“I told [my sister] I had to go down town,” wrote Elisha Stockwell of Wisconsin, recalling his hasty enlistment at the age of 15 “She said, 'Hurry back, for dinner will soon be ready.' But I didn’t get back for two years.”
While the Civil War was called “The Boy’s War”, the enlistment of youths into the armed forces was not a new phenomenon in nineteenth century. Generations of boys had served in minor roles in armies and aboard vessels for centuries on both sides of the Atlantic. On this subject, President Abraham Lincoln sternly wrote to the Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, “The United States don’t need the service of boys who disobey their parents.” Despite the age restrictions and inexperience, a number of young boys did enlist on both sides to find adventure and “take the defiant South and set them straight” or, as one Southern boy pledged, to “die rather than become a slave to the North.”
Don't forget the drummer boys, who were very young. I read about one young boy who was 11 and a Confederate drummer boy.
My father enlisted in the Navy during WWII when he was 17. He didn't lie about his age, his father signed to give him permission. One of my uncles was only 15 when he lied about his age and enlisted in the Marines. He was all over the Pacific in WWII.
Millions of kids have gone to war.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/children-civil-war-battlefield
“I told [my sister] I had to go down town,” wrote Elisha Stockwell of Wisconsin, recalling his hasty enlistment at the age of 15 “She said, 'Hurry back, for dinner will soon be ready.' But I didn’t get back for two years.”
While the Civil War was called “The Boy’s War”, the enlistment of youths into the armed forces was not a new phenomenon in nineteenth century. Generations of boys had served in minor roles in armies and aboard vessels for centuries on both sides of the Atlantic. On this subject, President Abraham Lincoln sternly wrote to the Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, “The United States don’t need the service of boys who disobey their parents.” Despite the age restrictions and inexperience, a number of young boys did enlist on both sides to find adventure and “take the defiant South and set them straight” or, as one Southern boy pledged, to “die rather than become a slave to the North.”
Audie Murphy for one. WWII, most decorated soldier. https://www.audiemurphy.com
Don't forget the drummer boys, who were very young. I read about one young boy who was 11 and a Confederate drummer boy.
My father enlisted in the Navy during WWII when he was 17. He didn't lie about his age, his father signed to give him permission. One of my uncles was only 15 when he lied about his age and enlisted in the Marines. He was all over the Pacific in WWII.