Patrick G. Whalen

As a lay historian, writer, speaker, semi-retired reenactor and avid book consumer of all things Civil War, era-appropriate language has always been an interest of mine. Being neck deep in my own Civil War historical fiction project, I am becoming increasingly depended upon (and interested in) slang words used by the soldiers at the time.

During my most active reenactor years, while the internet was still in its infancy, I relied heavily upon the advice and information from other seasoned reenactors in order to develop my own first person characterization. Over time, I began to question the authenticity of such slang and continue to question what I find on various spindles on the web.

Some some slang words have very distinctive Southern overtones, yet many Federal reenactors would use these terms in first person events. I was rarely convinced that a Federal soldier would have used the word, or at least as often or in that specific context.

As such, I am using this space to compile my own online index of Civil War slang words. Over time I hope to better fine-tune the definitions as well as determine the origins and history of the terms as well as whether the words were used exclusively by one side or the other, or by both simultaneously. I welcome any input such historians would enjoy submitting to me in the aid of this research.

• A.W.O.L.: Absent With Out Leave
• Absquatulate: to take leave, to disappear
• Acknowledge the Corn: to admit the truth, to confess a lie, or acknowledge an obvious personal shortcoming
• Arkansas Toothpick: a long, sharp knife
• Artillery: Camp kettles, stoves, posts, tubs, iron foundries
• Bad Egg: bad person, good for nothing
• Balderdash: nonsense
• Bark Juice, Tar Water, Kokum Stiff, Old Red Eye, O Be Joyful: Liquor
• Barrel shirt: Barrel worn by thieves for punishment
• Beat the Dutch: if that don’t beat all
• Been Through the Mill: been through a lot, seen it all, bad day
• Beehive : Knapsack
• Bellyache: complain
• Big Bugs: big wigs, important people
• Bite the Bullet: face up to a challenge or something unpleasant
• Bivouac: to camp without formal shelter or in temporary circumstances
• Blowhard: A big shot or braggart
• Bluebellies: Union soldiers
• Blue Mass: refers to men on sick call; named after blue pill
• Bluff: trick or deceive, cheater
• Bombproofs: provost guards/commissaries due to soft life
• Bragg’s Body Guard: lice
• Bread Bag: haversack
• Bread Basket: stomach
• Bull Pit: Under-arrest confinement area
• Bully: exclamation meaning, & ‘terrific!’ or ‘hurrah!’
• Bully for You: good for you
• Bumblebee: Sound of flying bullets
• Bummer: malingerer, someone who deliberately lags behind to forage or steal on his own shrift
• Bummer’s Cap: regulation army cap with a high/deep crown, so-called because it could be filled with gathered foodstuffs
• Bust Head / Pop Skull: cheap whiskey
• Buttermilk Cavalry: Term infantry had for cavalry
• Camp canard: tall tale circulating around camp as gossip
• Cashier: to dismiss from the army dishonorably
• Chicken Guts: gold braid used to denote officer ranks
• Chief Cook and Bottle Washer: person in charge, or someone who can do anything
• Company Q: fictitious unit designation for the sick list
• Conniption Fit: hysterics, temper tantrum
• Contraband: escaped slaves who sought refuge behind Union lines
• Coosh or Cush: cooked beef fried with bacon grease and cornmeal
• Copperhead: Northern person with Southern, anti-Union sympathies
• Cracker Line: supply line for troops on the move
• Deadbeat: useless person, malingerer
• Desecrated Vegetables: dehydrated (desiccated) vegetables formed into yellowish squares
• Dog Collar: cravat issued with uniforms, usually discarded
• Dog Robber: soldier detailed from the ranks to act as cook
• Duds: clothing
• Embalmed Beef: canned meat
• Essence of Coffee: early instant coffee, found in paste form
• Fairy Fleet: Boats carrying trade between sides at Fredricksburg
• Fighting under the black flag: Soldiers killing lice
• Fit as a fiddle: in good shape
• Fit to be tied: angry
• Forage: to hunt for food, live off the land; also came to mean plundering enemy property for sustenance
• Forty Dead Men: a full cartridge box, which usually held forty rounds
• French Leave: to go absent without leave
• Fresh Fish: new recruits
