7 oz finely chopped celery

  sea salt and black pepper

  Fry the celery lightly in the butter for 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the plain flour and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon.

  Add the stock and milk, cover, and simmer for about 12 minutes or until the celery is completely tender. Gradually add the grated Stilton and season to taste.

  Gently reheat to serving temperature; garnish with celery stalks and a spoon of sour cream.

  Roast Pheasant with Orange Sauce and Simple Gravy (6)

  3 or 4 young pheasants, plucked, cleaned, and hung for 3 to 4 days

  3 oz salted butter

  flour for dusting

  8 strips streaky bacon

  ½ pint water or game stock

  ½ tsp sugar

  6 oz dry sherry

  salt and pepper

  6 drops wine vinegar

  Preheat the oven to 420°F. Place 2 oz of the butter in a roasting tin and melt in the oven.

  Dust the birds lightly with flour and brown gently, breast down, in the butter until golden all over.

  Place the pheasants’ breasts upwards and lay 2 strips of raw bacon across each. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes for medium rare, 10 minutes longer for well done.

  Remove from oven, put on tray, and allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving.

  Meanwhile, to make simple gravy, spoon off most of the surface fats from the roasting tin; this can be done on the stovetop. With a wooden spoon scrape the pan, using the scrapings for flavor. Now add the vinegar and game stock or water, and bring to a boil for about 2 minutes; add the sugar and the sherry, test, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

  This is a thin gravy, but you can reduce it for a few more minutes to thicken if you wish. Add remaining butter, strain into a sauceboat, and serve with watercress and fried breadcrumbs as a garnish.

  Orange Sauce

  Put 1 cup orange juice, 1 cup water, and 1 cup sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Add 4 tbsp cornstarch and stir until it begins to thicken. Add 1 cup currant jelly and 2 tbsp grated orange rind to finish.

  Asparagus in Crisp Rolls (6)

  1 lb thin asparagus, cleaned and peeled

  6 oz heavy cream

  2 large egg yolks

  salt and pepper

  ½ tsp grated nutmeg

  2 oz salted butter

  5 oval-shaped crispy rolls

  Hold the asparagus between your fingers and bend slightly; there is a natural point at which it bends. Cut at that point, then discard the ends and cut the asparagus tips into 2-inch pieces. Cook in boiling salted water for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender. Drain, but save the water.

  Slice the rolls across the top, remove the insides, and lightly fry the lids and shells in butter.

  In another pan beat the cream with 4 tbsp asparagus water, the nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Beat the egg yolks in a dish, and gently add the cream mix to them to make a fine velvety sauce.

  Add the asparagus pieces to the sauce and spoon into the fried rolls.

  Replace the lids and serve either as a starter or a main course accompaniment.

  New Potatoes and Spiced Hollandaise (6)

  2-3 lb well-scrubbed new potatoes (don’t peel)

  ½ tsp ground turmeric

  2 egg yolks

  6 oz unsalted, softened butter

  1 clove peeled, crushed garlic

  2 level tbsp plain yogurt

  ½ cup toasted almond slices

  Put the potatoes and the turmeric in boiling salted water and boil for 10 to 15 minutes until cooked; drain well.

  Place the egg yolks and garlic in a small pan over simmering water, whisk gently until the eggs start to thicken, and gradually add the softened butter until it’s all blended. Do not overheat or the sauce may separate.

  To finish, add the yogurt with a touch of turmeric, stir for a few seconds, pour over the potatoes, and sprinkle with toasted almonds.

  ABRAHAM LINCOLN

  Washington, D.C.

  April 14, 1865

  We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that
this nation under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; —and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

  —Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863

  The sixteenth president of the United States spoke these famous words as he dedicated the cemetery to the 40,000 dead of the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which had finally heralded the end of the American Civil War.

  Abraham Lincoln was born in a small log cabin in Hardin, Kentucky, in 1809. A self-taught man of unusual strength and stature, he was renowned as a storyteller and a man of integrity. While working on cargo boats in New Orleans he educated himself to be a lawyer, qualifying in 1836.

  Intensely interested in politics from the beginning, he joined the Illinois legislature in 1834 and ascended to the House of Representatives in Congress in 1847. A man of very fixed ideas and convictions, often against the advice of friends, he decided to make a run for the White House. He won the presidential campaign in 1860 mainly because the Democratic party was split. But many of the ideas on which he was expounding in the presidential debates with his rival, Stephen Douglas, induced seven of the southern slave states to secede before he even assumed office in March 1861. Unknowingly, he had set in motion the wheels of the American Civil War.

  Immediately on taking control of the federal government, he decided to garrison Fort Sumter in North Carolina with troops from northern states, against the advice of his cabinet. The new troops were immediately surrounded by those of the fiercely independent southern state and then attacked on April 12, 1861.

  Lincoln called for more volunteers to put down the Carolinians, at which point another four southern states announced they were leaving to join the new Confederacy. And so by June 1861, only 3 months after taking office, he had effectively split the country. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia had set up a provisional government at Montgomery, Alabama. Jefferson Davis was named their president and had made his capital at Richmond, Virginia, now the head of the new Confederate States of America.

  The Confederacy had some 5 million whites and more than 3 million black slaves. Slavery was a bone of contention for the righteous Lincoln, who in 1862 announced his Emancipation Proclamation, which was the beginning of the end of slavery in America.

