Hard tack and coffee
By: by John D. Billings
Publisher: Endeavor Press
Published: 2016
Place of publication: London]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 352
ISBN-13: 9781911445135
Subjects: Military life; Personal narratives; History; Récits personnels; Histoire; Armed Forces; United States. Army; United States
Description: John Billings' military memoir of the everyday life of a U.S. Army soldier in the 19th century is not about battles, but rather about how the common Union soldiers of the Civil War lived in camp and on the march. The volume is divided into twenty-one chapters which treat the origins of the Civil War, enlisting, how soldiers were sheltered, life in tents, life in log huts, unlucky soldiers and shirkers ("Jonahs and Beats"), Army rations, offenses and punishments, a day in camp, raw recruits, special rations and boxes from home, foraging, corps and corps badges, some inventions and devices of the war, the army mule, hospitals and ambulances, clothing, breaking camp and marching, army wagon trains, road and bridge builders, and signal flags and torches
Notes: Cover subtitle: A classic Civil War memoir.

Originally published in 1887.

Copyright 1887 by John D. Billings.

Originally published with title: Hardtack and coffee, or, The unwritten story of army life.

This reprint edition does not include the over two-hundred illustrations included in the first edition.
Table of contents: title: Preface; title: The tocsin of war; title: Enlisting; title: How the soldiers were sheltered; title: Life in tents; title: Life in log huts; title: Jonahs and beats; title: Army rations : what they were, how they were distributed, how they were cooked; title: Offences and punishments; title: A day in camp; title: Raw recruits; title: Special rations, boxes from home, sutlers; title: Foraging; title: Corps and Corps badges; title: Some inventions and devices of the war; title: The army mill; title: Hospitals and ambulances; title: Scattering shots; title: Breaking camp, on the march; title: Army wagon-trains; title: Army road and bridge builders; title: Talking flags and torches.