Hardtack and Coffee
John Davis Billings
G. M. Smith & Co., Boston, Ma.
<p>First published more than 100 years ago, Hardtack And Coffee is John Billings’ absorbing first-person account of the everyday life of a U.S. Army soldier during the Civil War.</p><p>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.</p><p>It is set in November, 1860.</p><p>Lincoln has been elected as President of the United States.</p><p>The Democrats split into two factions, divided over the issue of slavery.</p><p>As early as October, Southern politicians decide that the state of South Carolina should withdraw from the union.</p><p>Georgia, Alabama, Mississipi are among the states who seceded from the Union, creating the South Confederacy.</p><p>On the 15th April, Lincoln issues a proclamation that will send 75,000 militia to suppress the rebellion for three months.</p><p>‘Hard Tack and Coffee’ is the story of one of those ‘Minute Men’.</p><p>John D Billings describes in rich detail the daily routine of a foot soldier as the Civil War developed.</p><p>Recruitment became conscription, provisions became rations, tents became ‘bomb-proofs’, and the muzzle-loading rifle became breech-loaded.</p><p>In this unique account, we are given the first-hand account of life as a Massachusetts soldier, from conscription and training through to camp-life at discipline.</p><p>First published in 1887, ‘Hard Tack and Coffee’ is a gripping military memoir that promises to deliver a new insight into the Civil War.</p>