  This proclamation effectively changed the war from the initial fight against the secessionists to a moral fight against slavery. It also prevented the European powers of England and France from recognizing the Confederacy and kept them on the sidelines.

  For the next 3 years the Civil War, in which the North held all the advantages with twice the manpower and all the major industries, raged. It eventually claimed more than 620,000 lives (360,000 Union and 260,000 Confederate), more than the combined American dead from all other wars between 1775 and 1975.

  At the end of the conflict, President Lincoln had to use all his powers of noble oratory and personal integrity to control his vengeful cabinet as the war drew to a close. Many members of his cabinet wanted to treat the South harshly for their defection, but Lincoln insisted on reuniting the Union, even though reunifixation policies poisoned relations between North and South for more than a century after his death. Reelected as president in 1864, he sought to end this crippling fight and bring peace to the nation.

  The South’s most successful commander was General Robert E. Lee, who launched the Confederacy’s second invasion of the North in 1863. His hopes were finally crushed at the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg, leading to his final surrender, and the end of the war at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. At last Lincoln could dream of peace for his presidency, a situation he had never experienced and never would.

  Though popular with many of his compatriots, he was detested by others. One, a young southern Shakespearean actor named John Wilkes Booth, had gathered a group of dissidents together and in 1864 detailed plans to capture Lincoln, take him to Richmond, and ransom him for the large number of Confederate troops the North was holding, perhaps enabling the South to fight on a little longer with these badly needed reinforcements.

  The kidnapping was to take place on March 17, 1865, when Lincoln was scheduled to attend a play at a hospital. However, the president changed his mind and the plot failed. In those days the president sometimes traveled with only one or two bodyguards.

  With the ending of the war a few days later, Booth became even more furious when the president suggested in a speech that blacks should get certain voting rights. He decided that assassination was the only answer. Maybe with Lincoln’s death the South would rise again. President Lincoln was constantly warned of various plots against him but ignored them all.

  On April 14 Booth discovered that Lincoln would attend the theater that evening to watch a play, Our American Cousin. Quickly organizing his other conspirators to kill the vice president and the secretary of state the same night, he said he would take care of Lincoln personally.

  Arriving at Ford’s Theatre at 8:30 p.m. that night, after his Good Friday dinner, the president sat in his box with his wife and their friends Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris.

  Booth went for a drink in a saloon outside, then made his way to the state box. The president’s bodyguard, John Parker, had inexplicably left his post, and Booth was able to enter the box and shoot Lincoln in the back of the head at point-blank range.

  A shocked Rathbone jumped at Booth, who slashed him with a hunting knife and then jumped 11 feet to the floor below, snapping his left ankle in the process. Flashing his knife at a stunned audience of more than 1,000 people who didn’t understand what was happening, he made his way out of the theater by the back door, mounted his horse, and made off into the night.

  The other plots had met mixed fates. The vice president escaped unharmed, and the secretary of state was stabbed but survived. Booth and another of his gang, David Herold, met up at the Garrett farm in Virginia but were finally tracked there by the authorities on the morning of April 26. Herold surrendered, but Booth refused and was eventually shot to death and had the barn burnt down around him.

  Taken to the Petersen House across the street from the theater, President Lincoln never regained consciousness and was declared dead at 7:22 A.M. on April 15.

  A presidency that came into being at the beginning of America’s greatest war was ended just days after it finished.

  MENUS

  Last Meal in the White House

  Clear Mock Turtle Soup (Using Oxtail)

  Roast Virginia Fowl with Chestnut Stuffing

  Baked Yams

  Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce

  Favorite Food

  Chicken Fricassee

  Dilled Chicken Fricassee (4)

  cup all-purpose flour

  1 tsp salt

  ½ tsp paprika

  1 tbsp vegetable oil

  4 bone-in chicken breast halves, skin removed

  2 cups chicken broth

  ¼ cup fresh dill, chopped

  8 small new potatoes, scrubbed

  12 oz fresh asparagus, ends trimmed

  1 tbsp lemon juice

  In a medium-sized bowl, mix the flour, salt, and paprika. Coat the chicken with the flour mixture, shaking off the excess. Reserve flour mixture.

  In a large, deep, nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.

  Add the chicken, meaty side down, and cook for 1 ½ minutes on each side or until well browned. Remove to a plate with a slotted spoon.

  Pour the broth into the flour mixture remaining in the bowl and whisk until smooth. Drain the fat from the skillet and wipe it clean.

  Add the chicken broth mixture and 2 tbsp dill. Stir to mix. Add the chicken meaty side up and the potatoes. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

  Lay the asparagus over the top. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes more, or until the chicken and vegetables are tender. Remove the pan from the hea
t. Stir in the lemon juice and the remaining 2 tbsp of dill. Serve hot.

  Mock Turtle Soup

  1 large onion, finely chopped

  1 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp olive oil

  2 lb meaty oxtails

  1 garlic clove, mashed

  3 whole cloves

  ¼ tsp thyme

  1 bay leaf

  ¼ tsp allspice

  1 tbsp flour

  3 cups hot water

  3 cups chicken stock

  1 cup chopped peeled tomatoes

  salt and pepper

  ½ thin-skinned lemon, chopped, rind and all

  1 tbsp parsley