Boys in the Civil Way
No one knows exactly how many boys served in the Civil War. But we know for a fact that they killed and were killed. Some of these boys showed more courage than most, which allowed them to endure the hardships of war. In the early morning of April 12, 1861, troops of the Confederate army assembled one mile outside of the Union fort, Fort Sumter. As the light of day appeared, the Confederates waited until they heard the command. With the orders to attack by P.G.T. Beauregard, the Civil War began. Because of the fall of Fort Sumter President Lincoln called for volunteers. Thus started the arrival of anxious young men willing and ready to fight for their side. Many saw the war as a sure way to settle the dispute between the North and the South. No one is quite sure of the number of young boys enlisted in the armies of the North and South. Most record keeping was relaxed and unorganized. There was no real way to tell how old a boy was. Most of the time the boys lied about their ages, and most of them got in. Sometimes the parents of a young boy would allow or even force their son to become a soldier. This was the case for fifteen-year old Ned Hutter of Mississippi.
The boys loved practical jokes and sitting around the fire talking with each other. They also had horse races and footraces. They spent most of their time marching, not fighting like they had hoped. They all felt that the repetitive drilling was very boring, even though it was useful to them. The war up until the point of engaging in battle was a dream, a place and thing you wanted to experience. Most supplies were few which led the boys to stealing from the dead. Everything was fine until the soldiers experienced the fighting for themselves. Most of the time you would have an arm or a leg amputated. They also learned too quickly the truths about soldier life, the fact that it was mostly boring. Camp life created bonds between soldiers. Some boys had no idea what they would see. It was hard to think that they used to be naive and undisciplined. Many older or bigger soldiers would harass them. They had held off a bigger and more resourceful army for four years. "(Murphy p31) The chaos after a battle was horrendous.
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