Hard Tack Come Again No More Explained

"Hard Tack, Come Again No More" is an American Civil War-era parody of the song "Hard Times, Come Again No More." First called "Hard Crackers, Come Again No More!", it is a sarcastic complaint about the quality of some of the provisions provided by military contractors, specifically hardtack.^[1] The authors of the many verses of the parody are unknown, although the first version is often attributed to Josiah Fowler of the First Iowa Infantry dating to just after the Battle of Boonville, June 1861.^[2]

Lyrics

Having to consume less appetizing food for extended periods led to revisions wishing for the return of hard tack.^[3]

Bibliography

• Billings, John D. Hardtack and Coffee: Or, The Unwritten Story of Army Life. Boston: George M. Smith & Co. (1887).
• Ware, E.F. The Lyon Campaign in Missouri: Being a History of the First Iowa Infantry. Topeka, Kansas: Crane & Company (1907).

External links

• "Hard Tack, Come No More Again" - Songs of the Union.

Notes and References

1. Billings, Hardtack and Coffee, p. 118: "For some weeks before the battle of Wilson's Creek, Mo., where the lamented Lyon fell, the First Iowa Regiment had been supplied with a very poor quality of hard bread (they were not then (1861) called hardtack)."
2. Ware, The Lyon Campaign in Missouri, p. 218: "A man in Co. 'C' named Fowler wrote a verse shortly after we left Boonville and it was considerably sung, and finally ran into many verses, on 'Hard Tack come again no more.' I have only one verse; it ran as follows:
3. Ware, The Lyon Campaign in Missouri, p. 218-219: "There were lots of other verses to it, but after we had been through 'Camp Mush' No. 1 and had got to 'Camp Mush' No. 2, Mr. Fowler changed the text and got up some new verses, of which I have retained only one, as follows:

   In that latter sentiment we all joined, and we sang it lustily."