Hard Tack and Coffee
, by Billings, John D.
- ISBN: 9781582186290 | 1582186294
- Cover: Hardcover
- Copyright: 8/1/2001
First published more than 100 years ago, Hard Tack And Coffee is John Billings? absorbing first-person account of the everyday life of a U.S. Army soldier during the Civil War. Billings attended a reunion of Civil War veterans in 1881 that brought together a group of survivors whose memories and stories of the war compelled him to write this account.Illustrated by Charles W. Reed, this edition is enhanced with over 200 sketches that reflect the sights and scenes of America's most turbulent era.
| The Tocsin Of War | |
| The Four Parties | |
| Their Candidates | |
| Freedom of Speech Abridged | |
| Secession Decreed | |
| Lincoln Elected | |
| Oh, for Andrew Jackson! Exit Buchanan | |
| "Long-heeled Abolitionists" and "Black Republicans" | |
| "Wide-awakes" and "Rail-splitters" | |
| "Copperheads" | |
| The Misunderstanding | |
| Northern Doughfaces | |
| Loyal Men of All Parties Unite | |
| The First Rally | |
| Preparation in the Bay State and in Other States | |
| Her War Governor | |
| Showing the White Feather | |
| The Memorable Fifteenth of April | |
| "The Sweet Little Man" | |
| Parting Scenes | |
| The Three-Months' Men | |
| Enlisting | |
| The President's Error | |
| "Three Years Unless Sooner Discharged" | |
| How Volunteer Companies were Raised | |
| Filling the Quotas | |
| What General Sherman Says | |
| Recruiting Offices | |
| Advertisements for Recruits | |
| A War Meeting in Roxbury | |
| A Typical War Meeting in the Country | |
| A Small-Sized Patriot | |
| Signing the Roll | |
| The Medical Examination | |
| Off for Camp | |
| The Red, White, and Blue | |
| How The Soldiers Were Sheltered | |
| The Distinction Noted Between the Militia and the U. S. Volunteers | |
| The Oath of Muster | |
| Barracks Described | |
| Sibley or Bell Tents | |
| A or Wedge Tents | |
| Spooning | |
| Stockading | |
| Hospital or Wall Tents | |
| Dog or Shelter Tent Described | |
| Chumming | |
| Pitching Shelters | |
| Stockaded Shelters | |
| Fireplaces | |
| Chimneys | |
| Door Plates | |
| "Willard's Hotel" | |
| "Hole in the Wall" | |
| Mortars and Mortar Shelling before Petersburg | |
| Life In Tents | |
| Life in a Sibley | |
| The Stove | |
| The Pastimes | |
| Postage Stamps as Money | |
| Soldier's Letter | |
| "Nary Red" | |
| Illustrated Envelopes | |
| Army Reading | |
| The Recluse | |
| Evenings of Sociability | |
| Pipe and Ring Making | |
| Home Gossip | |
| Music and the Contrabands | |
| War Song Revived | |
| The "Mud March" Prayer | |
| Life In Log Huts | |
| The Plan of a Camp | |
| Inside a Stockade | |
| The Bunks | |
| The Arrangement of the Furniture | |
| AEsthetic Dish-washing | |
| Lighting by Candles and Slush Lamps | |
| Candlesticks | |
| Night-Gowns and Night-Caps | |
| The Shelters in a Rain | |
| "I. C." Insect Life | |
| Pediculus Vestimenti, the Old-time Grayback | |
| Not a Respecter of Rank | |
| The First Grayback Found | |
| (K) nitting Work | |
| "Skirmishing" | |
| Boiling Water the Sovereign Balm | |
| Cleanliness | |
| The Versatile Mess-Kettles | |
| No Magee Ranges Supplied the Soldiers | |
| Washerwomen | |
| No "Boiled Shirts" | |
| Darning and Mending | |
| Government Socks | |
| Cooks | |
| Green Pine as Fuel | |
| Camp Barbers | |
| Future Tacticians | |
| Jonahs And Beats | |
| The Jonah as a Guardsman | |
| A Midnight Uproar | |
| "Put him in the Guard-house" | |
| The Jonah Spills Pea-Soup, and Coffee, and Ink | |
| Always Cooking | |
| Steps on the Rails | |
| Tableau | |
| Jonah as a Wood-chopper | |
| Beats | |
| The Beat as a Fireman | |
| Without Water, and Rations, and Money | |
| His Letters Containing Money always Miscarry | |
| Allotments | |
| The Beat as a Guard Dodger | |
| His Corporal Does the Duty | |
| As a Fatigue Detail | |
| Horse-Burying as a Civilizer for Jonahs and Beats | |
| The Detail for the Burial | |
