Johnnycake, ashcake, battercake, corn cake, journey cake, corn pone or hoe cake all are regional names for cornmeal flatbread. In the South this mixture of cornmeal, salt and water, with milk sometimes, and fried, is most often referred to as hoe cake; if you venture north, more than likely it’s johnnycake. During the Civil War the Southern armies survived many battles living on hoe cakes, while the Northern armies ate a lot of johnnycake.

Recently at the Piankatank Ruritan Club building in Mathews, the Civil War came alive. The Lane-Armistead Camp #1772 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans held a two-day educational observance of the war’s sesquicentennial. One of its events showed how hoe cakes were made and cooked.

Walter Scott Hunley was camp cook. Using an aged iron griddle, one most likely the Rebels could have used, with his own mixture (the cornmeal he had ground from the corn he had raised), Walter treated those passing by, on their way to church services or j...