Chatham Artillery punch

Chatham Artillery punch

Cocktail
Type	Mixed drink
Served	Chilled
Standard garnish	Grated nutmeg, cherries
Commonly used ingredients	Lemons, sugar, whiskey, brandy, rum, Champagne[1]

Chatham Artillery punch is a potent punch containing rum, whisky, brandy, and Champagne.^[2] It also contains lemons and sugar.^[2] Named after the Savannah regiment, it is well-known in the city of Savannah, Georgia,^[2] which is located in Chatham County.

The original recipe and creator are unknown.^[2] One legend has it that George Washington was presented the punch when he arrived at Chatham Artillery in 1792, and he gave the regiment two cannons.^[2][3]

A more plausible story was reported in an 1885 article for the Augusta Chronicle.^[3] It stated that the punch was created in the 1850s, when the Republican Blues returned from a drill in Macon and were welcomed back by Sergeant A. B. Luce and the Chatham Artillery.^[2][3] The punch was said to have been created by adding a quart of brandy, whiskey, and rum along with Champagne, lemon, and sugar to a horse bucket containing crushed ice.^[2][3] According to this story, every man who drank it was inebriated.^[2]

In 1870, a group of Southern journalists held a convention in Savannah and were served the punch on a riverboat cruise.^[2] They became inebriated and reported their encounter with the drink, proposing guesses of the actual content.^[2] The punch subsequently received national attention.^[2] President Chester Arthur was said to have been bested by the drink.^[3]

In 1900, Admiral George Dewey, a war hero from the 1898 Battle of Manila Bay, also became inebriated when he imbibed the punch.^[2] One recipe was later named after him.^[2]

The drink was later revised to become less potent.^[2][4] In a recipe from 1907, it was written: "Experience has taught the rising generation to modify the receipt of their forefathers to conform to the weaker constitutions of their progeny."^[4][5]

After the end of Prohibition in the late 1930s, the cocktail grew in popularity again.^[3] One of the last variations was published after Prohibition by the New York Sun in 1939.^[2] The new recipes were substantially different, and sometimes included liquors like scotch and gin and even excluded Champagne.^[3]

Another legend is that during Sherman's March in the Civil War, the residents of Savannah provided Sherman with so much of the punch that he decided to spare the city.^[6]

Many punch recipes call for Santa Cruz rum, which became more popular after Prohibition.^[7] It is more likely that heavy, dark rum is more similar to one used in the original recipe.^[7] Catawba wine is difficult to find in modern times, and is substituted with a white wine or Champagne.^[7] In the 1997 film adaptation of the John Berendt novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, the punch is referenced as "three parts fruit, seven parts liquor – whatever's available on both counts".^[8]

The drink can be prepared by taking lemon peels and muddling them with sugar which will extract oils from the lemon peels.^[1][3] This mixture is added to lemon juice and is strained.^[3] The lemon-sugar mixture is then added to a large bowl with crushed ice along with brandy, rum, whiskey, and Champagne.^[3] Although not likely traditional, candied cherries (and sometimes the juice from the jar) are often added as well.^[9] Similarly, gin is sometimes added in modern recipes.^[9]

One variation is called Champagne punch.^[9] This is less potent version of the drink, and uses Curaçao or Cointreau, a few shot of bitters, fresh strawberries, lemon, simple syrup, brandy, and Champagne.^[9] It is popular at wedding receptions and Christmas parties.^[9]

There are similar drinks that exist. One is regent's punch, which is popular along the East Coast of the United States.^[9] Another is the Fish house punch, which is found in the Northeast United States.^[9]

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