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Re: the attack of the killer frozen dumplings



Could this have been a piece of "hard tack", a really tough bread used
by sailors and soldiers too.  With the cold weather, it could have frozen
up and been a tough as a brick. Hard tack is a bread that is very dry
and tough, but preserves well, a bit like crackers. It served well for
long journeys before refrigeration--just throw it in your canvas sack and
you had portable food.

Sharon Centanne

Russell Baker wrote:

> Colleagues:
>
>         Since this is Friday and I value your expertise, I thought to share
> with you one of the stranger incidents I have come across in my research
> into American Frontier History, the attack on the frozen dumplings. James
> Hubbard, an early settler in east Tennessee, was a noted "Indian fighter",
> and, I must confess, my ancestor. About 1783, during the Cherokee Wars in
> Tennessee,  he had a chance encounter with a Native American named "Watts".
> instead of fighting, they set down together on the trail to share a hasty
> common meal. It must have been about this time of the year, the dead of
> winter. Hubbard brought out venison and other game and offered to share it.
> Watts is said to have brought out of his larder a "mess" or perhaps a "mass"
> "of frozen dumplings". During the course of the meal, Watts "sprang to his
> feet drew a frozen dumpling and hit Hubbard on the upper lip cutting it
> badly". You can guess what followed. All of this is taken from the Draper
> Manuscript Collection for Tennessee. What I want to know is has any one ever
> heard of a "frozen dumpling" being used as an attack weapon or for any other
> purpose? And what in the world was a "frozen dumpling" in 1783? Was it a
> staple of native American diet, frontier fare?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Russell P. Baker, CA
> Arkansas History Commission and State Archives
> One Capitol Mall
> Little Rock, AR 72201
> 501-682-6900
> russell.baker@mail.state.ar.us <mailto:russell.baker@mail.state.ar.us>
>
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--
ÐÏࡱá

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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>