What is a list of American Civil War slang?

Answer 1

Some of the more interesting and colorful (but mostly inoffensive) American Civil War and Civil War-era slang, gathered from various sources.

A

Artillery (pots and pans)

Assembly of Buglers (morning reveille)

Aunty (Union soldiers' nickname for the army)

Avails (profits from sale of goods, often refers to camp Sutler)

Avalanche (Union slang for their two-wheeled ambulance)

B

Bad egg (worthless or bad person)

Balderdash! (exclamation, nonsense or BS)

Balmy, Bamboozled (drunk)

Barefoot coffee (strong coffee, drunk black) (compare with Essence of coffee)

Barnyard Preacher (derogatory term for an amateur or part-time preacher)

Barrel Shirt (humiliating punishment in which a soldier is forced to march wearing a flour barrel...as a shirt)

Bazoo (mouth)

Beak (judge or magistrate)

Bean ($5 gold coin)

Bean hole (a hole in the ground filled with embers and topped with a pot for slow-cooking beans at camp)

Beanpole (tall, skinny man)

Belly achin' (complaining)

Betsy or Bessie (a musket or rifle)

Big Ticket (honorable discharge)

Bite dog, bite bear (expression meaning the person didn't care about the outcome of something)

Black Maria (slang for a wagon used to carry people to jail)

Blister (military slang; an irritating person)

Blockhead (stupid)

Blowhard (braggart or confrontational man)

Bluff (cheater, as at cards)

Bounty (bonus paid for joining the military)

Bounty jumper (someone who took the enlistment bounty then ran to another state and signed up again)

Bragg's Body Guard (body lice)

Bread basket (stomach)

Brogans (short, laced boots)

Bugs, Big Bugs (officers, other important people)

Bull Pit (military camp brig)

Bully! (Cheer, hooray!)

Bully for you! (Good for you!)

Bushwacker (irregular Confederate soldier)

C

Cabbaging (stealing)

Camp canard (gossip, rumors spreading around camp)

Camp followers (civilians who follow troops for a purpose; e.g, vendors, ready-finders, prostitutes)

Cashier (dishonorable military discharge)

Chief Cook and Bottle Washer (person responsible for many things)

Chow, grub (food)

Clink (jail)

Conniption Fit (making a big fuss over something, usually minor)

Contraband (escaped slaves seeking protection behind Union lines)

Copperhead (Yankee who sympathizes with the South)

Croaker, growler (pessimist)

Cumshaw, boodle (bribe)

D

Diggings (soldiers' camp)

Doodle (Union soldier)

Dragoon (armed cavalry)

Duds (clothes)

E

Embalmed beef (tinned meat)

Essence of Coffee (weak, instant coffee) (compare with barefoot coffee)

F

Fighting under the black flag (soldiers killing lice)

Fit to be tied (angry)

Fresh Fish (new recruits)

French leave (AWOL)

G

Gallinappers (mosquitoes, gnats)

Galoot (inexperienced, clumsy soldier)

Giving the vermin a parole (discarding lice infested clothes)

Goat (foolish, gullible person, scapegoat)

Goober peas (peanuts)

Go on a bat (on a drinking spree)

Greenbacks, Shin Plasters (paper money)

Gunboats (boots)

H

Hardtack, sheet iron crackers, worm castle (hard, unleavened bread carried for sustenance)

Hay foot, straw foot (used to teach new recruits their right from left foot, for marching)

Here's How! (drinking toast)

High Falutin' (derogatory term for upper class, expensive or fancy)

Hoof it (march, go on foot)

Hospital Rats, bummers (Malingerers, soldiers faking sickness)

Hunkey dorey (doing well, great)

J

Jailbird (prisoner)

Jawing, chin music (talking, having a conversation)

Jayhawked (borrowed without permission)

Jiffy ("in a jiffy," done quickly)

John Barley Corn (beer)

Johnnies, Johnny Reb (confederate soldier(s))

Jonah (person considered a jinx)

K

Kick the bucket (die)

L

Loyalist (a Southerner who sympathizes with the Union)

M

Mail Carrier (spy)

Meet the Elephant (go into combat; also, See the Elephant)

Mind your own beeswax (mind your own business)

Mudsill (lowlife)

Muggins (thug)

Mule (comparable to school cafeteria mystery meat)

Mustered Out (killed in battle)

Muster in, Muster out (join or leave the military)

N

Nob (snob)

Not worth shucks (good for nothing, useless) (see shucks)

O

Oh-be-joyful (homemade liquor)

Old Scratch (the devil)

Old Woodpecker (someone hard to take by surprise)

Opine (express an opinion)

P

Parlor Soldiers, Sunday Soldiers (derogatory term for wimpy soldiers)

Peas on a trencher (bugle call to breakfast)

Pepperbox (hand gun)

Perdition! (curse referring to Hell)

Picket (guards at a post)

Pig sticker, toad sticker (bayonet)

Pie Eater, straw foot (country hick soldier)

Pop Skull (cheap liquor)

Possum (buddy)

Postal currency (postage stamps)

Powder Monkey (soldier responsible for carrying shells and gun powder)

Q

Quaker Gun (fake gun or decoy; Quakers are pacifists)

Quick Step (also Tennessee Quick Step, Virginia Quick Step) (diarrhea)

R

Ragged Out (dressed up)

Ready-finders (Union civilians who followed the troops, picking up discarded coats, blankets, etc.)

Rebel Yell (Confederate battle cry)

Red badge of courage (wounded, having a bloody wound)

Red Eye, Bark Juice, Nockum Stiff (liquor)

Roast beef (bugle call announcing dinner)

S

Sawbones (doctor, surgeon)

Scuttlebutt (gossip, originated with navy)

Secesh (derogatory term referring to one with secessionist sympathies)

Secesher (derogatory term for a Southerner)

See the Elephant (go into combat)

Shank's Mare (walking, instead of riding)

Shebang (small tent, pup tent)

Shoddy (poor quality Union uniforms from unscrupulous suppliers)

Shucks (devalued confederate money)

Skedaddle (leave quickly, run away)

Skedaddler (deserter)

Skeesicks (soldier's tent-mate)

Skillygalee (hardtack soaked in water, then fried in pork fat)

Slow bear (pig)

Slumgullion (stew made from whatever is on hand)

Slum (a kind of stew made from a recipe, derived from slumgullion)

Snug as a bug (comfortable, warm)

Soldier's Disease (opium addiction)

Son of a gun! (expletive)

Sparking (kissing or courting)

Spondulix (money)

Stand Sam (pay for a round of drinks...Sam referred to Uncle Sam, or money)

Sutler (person who sells goods to soldiers at camp, usually at high prices)

T

Taps (bugle call for lights out, bedtime)

Tommy Totten (bugle call telling soldiers to advance against the enemy)

Turkey shoot (ambush, easy kill)

U

Uppity (conceited)

V

Vanguard (front line of troops)

Volley (exchange fire, or fire as a group)

W

Wallpapered (drunk)

Who wouldn't be a soldier? (who cares?)

Y

Yankee, Yank (Northerner)

You can't catch a weasel asleep (means you can't trick me or can't deceive me)

Z

Zouave (volunteer Northern regiments that dressed in baggy red uniforms like the French Zouaves)