"Uses the testimony of enlisted soldiers -- drawn from more than 350 diaries, letters, and memoirs -- to create a vivid picture of life in an evolving post-Civil War Army on the western frontier." -- Provided by publisher.

Introduction -- "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 -- C. Selected regular Army ballads -- D. Enlisted soldiers whose personal accounts of service were consulted for this book.