This is the third anniversary of this site. In honor of that, I am posting one of my favorite anecdotes. It’s a Civil War story and makes light of the fact that many underage boys enlisted.
It is estimated that between 260,000 – 420,000 under age teenagers enlisted in the Civil War. It is believed 100,000 were under age 15. The reasons varied, but the main reason was to escape the drudgery and boredom of life on a farm. Truthful teenagers (like Johnny Clem) would be given noncombat jobs like drummer boy, stretcher-bearer, messenger, or helper in the hospital. But most lied about their age to get to “see the elephant”. And then there were the youngsters who truthfully lied.
A very young-looking teenager showed up at a recruiting station during the Civil War. There were no birth certificates back then and recruiting sergeants were notorious for not questioning ages to help meet recruiting goals. However, this particular young man was obviously too young so the sergeant asked him if he was over 18. The boy insisted he was “over 18”. After giving him a look up and down, the sergeant said: “Truthfully, are you really over 18?” Boy: “I swear I am over 18, sarge.” The sergeant was still skeptical, but decided to enroll the boy. A week later, the sergeant was walking across the drill field and saw the boy standing near a tent. He approached the young man and said: “Look, you’re in the Army now and there is nothing I can do about it. But you have to tell me the truth. You’re not really over 18, are you?” The boy sat down and pulled off his shoe to the puzzlement of the sergeant. He reached in and handed the sarge a piece of paper. On the paper was printed the number 18.
Below is Edwin Jemison, in one of the iconic portraits from the war. The teenager served in a Louisiana regiment until he was killed in the futile frontal attacks at the Battle of Malvern Hill.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_soldiers_in_the_American_Civil_War
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