Regular Army O!
Subtitle: soldiering on the Western frontier, 1865-1891
By: Douglas C. McChristian ; foreword by Robert M. Utley
Contributors: Utley, Robert M., 1929- writer of foreword
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 762
ISBN-13: 9780806156958
Copyright date: 2017
Subjects: United States; Military life; Frontier and pioneer life; Soldiers; Social conditions; Military History; United States. Army; Soldiers' writings, American; History
Other titles: Soldiering on the Western frontier, 1865-1891
Description: "Uses the testimony of enlisted soldiers -- drawn from more than 350 diaries, letters, and memoirs -- to create a vivid picture of life in an evolving post-Civil War Army on the western frontier." --
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 707-728) and index.
Table of contents: title: "Taking to soldiering": enlistment; title: "We are kept pretty busy": life at the recruiting depot; title: "Don't grieve after me": the journey west; title: "Deployed as skirmishers": regiments and companies in the West; title: Brain, bone, and sinew: officers and noncoms; title: "It is just dragging out a miserable existence": forts and garrison routine; title: "The bed bugs are too numerous for me to sleep": some material aspects of Army life; title: "Offensive in every particular": medicine, hygiene, and sanitation; title: "It is so lonesome out here": the domestic side of enlisted life; title: "We have our little amusements": recreation and pastimes; title: "The moral condition is very poor": the seamy side of enlisted life; title: "There are a great many deserting from our regiment": the problem of desertion; title: "I will see some real Wild-West life": preparing for field service; title: "More than I ever thought I could bear": life in the field; title: "Our orders were to go after them": regulars and red men; title: "The government pays you to get shot at": combat; title: "Thank god I am done soldiering": enlistment's end; title: Appendixes. A. 1872 Army pay table ; B. Glossary of Army slang ; C. Selected regular Army ballads ; D. Enlisted soldiers whose personal accounts of service were consulted for this book.