• About

Hardtack Rat

Gnawing on Life One Bite at a Time

  • November 28, 2014

    Civil War Thanksgiving Reflections

    We always think of eating turkey on Thanksgiving day, but sometimes people choose to eat other meats instead. For instance, my stepdad does not like eating turkey at all. He doesn’t like the taste. So, we’ll graciously provide a cooked ham for him to eat for “turkey” day. As I was scrolling through soldiers’ diaries […]

  • August 5, 2014

    Hot Letter Abe

    I’ve heard of this practice before and have even written a “hot letter” myself, but I never would have expected to hear that good ole’ Abe (President Abraham Lincoln) made a habit of doing so! I recently finish reading Incarnate by Michael Frost, where he points out that Lincoln was a great leader primarily for his […]

  • April 8, 2014

    Garage Sale Find!

    This past weekend, we had a neighborhood-wide garage sale. In sifting through things my mother-in-law gave us to sell, I found a book called Stringtown by Zora M. Talbot. Man, have I stumbled on a rarity! Aside from being out of print on Amazon and out of stock on Half.com, this book is entitled after a […]

  • March 11, 2014

    Don’t Complain; Count Your Mercies & Be Thankful

    I worked for the grocery store Kroger just before I became a pastor. One particular day, I did not want to go to work. Instead, I wanted to have a bad attitude for the day ahead. Photo Source: Herald-Review Instead, like David Lane who served under the 17th Michigan Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War, I […]

  • February 15, 2014

    Washita River or Ouachita River?

    Reading history, especially hundreds of years prior, I notice words spelled differently sometimes. I recently observed that Ouachita used to be spelled Washita. I realized this occurrence while reading Frank Moore’s The Rebellion Record – A Diary of American Events: The Washita River expedition, consisting of the greater part of General Logan’s old Brigade, a […]

  • January 23, 2014

    Kill Count Vs. Wounded TBR Mentality

    I’ve been reading a lot lately about the medical aspect of the American Civil War, and I’d like to share some thoughts floating around in my mind. To start off with, I often imagine that soldiers went into battle with the mentality that Legolas and Gimli, (from The Lord of the Rings) have, which is […]

  • January 18, 2014

    Saturday Night Live: Talk About a Solid Oak Tree

    I’m all verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic. [A solid oak tree] is neither [solid] nor [oak] nor [tree]. Discuss. (Source: SNL Sketch) Solid oak trees are profoundly amazing to me. A few months back, I took my family to the New Orleans Audubon Zoo, a place that I grew up going to over and over again. I didn’t […]

  • January 11, 2014

    Even Male Nurses Need a Place to Sleep

    Male nurses are an interesting subject to discuss, especially these days. However, I want to point out a story of one particular male nurse in the American Civil War who deserved to lay his head somewhere. Union officer David Lane served as a nurse for a time in the 17th Michigan Volunteer Infantry. He provided […]

  • December 17, 2013

    Beating a Dead Horse, Literally!

    This has been a week of reading about how dead horses were handled in the American Civil War. The first case of dead horse I read about was from my boy, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, who I’ve posted from before. He mentions how 8 of their artillery horses died on the road, where an even greater […]

  • December 13, 2013

    Received Packages are Sweet, Even If Opened Later

    I received a package today and, as usual, had to wait to open it. The surprise of discovering what lies inside excites me. Having to wait to open it just makes the anticipation grow all the more. Even if it’s a present for someone else, like today’s was (we’ve done a majority of our Christmas […]

←Previous Page
1 … 13 14 15 16 17
Next Page→

Proudly Powered by WordPress

 

Loading Comments...
 

    • Follow Following
      • Hardtack Rat
      • Join 73 other followers
      • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
      • Hardtack Rat
      • Edit Site
      • Follow Following
      • Sign up
      • Log in
      • Report this content
      • View site in Reader
      • Manage subscriptions
      • Collapse this bar