In May 1777, Congress commissioned Christopher Ludwick, a Philadelphia gingerbread baker, as the superintendent of bakers in the Continental Army. Upon receiving his commission, Ludwick quickly developed a baking department—the first of its kind in America—to feed Gen. George Washington’s army as they fought and retreated throughout the Mid-Atlantic. Under Ludwick’s supervision, a series of ovens were built in different locations throughout the Mid-Atlantic to satisfy the needs of provisioning the army. Justin Cherry, resident baker at George Washington’s Mount Vernon and the recipient of the 2024 Thomas Jay McCahill III Fellowship of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Hampshire, explores various individuals who ran the ovens and baked for the Continental Army, along with the immense challenges they faced in feeding it.
About the Speaker
Justin Cherry is the resident baker of George Washington’s Mount Vernon, where he develops educational programming surrounding eighteenth-century baking and its regional economic influence on the milling industry. To further his studies on this subject, Mr. Cherry received a research fellowship at the Fred W. Smith Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon in 2019, and the Thomas Jay McCahill III Fellowship of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Hampshire in 2024. Mr. Cherry is also the owner of Half Crown Bakehouse, a historical organization that travels the country and demonstrates authentic eighteenth-century baking, and was the first American baker to become a Freeman of the World Company of Bakers in London in November 2023.