Bill pettis biography

The US Civil War was the last conflict in which significant numbers of American children were utilized as soldiers: it is estimated that a fifth of all military personnel in the Civil War were under 18, and that more than 100,000 soldiers in the Union Army alone were 15 years old or less.

Bill pettis biography

There were even cases in which children as young as 8 were put in uniform.

For the most part, child soldiers in the US Army were utilized as drummers, buglers, cooks’ assistants, nurses, orderlies, general gophers, or put to work in other non-combatant positions.

However, during the storm of shots and shells as battles raged, Civil War child soldiers were frequently just as exposed to bullets and artillery as were the grown men on the firing line.

In the US Navy, children frequently served as “powder monkeys” in warships.

Tasked during combat with rushing gunpowder from magazines to canons, they were just as expose