The Boys War

The Boys War

It is estimated that between 250,000 and 420,000 males under 18 were involved in the American Civil War, for the Union and the Confederacy combined. It is estimated that 100,000 Union soldiers were 15 years or younger.

Although the official minimum enlistment age was 18, there were various ways boys got around this. The most common being simply lying about ones age, since modern methods of identification did not exist. Futhermore It was often down to the judgement of recruiters who were anxious to fill quotas as the war continued to drag on and "man power" was needed. 

Many boys join the army through legitimate means by signing up for non-combative roles. These included musicians such as drummer, bugler, flautist. These boys were not spared the horror of the battlefield as they also performed other tasks, such as carrying canteens, bandages, and stretchers, to assist surgeons and nurses with the wounded and relaying orders on the battlefield. 

Boys who were taken prisoner bore the full brunt of war, as letters sent home can attest. Accouts of Union prisoner, sixteen-year-old Michael Dougherty, convey his shock by the sight of “different instruments of torture: stocks, thumb screws, barbed iron collars, shackles, ball and chain. Our prison keepers seemed to handle them with familiarity".