• Gallinippers: Insects, mosquitoes
• Ginned Cotton: Flower bread
• Giving the vermin a parole: Throwing away clothing infected with lice
• Go Boil Your Shirt: take a hike, get lost, bug off
• Goober Grabbers: Good natured term for Georgia troops
• Goobers: peanuts
• Grab a Root: eat a meal, especially a potato
• Greenbacks, Rocks, Spondulix: Money
• Greenhorn, Bugger:
• Grey Backs: lice, also derogatory term for Confederate soldiers
• Grit: courage, toughness
• Hanker: a strong wish or want
• Hard Case: tough guy
• Hard Knocks: hard times, ill use
• Hardtack: – unleavened bread in the form of ¼ inch thick crackers issued by the army
• Haversack: – canvas bag slung over the shoulder used to carry a soldier’s rations
• Here’s your mule: Nonsense expression akin to the modern “Kilroy was here”
• High-falutin: highbrow, fancy
• Horse Sense: common sense, good judgement
• Hospital Rat: someone who fakes illness to get out of duty
• Housewife: sewing kit
• Huffy, In a Huff: angry, irritated
• Humbug: nonsense, a sham, a hoax
• Hunkey Dorey: very good, all is well
• Iron Clad Possum: An armadillo dinner
• “I.W.”: In For the War
• Jailbird: criminal
• Jawing: talking
• Jeff Davis’ Pets: Rebel western troops’ term for A.N.V.
• John Barleycorn: beer
• Jonah: someone who is or brings bad luck
• Knock into a Cocked Hat: to knock someone senseless or thoroughly shock him
• Let Drive: go ahead, do it
• Let ‘er Rip: let it happen, bring it on
• Light Out: leave in haste
• Likely: serviceable, able-bodied
• Little Coot: Confederate slang for a yankee
• Long Sweetening: Molasses
• Lucifer: Match
• Mealy-mouthed: someone who is hard to talks but doesn’t get to the point
• Muggins: a scoundrel
• Mule: meat, especially if of dubious quality
• Mustered Out: wry term meaning killed in action
• Night blindness, Gravel: Condition caused by lack of green veggies.
• No Account: worthless
• Not By a Jug Full: not by any means, no way
• On His Own Hook: on one’s own shrift, without orders
• Opening the Ball: starting the battle
• Opine: be of the opinion
• Patent Bureau: Knapsack
• Peacock About: strut around
• Peaked: pronounced peak-ed; weak or sickly
• Peas on a trencher: Breakfast call
• PepperBox: Pistol
• Picket: sentries posted around a camp or bivouac to guard approaches
• Pie Eater: country boy, a rustic
• Pig Sticker: knife or bayonet
• Play Old Soldier: pretend sickness to avoid combat
• Played Out: worn out, exhausted
• Pumpkin Rinds: Grumpy term for lieutenants due to their gold lieutenant’s bars
• Quartermaster Hunter: shot or shell that goes long over the lines and into the rear
• Quick Step, Flux,  Tennesse Quick Step, Virginia Quick Step: Diarrhea
• Rio: Coffee
• Roast Beef: Noon Meal
• Robber’s Row: the place where sutlers set up to do business
• Row: a fight
• Salt Horse: salted meat
• Sand Happers: Good natured term for South Carolina troops.
• Sardine Box: cap box
• Sawbones: Surgeon
• Scarce as Hen’s Teeth: exceedingly rare or hard to find
• Skillygallee: fried pork fat with crumbled hardtack
• Secesh: derogatory term for Confederates and Southerners: secessionists
• See The Elephant: experience combat or other worldly events
• Shakes: malaria
• Sham Fight: Mock Battle
• Shanks Mare: on foot
• Sheet Iron Crackers: hard tack
• Shoddy: an inferior weave of wool used to make uniforms early in the war; later came to mean any clothing or equipment of substandard quality
• Sing Out: call out, yell
• Skedaddle: run away, escape
• Skunk: Officer
• Slouch Hat: a wide-brimmed felt hat
• Smoked Yanks: Union soldiers cooking over a fire
• Snug as a Bug: very comfortable
• Somebody’s Darling: comment when observing a dead soldier
• Sound on the Goose:
• Sparking: courting a girl, kissing
• Sunday Soldiers / Parlor Soldiers: derogatory terms for unsuitable soldiers
• Take an Image: have a photograph taken
• Tight / Wallpapered: drunk
• Toe the Mark: do as told, follow orders
• Top Rail: first class, top quality
• Traps: equipment, belongings
• Tuckered Out: exhausted
• Uppity: arrogant
• Vidette: a sentry same as Picket but usually on horseback
• Web Feet: Term cavalry had for infantry
• Whipped: beaten
• Who wouldn’t be a soldier?: “Who cares?”
• Worth a Goober: Something that amounts to a lot
• Wrathy: angry
• Yellow Hammers: Good natured term for Alabama troops
• Zu Zu: Zouaves