Children On The Battlefield Summary

The article “Children on the Battlefield” by Marcie Schwartz describes the experiences of boys in the military during the Civil War. Although soldiers were supposed to be 18, boys would lie about their age. Recruitment officers signed them up because they had to have a minimum number, religious leaders and school teachers helped boys enlist. Parents might say their sons could go in; but if not, boys would run away from home and enlist under a fake name. Then the boys would perform a number of tasks to become either soldiers, musicians, messengers, guards or assistants; at sea they would help in the cafe and be powder boys. Musicians learned around 40 calls to use on the battlefield, and their music was also a source of entertainment to the