"Taking to soldiering": enlistment
"We are kept pretty busy": life at the recruiting depot
"Don't grieve after me": the journey west
"Deployed as skirmishers": regiments and companies in the West
Brain, bone, and sinew: officers and noncoms
"It is just dragging out a miserable existence": forts and garrison routine
"The bed bugs are too numerous for me to sleep": some material aspects of Army life
"Offensive in every particular": medicine, hygiene, and sanitation
"It is so lonesome out here": the domestic side of enlisted life
"We have our little amusements": recreation and pastimes
"The moral condition is very poor": the seamy side of enlisted life
"There are a great many deserting from our regiment": the problem of desertion
"I will see some real Wild-West life": preparing for
Field service
"More than I ever thought I could bear": life in the field
"Our orders were to go after them": regulars and red men
"The government pays you to get shot at": combat
"Thank god I am done soldiering": enlistment's end
Appendixes
A. 1872 Army pay table
B. Glossary of Army slang
Selected regular Army ballads
Enlisted soldiers whose personal accounts of
Service were consulted for this book.