80th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, lyrics to "Hard Crackers Come Again No More" song

Written in 1861, this popular soldiers' song was sung to the tune of Hard Times Come Again No More, a timeless American folk song. Hard crackers were called hard bread by the Army and referred to as 'hard tack' and 'tooth dullers' by the soldiers. They were a staple in the diet of Union Army soldiers during the American Civil War (1861-1865). The official ration was 10 of these 4 inch square, half inch thick crackers per man per day; the actual issue was often less. The final stanza and chorus is supposed to have been written later, after the regiment's Colonel heard the song and decided to teach his men a lesson by ordering mush to be substituted for the crackers.

"Let us close our game of poker, take our tin cups in hand,
While we gather round the cook's tent door
Where dried mummies of hard crackers are given to each man;
Oh, hard crackers come again no more!"

Chorus
"'Tis the song and the sigh of the hungry,
Hard crackers, hard crackers, come again no more!
Many days have you lingered upon our stomaches sore,
Oh, hard crackers come again no more."

"There's a hungry, thirsty soldier who wears his life away,
With torn clothes, whose better days are o'er;
He is sighing now for whiskey, and with throat as dry as hay,
Sings, "Hard crackers come again no more."
(Chorus)

"'Tis the song that is uttered in camp by night and day,
'Tis the wail that is mingled with each snore;
'Tis the sighing of the soul for spring chickens far away,
Oh, hard crackers come again no more."
(Chorus)

"But to all these cries and murmurs there comes a sudden hush,
As frail forms are fainting by the door,
For they feed us now on horse feed that the cooks call "mush,"
Oh, hard crackers come again once more."

Final Chorus
"It's the dying wail of the starving,
Hard crackers, hard crackers, come again once more.
You are old and very wormy, but we pass you failings o'er,
Oh, hard crackers come again once more."