Originally published in 1888, Hard Tack and Coffee became an immediate best seller. Its author, John Billings, had served with the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War. He joined forces with the illustrator, Charles Reed, and utilized the many sketches of field life Reed had made during the Civil War to enliven an already fascinating text with pen and ink drawings of all aspects of a soldier's life. Included in this long out-of-print classic are chapters on living quarters, foraging, wagon trains, army rations, offences and punishments, equipment, the army mule, hospitals and much more. --from Publisher's note on dust cover.