Muskets & Applejack ─ Spirits, Soldiers, and the Civil War

"I wish some of you would tell me the brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals."
- President Abraham Lincoln, when confronted about General Ulysses Grant's excessive drinking.

Blood, gunfire, and whiskey: they are the three things that defined Civil War battlefields. In this fascinating, booze-drenched history of the war that almost tore America apart, historian Mark Will-Weber (author of Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt) weaves together lighthearted stories of drunken generals and out-of-control soldiers with the gritty reality of battlefields where whiskey was the only medicine-and sometimes the only food.

Muskets and Applejack paints a full, complex picture of the surprisingly large role alcohol played in the Civil War: how it helped heal physical and emotional wounds, form friendships, and cause strife. Interspersed between stories from the battlefield are authentic recipes of soldiers' favorite drinks-from both sides of the Mason-Dixon line.

A seasoned journalist and magazine editor, Mark Will-Weber is the author of two books in addition to numerous articles, such as his noted historical feature on the Battle of Antietam. Will-Weber is the great-grandson of the Civil War general J. K. Robison, who led the 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry during the end-game campaign leading up to Lee's surrender at Appomattox, and the grandson of Colonel Charles Isiah Faddis, who served in three wars (Mexican Border, World War I, and World War II), was awarded two Purple Hearts and also a Bronze Star, and served as a United States congressman from 1933 to 1942.