Their Last Suppers: Legends of History and Their Final Meals (13 page)

On October 19 the French and Spanish fleet sailed from Cadiz and found the English ships shadowing them. Numbers favored the French—they had thirty-three ships of the line and seven frigates to England’s twenty-seven major ships and four frigates—but Villeneuve was wary of the English admiral with the reputation of doing the unexpected and his well-trained sailors, who were the complete opposite of those in his own command.

Early on the morning of the October 21 Nelson made his move. At 4
A.M
. he formed his ships into two lines, and at daybreak the French saw the English fleet, headed by Nelson’s flagship the Victory, bearing straight toward them.

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.”

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.

Celery and Stilton Soup

“Dry Devils” Roast Pheasant

(dry with Seville orange sauce)

Asparagus in Crisp Rolls

New Potatoes and Spiced Hollandaise

• 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.
  

• 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.
  

• 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.
  

• 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.
  

• 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

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.