Hardtack and Coffee or The Unwritten Story of Army Life

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Summary: The definitive book the Civil War soldier's life.
Review: For anyone who wants to get a feel for the life of a Federal soldier in the American Civil War, this is the book. It is the best resource I know for living historians on the details of life in the field. In addition to its value as a reference, the book is written with humor and verve, making it eminently readable.

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Summary: Civil War reenactors, buy this!
Review: I am a Civil War reenactor, and this book has been an excellent source of ideas for first person scenarios and ideas for living history. It is an insightful, unique record of the soldier's life for living historians or students of history. I would highly recommend this engaging book.

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Summary: The Story of the Soldiers of the Civil War!
Review: I haven't read a book in a long time that I actually really enjoyed every chapter. Biling's doesn't confuse the reader with battlefield strategy or complicating the obvious. He doesn't reflect on battle scenarios with upmost detail after 20 years either. This is a great book for anyone looking to learn about daily soldier life. Bilings captures the daily grind and life of being a Federal soldier while offering humor and straight forward realities that get the mind ticking. The stories make truth stranger than fiction and is a welcomed charge of quick information. It is easy to suggest this book to younger readers as well as the information is clean,concise and well written. I would definately recommend this book for all as many ages can benefit from this educational and entertaining book of soldier life.

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Summary: Great Fun for All Ages!
Review: I teach a university class on the experience of the American Civil War, and I use sections of this book to illustrate camp life and the life of the average soldier.

Billings tells his story as a humanist and has a real eye for detail. His descriptions (and the illustrations) are invaluable.

This book is not for someone with only a passing interest in the American Civil War; one must know something of the era to appreciate it. It is a must-read for a true fanatic.

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Summary: Good laughs, good read and first-hand real history
Review: I'm one of those men with the "Civil War Itch" who can't get enough reading, can't get enough time on the battlefields. This book is hands-down one of my favorites in my extensive collection, re-read several times and dog-eared. It's something I always put in my bag for air-travel reading, because you can pick it up and put it down when you need to...the author and the illustrator both were participants in the Conflict, so you know it's accurate. The content is educational but not stuffy, since it was written to explain to soldiers' families what exactly Union Army life was like...and the humor still carries through to this day. After you've read the historical studies or walked a battlefield, THIS is the book you want to read to put yourself in the shoes of the everyday soldier--and it's easy to do with the author's skills. For me, the best chuckles are the chapters "Jonahs and Beats", and "The Army Mule". A must-read for those wanting more than just a general's biography or an order of battle.

Rating:
Summary: Good laughs, good read and first-hand real history
Review: I'm one of those men with the "Civil War Itch" who can't get enough reading, can't get enough time on the battlefields. This book is hands-down one of my favorites in my extensive collection, re-read several times and dog-eared. It's something I always put in my bag for air-travel reading, because you can pick it up and put it down when you need to...the author and the illustrator both were participants in the Conflict, so you know it's accurate. The content is educational but not stuffy, since it was written to explain to soldiers' families what exactly Union Army life was like...and the humor still carries through to this day. After you've read the historical studies or walked a battlefield, THIS is the book you want to read to put yourself in the shoes of the everyday soldier--and it's easy to do with the author's skills. For me, the best chuckles are the chapters "Jonahs and Beats", and "The Army Mule". A must-read for those wanting more than just a general's biography or an order of battle.

Rating:
Summary: Civil War from the soldier's point of view
Review: There are numerous histories of the Civil War and some have become classics. Most of these focus on battles and great heroes. Billings, however, a Civil War veteran, writes about the daily life of the average soldier. We learn about the soldier's motivation to fight, camp discipline, diet, housing, medical care, recreation and just about everything else that comprised the life of the Civil War era soldier. Billings' book is serious yet he manages to write in a lighthearted tone, replete with levity. This is a great book to round out a Civil War buff's study of the great conflict.

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Summary: A Sympathetic and Educating Examination.
Review: This engaging book fills the void that other Civil War histories leave, and that is an understanding of the everyday experiences of the foot soldier. "Hardtack and Coffee or the Unwritten Story of Army Life" by John D. Billings is an exhaustive and fascinating look back at the flesh, bones, and blood of those lines and arrows on the maps of Civil War battle strategies.

The book is filled with anecdotes, observations, and songs arising from the era. (I very much appreciated the introduction which details the election of 1860 and started the whole terrible tragedy that ensued over the next half decade.) The generous amount of illustration truly helps evoke the period. "Hardtack and Coffee" is a perfect companion to Bell Irvin Wiley's "Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union" and "The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy". And it is a perfect part of anyone's Civil War/American History library.

Rocco Dormarunno, author of THE FIVE POINTS

Rating:
Summary: A Sympathetic and Educating Examination.
Review: This engaging book fills the void that other Civil War histories leave, and that is an understanding of the everyday experiences of the foot soldier. "Hardtack and Coffee or the Unwritten Story of Army Life" by John D. Billings is an exhaustive and fascinating look back at the flesh, bones, and blood of those lines and arrows on the maps of Civil War battle strategies.

The book is filled with anecdotes, observations, and songs arising from the era. (I very much appreciated the introduction which details the election of 1860 and started the whole terrible tragedy that ensued over the next half decade.) The generous amount of illustration truly helps evoke the period. "Hardtack and Coffee" is a perfect companion to Bell Irvin Wiley's "Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union" and "The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy". And it is a perfect part of anyone's Civil War/American History library.

Rocco Dormarunno, author of THE FIVE POINTS

Rating:
Summary: The Story of the Soldiers of the Civil War!
Review: This is the best book on the life of the Civil War soldier. The other reviews attest to this, so here is something different.
Charles W. Reed, the illustrator, was ALSO a Civil War veteran.
He served in the Ninth Massachusetts Battery and won the Medal of Honor at Gettysburg for saving his commanding officer, Captain
John Bigelow, who had been seriously wounded in the fight at the
Trostle Farm on 2 July 1863.
My favorite chapter was the one on the army mule.
Buy, read & enjoy this book!