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Hardtack and Coffee If \\ If II 3^ OJarttcU Uttiweratty Htbratg 3tl!ata, Sfew ^prh THE JAMES VERNER SCAIFE COLLECTION CIVIL WAR LITERATURE THE GIFT OP JAMES VERNER SCAIFE CLASS OF 1889 1919 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030908242 Hardtack and Coffee ai)c finwrttten Storj of ^rmg Cift INCLUDING CHAPTERS ON ENLISTING, LIFE IN TENTS AND LOG HUTS, JONAHS AND BEATS, OFFENCES AND PUNISHMENTS, RAW RECRUITS, FORAGING, CORPS AND CORPS BADGES, THE WAGON TRAINS, THE ARMY MULE, THE ENGINEER CORPS, THE SIGNAL CORPS, ETC. By JOHN D. BILLINGS AUTHOR OF "THE TENTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY " ; PAST DEPARTMENT COMMANDER MASSACHUSETTS G. A. R. \ FORMERLY OF SICKLES* THIRD AND HANCOCk's SECOND CORPS, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC WITH SIX ELEGANT COLOR PLATES; AND OVER TWO HUNDRED ORIGINAL SKETCHES BY CHARLES W. REED MEMBER OF NINTH MASSACHUSETTS BATTERY; ALSO, TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEER ON GENERAL WARREN*S STAFF, FIFTH CORPS, ARMY OF THE POTOMAC BOSTON GEORGE M. SMITH & CO. 1887 /^i A.^'iScI Sc' ^^:./^ Copyright, 1887, By John D, Billings. Electrotyped By C. J. Peters and Son, Boston. BERWICK A SMITH, PRINTERS, BOSTON. ^. - If/ DEDICATION. To my comrades of the Army of the Potomac who, it is believed, will find rehearsed in these pages much that has not before appeared in print, and which it is hoped will secure to their children in permanent form valuable infor- mation about a soldier's life in detail that has thus far been only partially written, this work is most affectionately dedicated by their friend, T5B AtJTHOB. PREFACE. DuEiNG the summer of 1881 I was a sojourner for a few weeks at a popular hotel in the White Mountains. Among the two hundred or more guests who were enjoying its retirement and good cheer were from twelve to twenty lads, varying in age from ten to fifteen years. When tea had been disposed of, and darkness had put an end to their daily romp and hurrah without, they were wput to take- in charge a gentleman from Chicago, formerly a gallant soldier in the Army of the Cumberland, and in a quiet corner of the spacious hotel parlor, or a remote part of the piazza, would listen with eager attention as he related chapters of his personal experience in the Civil War. Less than two days elapsed before they pried out of the writer the acknowledgment that he too had served Uncle Sam ; and immediately followed up this bit of information by requesting me to alternate evenings with the veteran from the West in entertaining them with stories of the war as I saw it. I assented to the plan readily enough, and a more interested or interesting audience of its size could not be desired than that knot of boys who clustered around us on alternate Rights , while we related to them in an offhand way many facts regarded as too commonplace for the general histories of the war. This trifling piece of personal experience led to the prep- aration of these sketches, and will largely account for the didactic manner in which they are written. They are far from complete. Many topics of interest are left untreated — they will readily suggest themselves to veterans ; but it vi • PREFACE. was thought best not to expand this volume beyond its present proportions. It is believed that what is herein written will appeal largely to a common experience among soldiers. In full faith that such is the case, they are now presented to veterans, their children, and the public as an important contribution of warp to the more majestic woof which comprises the history of the Great Civil War already written. That history, to date, is a history of battles, of campaigns and of generals. This is the first attempt to record comprehensively army life in detail; in which both text and illustrations aim to permanently record information which the history of no other war has preserved with equal accuracy and completeness. I am under obligations to many veterans for kindly sug- gestions and criticisms during the progress of this work, to Houghton & Mifflin for the use of Holmes' "Sweet Little Man," and especially to Comrade Charles W. Reed, for his many truthful and spirited illustrations. The large number of sketches which he brought from the field in 1865 has enabled him to reproduce with telling effect many sights and scenes once very familiar to the veterans of the Union armies, which cannot fail to recall stirring experiences in their soldier's life. Believing they will do this, and that these pages will appeal to a large number to whom the Civil War is yet something more than a myth, they are confidently put forth, the pleasant labor of spare hours, with no claim for their literary excellence, but with the full assurance that they will partially meet a want hitherto unsupplied. Cambridgepobt, Mass., March 30, 1887. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. the tocsin op war. Page 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 " — " Copper- heads " — 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 . 15 CHAPTER II. 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 34 CHAPTER III. 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 PLites — " Willard's Hotel "— " Hole in the Wall " — Mortars and Jfortar Shelling before Petersburg 43 1 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. I-IFE IN TENTS. Postage Stamps as Life in a Sibley — Tlie Stove — The Pastimes — Envelopes Money — Soldier's Letter— "Nary Bed "- Illustrated Pipe — Army Reading — The Recluse — Evenings of Sociability — and Ring Making— Home Gossip — Music and the Contrabands- War Song Revived— The " Mud March" Prayer 61 CHAPTER V. LIFE IN LOG HUTS. The Plan of a Camp — Inside a Stockade — The Bunks — The Arrange- ment of the Furniture — Esthetic Dish-washing — Lighting by — Candlesticks — Night-Gowns and Candles and Slush Lamps — 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 73 CHAPTER VI. 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 90 CHAPTER VIL AKMY RATIONS. Were They Adequate ? — Their Quality — A List of Them — What was Included in a Single Ration — What was a Marching Ration? — — CONTENTS. 3 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 Fi7ing-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 1 08 CHAPTER VIII. OFFENCES AND PUNISHilENTS. 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 — Deatli 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 143 CHAPTER IX.
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