Book dossier

Hardtack and Coffee

by John Davis Billings, George M Smith and Co

One of the most important memoirs of the American Civil War, this is also one of the few to describe what life was really like for the common soldier. The author, a Union veteran of the Army of the Potomac, tells of how the men enlisted or were conscripted; how they lived in camp and on the march; what they ate and foraged; how they were equipped and provided for; how they lived, amused themselves, were disciplined and punished, cared for and healed, and ultimately how they died. Written with a wry and gentle sense of humor, and profusely illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings, this book is full of the anecdotes and trivia that made it a best-seller in its day, and a primary source for life in the Civil War ever since.