A worthless, lazy fellow. The word acquired the special meaning in the Civil War. See quot. 1865–6.
1856. ’Pon my word I’m no bummer. I never ate a lunch in all my life without taking a square drink.—San Francisco Call, Dec. 25.
1857. The irreclaimable town “bummer” figured in the police court.—Id., April 28
1860. Another great sham connected with our social life is that of spreeing, or “bumming.”—Yale Lit. Mag., xxv. 398 (Aug.).
1862. A great majority of the bummers, who so long infested this city, have either left or gone to work.—Rocky Mountain News, Denver, May 10.
1862. There are different kinds and qualities of the bummer species. Some are whiskey bummers, some are boarding-house bummers, and some are bummers on general principles.—Id., May 24.
1865. You have, doubtlessm, heard of Sherman’s “bummers.”… These were pure silver bummers, plated-ware bummers, jewelry bummers, women’s clothing bummers, provision bummers, and, in fine, a bummer or bummers for every kind of stealable thing. No bummer of one specialty interfered with the stealables of another. A pretty picture of a conquering army, indeed, but true.—‘Southern Hist. Soc. Papers,’ xii. 428 (Richmond, 1884).
1865. The origin of this nickname is unknown. No English dictionary contains it; only the “bummers” themselves know exactly what it means, except, perhaps, inferentially. Probably the word originated among themselves; they are certainly not ashamed of it. If it be asked what a bummer is, the reply is easy. He is a raider on his own account—a man who temporarily deserts his place in the ranks, while the army is on the march, and starts out upon an independent foraging expedition…. A “bummer” may once have been a foot-soldier, but I never saw one who was not mounted on some sort of an animal.—G. W. Nichols, ‘The Story of the Great March,’ pp. 240, 242.
[Opposite p. 244 is a picture of a bummer on horseback. Nichols’s use of the term is quite obsolete.]
1874. So long as substantial citizens choose to leave politics to shoulder-hitters, rum-sellers, and bummers of every degree, they will be robbed.—N.Y. Commercial Advertiser, Sept. 9 (Bartlett).
1876. The defaulters, the renegades, the bummers and cheats, are the boys who enjoyed fat places and salaries and easy comfort.—‘Southern Hist. Soc. Papers,’ i. 87.
1885. I’m Abel Doolittle, that’s who I am; an’ ef I hadn’t the al-firedest nicest farm in all these parts afore your bummers come along, I’ll swell up an’ sneeze. An’ ef you don’t see me righted, w’en this blasted war is ended, you’ll hear on this, I tell you!—Admiral D. D. Porter, ‘Incidents of the Civil War,’ p. 184 (N.Y.).