| The Over-worked Man | |
| The Rheumatic Dodge | |
| The Sick Man | |
| The Chief Mourner | |
| The Explosive Man | |
| The Paper-Collar Young Man | |
| Forward, Grave-diggers! | |
| Hurrah! Without the H | |
| Army Rations | |
| Were They Adequate? | |
| Their Quality | |
| A List of Them | |
| What was Included in a Single Ration | |
| What was a Marching Ration? | |
| Officers' Allowance | |
| The "Company Fund" | |
| Hardtack" Described | |
| Its Faults Three in Number | |
| Served in Twenty Different Ways | |
| Song of the Hardtack | |
| "Soft Bread" | |
| The Capitol as a Bake-house | |
| The Ovens at Alexandria and Fort Monroe | |
| Grant's Immense Bake-house at City Point | |
| Coffee and Sugar | |
| How Dealt Out | |
| How Stored | |
| Condensed Milk | |
| Company Cooks | |
| The Coffee-Dipper | |
| The Typical Coffee-Boiler | |
| Bivouac and Coffee | |
| How the Government Beat the Speculators | |
| How a Contractor Underbid Himself | |
| Fresh Meat | |
| How Served | |
| Army Frying-Pans | |
| Steak from a Steer's Jaw-Bone | |
| "Salt Horse" Not a Favorite Dish | |
| Salt Pork and its Uses | |
| The Army Bean | |
| How it was Baked | |
| Song of the Army Bean | |
| Desiccated Vegetables | |
| The Whiskey Ration | |
| A Suggestion as to the Inadequacy of the Marching Ration | |
| Offences And Punishments | |
| The Offences Enumerated | |
| "Back Talk" | |
| Absence from Camp without Leave | |
| The Punishments | |
| The Guard Tent | |
| The Black List | |
| Its Occupations | |
| Buck and Gag | |
| The Barrel and its Uses | |
| The Crucifixion | |
| The Wooden Horse | |
| The Knapsack Drill | |
| Tied up by the Thumbs | |
| The Sweat-Box | |
| The Placard | |
| The Spare Wheel | |
| Log-Lugging | |
| Double Guard | |
| The Model Regiment | |
| Commanders often Tyrants by Nature, or from Effects of Rum, or Ignorance | |
| A Regiment with Hundreds of Colonels | |
| Inactivity Productive of Offences and Punishments | |
| Kid-Glove Warfare | |
| Drumming out of Camp | |
| Rogue's March | |
| Ball and Chain | |
| Sleeping on Post | |
| Desertion | |
| Death of a Deserter Described-Death of a Spy Described | |
| Bounty-jumpers | |
| Amnesty to Deserters | |
| Desertion to Enemy | |
| Hanging of Three Criminals at Once for this Offence Described | |
| Number of Executions in the War | |
| A Day In Camp. "Assembly Of Buglers." "Turn Out!" "Assembly." | |
| How the Men Came into Line | |
| A Canteen Wash | |
| The Shirks | |
| "I Can't Get 'Em Up" | |
| "All Present or Accounted For" | |
| "Stable Call" | |
| Kingly Cannoneers and Spare Horses | |
| "Breakfast Call" | |
| "Sick Call" | |
| "Fall In for Your Quinine" | |
| The Beats again | |
| "Lack of Woman's Nursing" | |
| "Water Call" | |
| Where the Animals were Watered | |
| Number of Animals in the Army | |
| Scarcity of Water | |
| "Fatigue Call" | |
| What it Included | |
| Army Stables | |
| The Picket-Rope | |
| Mortality of Horses | |
| Scarcity of Wood | |
| "Drill Call" | |
| Artillery Drill | |
| Standing Gun Drill | |
| Battery Manoeuvres | |
| Sham Fights | |
| Drilling by Bugle Calls | |
| "Dinner Call" | |
| "Retreat" | |
| Scolding Time | |
| "Assembly of Guard" | |
| The Reliefs | |
| Fun for the Corporal | |
| Some of His Trials | |
| "Next Tent Below" | |
| "Tattoo" | |
| Reminiscences | |
| Taps | |
| "Put out that Light!" | |
| "Stop that Talking!" | |
| Raw Recruits | |
| A Scrap of Personal History | |
| A Parent's Certificate | |
| The Lot of a Recruit | |
| Abused by the Old Hands | |
| Flush with Money | |
| A Practical Joke | |
| Two Classes of Recruits | |
| The Matter-of-fact Recruit a Final Success | |
| The High-toned Recruits | |
| Their Loud Uniform | |
| Scoffers at Government Rations | |
| As Hostlers | |
| The Awkward Squad | |
| The Decline in the Quality of Recruits | |
| Men of '61-2 | |
| Unschooled Soldiers | |
| Hope Deferred | |
| "One Last Embrace" | |
| French Leave Furloughs | |
| Life in Home Camp | |
