Wisconsin Daily Patriot (Feb. 17, 1863):

"We know how to appreciate...good soft bread....You ought to have seen the boys hop out, some of them singing, 'Hard tack! hard tack! come again no more!'"

Urbana [O.] Union (March 1, 1865):

             "Hard Tack," Come No More

Let us look into our havre-sacks [sic], a moment let us pause,
While we all eat our "grub" outside the door;
Let us sing, brother soldiers, a song of tired jaws,
Oh! 'Hard Tack,' come again no more!

CHORUS.--'Tis the song of a weary, hungry soldier,
Hardtack [sic], hardtack, come again no more;
Many days we have chewed you, until our jaws are sore,
Oh! “Green-Backs,” come again once more.

Though we long for fresh provisions, and Paymasters every day,
We get hard-tack [sic], the weevil has run o'er;
And "salt horse" to tough for eating, and not one cent of pay,
Such hard times we never saw before.

There's a poor, tired soldier, who wears his life away,
And wishes his three years’ time were o’er;
Though his stomach may be empty, he is sighing all the day,
Oh! hard-tack come again no more.

‘Tis the prayer daily uttered by every soldier brave,
Now camped on the Chicamauga [sic] shore;
Come, pay us off and treat us better, and save us from the grave,
Such hard times were never seen before.

At the battle of Chicamauga, our boys were very brave,
And many will eat hard-tack no more;
They have left us now forever, to fill a soldier’s grave,
Such hard times were never seen before.


("Salt horse": the usual army and navy term for salt beef.)