Omaha daily bee., 1915-10-10
BOYS IN GREAT CIVIL WAR
More Than Two Million Soldiers in
Union Army Were Lads Under
Twenty-0ne Years.
CHILDREN WIN THE BATTLES

The soldier boy legend Is one Of those
myths that die hard OF that do not de
at eli. Facts DO not KIN the fairy tale
that the American civil war was fought
by boys when a fable gets a good start.
and n Il is a romantic fable which makes
strong appeal 10 a mans fancy or
imagination. it IL almost a self-started.
and Il II a difficult thing-eometimes ar
impossible thing-to stop. Hard. cold facts
will not run fast enough or far enough
to catch up with n popular legend
II seems an affectionate and patriotic
expression 10 call our soldiers. or soldier
men soldier boys" OF course, a soldier.
no matter II he has a gray beard and a
bald head, IL boy to his parents. In the
eyes OF parents, especially Of the mother.
Il IL a most unusual thing for a boy to
outgrow his boyhood. He is always moth
ers bow
A recent newspaper writer. treating Of
the subject. Boys in the War" wrote.
For the truth II. battles are lost and
won by children. Our own war between
the states may be taken as typical. In
that struggle there were 100000 enlist
ments in the union army. or this number
more than 100000 were under q years
OF age-or. 20 be exact, z,is9.7es. II you
have lad Of II about the house you con
slider him q child, Of course; that IL all
he is. Yet we had more than 10000 Of
these children In our war between the
states. more than 10000 OF them being
under Is years of age, and they deter
mined the result OF the struggle. II was
not the ie,0o0 men OF As years that did
20, nor the 1000 between B and As that
found their way into the service. There
were more than a thousand ch ldren
under u years Of age In the civil war and
400 of them were under ~. Twenty-Five
little fellows OF 10 years OF age were en-
listed. but they were drummer boys and
were usually In the service with their
fathers
Thesc iRures have been going the
rounds for q long number OF years. II
| Ia not clear where they originated. but
about forty-five years ago the adjutant
generals department OF the United
States army issued a report In which
| the statement was made that the aver
age age OF the men engaged In the civil
war on the union side was % years. AZ
to their being more than 100000 under
q years OF age. II Is probable that not
that many men were enlisted in the
union armies. There were 2.IO0.OOO 'en-
listments," but a great many OF these
were re-eniistments. and the number OF
bounty jumpers. or men who enlisted,
deserted and again enlisted under an
other name. and repeated this proceed
ing until caught or finally discharged or
killed. VIII never be known. But tho re-
enlistments and the enlisting repeaters
cuts down very considerably under 2.7O0.-
900 the number Of men under service
in the federal armies.
The boy myth does not stand the
Photographic test. Thousands Of pho.
tographs were made OF union soldiers
during the clvil war, There were pho
tosraphs OF Individual soldiers. groups.
squads, companies and regiments.
Youth. bearded youth. was there. but
tender boyhood ana immature lads are
not 70 be seen In many OF the pictures.
In tbs armies OF the south, especially
In the later phases OF the conflict. many
u and le-year-old boys were IN the
ranks The reason was that the con-
federecy raked the south for white
males able to bear arms.