| Family Knots | |
| A Mother's Fond Solicitude | |
| Galling Lessons of Obedience | |
| Bounties Paid Recruits | |
| "I'm a Raw Recruit" | |
| "The Substitute" | |
| Special Rations. Boxes From Home | |
| Sending for a Box | |
| A Specimen Address | |
| A Typical List of Contents | |
| Impatience at its Non-arrival | |
| Its Inspection at Headquarters | |
| Its Reception at Camp | |
| The Opening | |
| Box-packing as an Art | |
| The Whole Neighborhood Contributes | |
| Soldiers Who Had No Boxes | |
| The Box of the Selfish Man | |
| His Onions | |
| "We've Drank from the same Canteen" | |
| The Army Sutler | |
| His Stock-in-trade | |
| His Prices | |
| The Commissary | |
| Army Fritters | |
| Sutler's Pies | |
| Sutler's Risks | |
| Raiding the Sutler | |
| What a Sutler Lost near Brandy Station | |
| War Prices in Dixie | |
| Foraging | |
| Strictly Prohibited at First | |
| Two Reasons Why | |
| The Right and Wrong of It | |
| Innocent Sufferers | |
| Unauthorized Foragers | |
| The Destitution of Some Families | |
| The Family Turnout | |
| Wantonness at Fredericksburg | |
| Authorized Foragers | |
| Their Plunder | |
| Foraging at Wilcox's Farm | |
| Tobacco Foragers | |
| The Cavalry in Their Role | |
| The Infantry | |
| Incidents | |
| Risks Assumed by Foragers | |
| Union Versus Confederate Soldier as a Forager | |
| Corps And Corps Badges | |
| What was an Army Corps? | |
| How the Army of the Potomac was Organized | |
| Brigade and Division Formations | |
| "All quiet along the Potomac" | |
| "Why don't the Army move?" | |
| How Corps were Composed | |
| Their Number | |
| Corps Badges | |
| Their Origin | |
| The Kearny Patch | |
| Worn First by Officers, then by the Privates | |
| Hooker's Scheme of Corps Badges | |
| Its Extension to other Armies | |
| The Badge of each Army Corps Described | |
| Some Inventions And Devices Of The War | |
| Improvements in Firearms | |
| In War Vessels | |
| Catch-penny Devices for the Soldiers | |
| Combination Knife, Fork, and Spoon | |
| Water Filterers | |
| Armor Vests and Greaves | |
| Havelocks | |
| Revolvers and Dirk Knives | |
| "High-toned" Haversacks | |
| Compact Writing-desks Smoking-caps and the Turkish Fez | |
| Hatter's Caps Versus Government Caps | |
| The Numbering and Lettering of Knapsacks | |
| Haversacks and Canteens | |
| How these Equipments Changed Hands | |
| The Army Mule | |
| Where Raised | |
| Where the Government Obtained Them | |
| What They were Used for | |
| Compared with Horses | |
| Mule Fodder | |
| How a Mule Team was Composed | |
| How it was Driven | |
| How Mules were Obtained from the Corral | |
| The Black Snake and its Uses | |
| An Incident | |
| Mule Ears | |
| His Pastimes | |
| As a Kicker the Original Mugwump | |
| What Josh Billings Knows about Him | |
| His Kicking Range | |
| How He was Shod | |
| The Mule as a Singer | |
| Under the Pack-saddle | |
| The Mule as a Stubborn Fact | |
| His Conduct under Fire | |
| Captured Mules at Sailor's Creek | |
| What Became of All the Mules? | |
| The Mule Mortal | |
| "Charge of the Mule Brigade" | |
| Hospitals And Ambulances | |
| The First General Hospitals | |
| The First Medical Director | |
| Army Regulations Insufficient | |
| Verdancy of Regimental Surgeons | |
| Hospital Tents | |
| The Origin of Field Hospitals in Tents | |
| Their Capacity | |
| No Ambulances before the War | |
| Two-Wheeled and Four-Wheeled Ambulances | |
| Organization of the Ambulance Corps | |
| The Officers and Privates | |
| The Outfit | |
| Field Hospitals | |
| Their Location | |
| The Men in Charge | |
| Captured Hospitals | |
| A Paroled Prisoner | |
| A Personal Reminiscence | |
| Legs and Arms Unnecessarily Amputated | |
| Anecdote of a Heavy Artilleryman | |
| The Escort of the Wounded | |
| The Insignia of the Ambulance Corps | |
| A Personal Experience | |
| Hospital Railway Trains and Steamboats | |
| The Cacolet | |
| Scattering Shots. The Clothing | |
