I doubt the food was ever awesome in the Army, although in my experience it was better than the Corps. I’d imagine it got better later in the war as the logistics caught up to the requirements.
A buddy of mine was in the army for 36 years flew helicopters and retired as a colonel.
I can not remember why but he and a couple other Army officers had to spend some time at an Air Force base at some point.
He raved about the officers quarters and the food! Said it was tops and far better than what he had in the army.
Most of the 19 th century posts had gardens to supplement rations and privates— with green thumbs—assigned to tend to them. After all, our wonderful congress did not go out of their way to provide enough funding.
The 1880s book Hardtack and Coffee by Billings says that a prive’s pay was $13 a month in the War raised on June 30, 1864 to $16 for US troops. I do not know if state troops got any supplements from their home governments. Of course some later recruits were paid enlistment bonuses.