Boy Soldiers of the North

[Cumpston1862]

Ladies & Gents-

This past spring I gave a presentation to an 8th grade class about the Civil War and I wanted to convey to these kids that some of the boys doing the "fightin" were not much older than they are now. So I scoured the LOC pictures on-line and found these pictures of some young soldiers in blue. Most of their names, units and ages are unknown but it is quite clear they were very young when they marched off to war. The other thing is (for me anyway) when one sees picture after picture after picture the sheer number of these guys is shocking.

Here is a sampling of my finds...

[Dusty Merritt]

Re: Boy Soldiers of the North

Thanks for your post, Louis. I agree that a lot of boys appear to have enlisted in both sides. I've studied a couple of infantry companies from NY, comparing enlistment ages of soldiers versus their probable real ages based off pension docs, census records, birth indexes, and other pre- and post-war sources. About 10% of the members of each of those companies were under 18, and a couple boys were as young as 14! I obviously cannot apply this estimate across the board as I'm sure a lot depended upon the judgment of individual recruiters, but one incident I found illuminating was that of Philip Stalker, a 15-year-old recruit in the 25th NY. His dad initially vouched for him being 18, and pocketed his son's bounty. When he changed his mind and demanded his son back, the Army wouldn't budge. It ended up going to trial, where he presented proof of his son's actual age to the judge. The judge ruled in favor of the military. While he acknowledged Stalker was underage, the fact remained that the bounty had been paid, so the judge deemed that the father had essentially signed away custody to Uncle Sam.

Here's another great photograph that may be of interest to you, a detail from an LoC image of Co F, 93rd NY, showing a number of young soldiers:

[Cumpston1862]

Re: Boy Soldiers of the North

Brendan-

Fascinating information. Thanks for sharing.

I too am surprised over and over again how young so many of these guys actually were during the war.

Great Pic btw!

[Ambrose Bierce]

Re: Boy Soldiers of the North

The book Too Young To Die is a pretty good source for photos and documentation on this subject. Much of the book covers young men and their role as musicians, but it delves into combat roles, too. Granted, this book focuses on younger lads in the service vice exclusively in the ranks, but I think your point about them being slightly older than your student body bears merit.

Great research and photos, BTW.