| The Allowance | |
| The Losses of Infantry | |
| Clothing of Garrisons | |
| First Maine Heavy Artillery | |
| Their First Active Campaigning | |
| Army Cattle | |
| The Kind Referred to | |
| Where They Came from | |
| Wade Hampton as a Cattle-Stealer | |
| Cattle on the March | |
| Their Route by Day and Night | |
| The Sagacious Leader | |
| The Slaughter | |
| The Corps Herd | |
| Heroic Horses | |
| Their Conduct in Action | |
| When Wounded | |
| A Personal Reminiscence | |
| Anecdote of General Hancock | |
| Sagacious Horses | |
| Breaking Camp, On The March | |
| Marching Orders | |
| When They Came | |
| What was Done at Once | |
| The Survival of the Fittest | |
| "Waverly" Correspondents | |
| The Night in Camp after Marching Orders Came | |
| Camp Fires and Hilarity | |
| "The General" | |
| The Wait in Camp | |
| Forward, March! | |
| The Order of March | |
| Corps Headquarters | |
| Division Headquarters | |
| The Division Flags Described | |
| Brigade Headquarters | |
| Brigade Flags Described | |
| Battle Flags | |
| The Mule of Regimental Headquarters | |
| His Company | |
| Light Batteries | |
| Lightening Loads | |
| The Chafed and Footsore | |
| Fording of Streams | |
| The Same by Night | |
| Personal Reminiscences | |
| "Close up!" | |
| Marching in a Rainstorm | |
| Camping in a Rainstorm | |
| Horses in the Rain and Sloughs | |
| A Personal Reminiscence | |
| Flankers | |
| "Column, Halt!" | |
| Double quick!" | |
| "They've found um" | |
| Army Wagon Trains | |
| Grant's Military Railroad | |
| The Impedimenta | |
| An Army Wagon | |
| An Army Minstrel Troupe | |
| The Transportation of a Regiment | |
| What They Originally Carried | |
| Baggage Trains on the Peninsula | |
| Chaos Illustrated | |
| The Responsibility of Train Officers | |
| What They had to Contend with | |
| The Struggle for the Lead | |
| Depot of Transportation | |
| The Officers of the Quartermaster's Department | |
| What Wagons Took Into the Wilderness | |
| The Allowance on the Final Campaign | |
| Incident | |
| Early Order of McClellan | |
| General Orders, No. 153 | |
| The Beginning of the Supply Trains | |
| What General Rufus Ingalls Did | |
| Meade's General Orders, No. 83 | |
| Strength of a Corps Supply Train | |
| Of the Army | |
| Its Extent | |
| Its Place on the March | |
| A Reminiscence of the Race for Centreville | |
| General Wadsworth's Bull Train | |
| Its Rise and Fall | |
| Trials of a Train Quartermaster | |
| He Runs Counter to Meade and Sheridan in the Discharge of his Duty | |
| Army Road And Bridge Builders | |
| The Engineer Corps | |
| Their Duties | |
| Corduroying | |
| Trestle Bridges | |
| Slashing | |
| Making of Gabions, etc. | |
| As Pontoniers | |
| Xerxes as an Early Pontonier | |
| His Bridge over the Hellespont Described | |
| Our Earliest Pontoon | |
| Bridges of Canvas Boats; of Wooden Boats | |
| Pontoon Bridge Material Described | |
| Balks, Bays, Chesses, Rack Lashings | |
| Pontoon Train | |
| Pontoon Bridge Building Described | |
| Taking Up a Pontoon Bridge | |
| The '62 Bridge over the Chickahominy | |
| Over the James | |
| Pontoon Bridge Laying before Fredericksburg | |
| The Stability of such Bridges | |
| Incident | |
| Life of an Engineer | |
| Talking Flags And Torches | |
| Old Glory | |
| Signal Flags | |
| The Signal Corps | |
| Its Use | |
| Its Origin | |
| The Kit | |
| The Talking | |
| The Code | |
| A Signal Party | |
| Sending a Message | |
| Receiving a Message | |
| The Torch | |
| General Corse's Despatch | |
| Signal Stations | |
| Lookouts before Petersburg | |
| "Which one?" | |
| What Longstreet Said | |
| What a Paper Correspondent Did | |
| Reading the Rebel Signal Code | |
| Signal Station at Poolesville, Md | |
| The Perils of Signal Men | |
| Death of a Signal Officer | |
| At Little Round Top | |
| Anecdote of Grant | |
| Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved. |
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