July 2024 Meeting Summary

At our dinner meeting on July 17th, Dr. Rebecca Jo Plant gave a very interesting program titled: “The Problem of Underage Enlistment during the U.S. Civil War.” Attendance at the July dinner meeting was 59. 

Enormous numbers of boys and underage youths served in the military throughout the American Civil War. Constituting roughly ten percent of Union troops and most likely a similar proportion of Confederate forces—though surviving records allow for less certainty—these young enlistees significantly enhanced the size and capabilities of the armies on both sides. They also created a great deal of drama and chaos. They upended household economies by absconding with their vital labor power. They caused loved ones to suffer untold anxiety for their welfare. And they generated myriad encounters between ordinary people and the institutions of government, at times resulting in dramatic showdowns between military and civilian authorities. 

How did the United States and the Confederacy respectively deal with the presence of so many young people in the ranks? The answers are often surprising and counterintuitive. In the United States, attempts to grapple with the problem of underage enlistment—and the backlash that it produced among frustrated parents—made the issue a conduit for larger debates. As the federal government asserted more authority over the state-based volunteers, and as service in volunteer regiments gradually came to look more like service in the regular army, Union families found it difficult if not impossible to recover underage sons. In the minds of many, the government’s vise-like grip on underage soldiers came to epitomize the dangers inherent in the growing consolidation of military power.