Every aspect of the common sailor"s life in the Union navy - such as recruiting, clothing, training, shipboard routine, entertainment, wages, diet, health, and combat experience - is addressed in this study, the first to examine the subject in such detail. The wealth of new facts provided here offers a fresh look at nineteenth-century social history, including such issues as racial integration in the military. As he examines daily life in the Union navy, Dennis Ringle also calls attention to the enlisted sailor"s enormous but often overlooked contributions to the development of the U.S. Navy as it moved from wood and sail to steam and iron.