Civil War Slang

Smoked Yanks - Union soldiers cooking over a fire.
Chicken Guts - Officer's gold braiding on his cuff.
Gallinippers - mosquitoes.
Bombproofs - Term for commissaries due to soft life.
Fighting under the black flag - Soldiers killing lice.
Giving the vermin a parole - Throwing away clothing infected with lice.
Bull Pit - Under-arrest confinement area.
Iron Clad Possum - An armadillo dinner.
Attend to the Inner Man: eat
Bad Fix: unpleasant situation
Big Bugs: important people
Biled Shirt: white shirt
Blaze Away: shoot
Bomb: artillery shell
Brackish Water: water unfit for drinking
Bringing a Brick with him: drunk
Bust-Head: cheap whiskey
By-Play: trick
Caboodle: lot
Cast Up Accounts: vomit
Chaff: stuff
Chicken Guts: uniform braid
Coffee Coolers: worthless soldiers
Company Q: fictitious outfit for cowards and noncombatants
Desecrated Vegetables: dehydrated vegetables
Dog Fall: battle tie
Dose of Cold Lead: gunshot
Dose of Leaden Pills: gunshot
Drissely: rain
Flyblown Meat: meat infested by maggots
Fresh Fish: gullible or inexperienced person, a recruit Gobble (N): whip the enemy
Go Boil Your Shirt: bug off
Gone Fawn Skins: dead ducks
Gopher Hole: trench
Grabbling: the art of fishing with your hands
Grayback: a louse
Gun Stopper: a tompion, used to plug the muzzle of rifle
Gun Wiper: worm, used to run patches down rifle
Gutted: pillaged
Hacked: demoralized
Halloed: called
Hanker: desire
Hardlooking: mean-looking
Here's Your Mule: term of derision
Hospital Rat: one who feigns sickness in order to avoid battle
Hot Stuff: liquor
Indian Style: single file
Infernal Machines: land mines
Jaw: talk
Jim Jams: delirium
John Barleycorn: liquor or beer
ly Tar: sailor
Jug: capture
Leaden Pills: bullets
Light Out: leave
Like a Duck on a June Bug: very fast
Line his Pockets: swindle
Let Drive: shoot
Loophole: hole through which rifle is fired
Loose State: drunk
Mudsill: derogatory Southern term referring to poor white trash and applied by Southerners to Western U.S. Army troops, who perversely adapted it to their own use
Muggins: scoundrel
Mule: beef
Old Bird: veteran
Old Hand: veteran
On His Own Hook: of his own free will
Peacock About: strut
Peg Away: shoot
Peg Out: die
Picked Chicken: dead duck
Pie Eaters: country boys
Play Old Soldier: feign sickness in order to avoid battle
Play Outs: military noncombatants, such as staff officers
Play Smash: destroy
Sacred Soil of Virginia: dust
Salt Horse: preserved beef
Salt Junk: preserved pork
Set To: begin
Shank's Mare: on foot
Sharper: gambler
Shinplaster: currency used by state or bank
Shoulder Strap: officer
Showed His Teeth: showed his meanness
Sing Out: yell
Sink: toilet
Slapjacks: fried batter composed of flour, water and salt
Squeamish: sick
Stockings: socks
Sweets: candy
Thirsty for Tobacco: want some tobacco
Too Thin: unbelieveable
Torpedoe: land mine
Traps: belongings, baggage
Truck: things, stuff
Try Our Metal: see how strong we are
Under Canvas: in a tent
Videt Hole: entrenched picket post
Webfoot: infantryman
Yellow Dog: coward