THE YOUNGEST AND OLDEST SOLDIERS OF THE CIVIL WAR

-
William Black

Dead Confederate boy of fourteen at Petersburg

Sixty Year Old Confederate

 The average age of Civil War soldiers was from 18 to 30. William Black was a drummer boy that joined the Union Army at the age of 9 and was the youngest soldier ever wounded in the Civil War, shown here at the age of 11. He was wounded by an exploding artillery shell. Toward the end of the war when the South became desperate for troops the ages of soldiers became younger and older. The second picture is of a dead Confederate boy of 14 lying in a trench at Petersburg Virginia. He died in the early part of April and notice that he is barefooted. A third of the Confederate Army that fought at Nashville in December during one of the coldest winters on record were barefooted. The third picture is of a 60 year old Confederate soldier. The oldest soldier on either side was Curtis King who was 80 years old but he was mustered out after only four months. The legal age for joining the army was 18. Teenagers too young to join would write the number 18 on a piece of paper and place it in their shoe. Then when the mustering officer asked their age they could truthfully say that they were over 18.

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 31, 2016 at 7:45 PM

    A critic is someone who never actually goes to the battle, yet who afterwards comes out shooting the wounded. See the link below for more info.

    #wounded
    www.ufgop.org

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMay 10, 2021 at 7:10 AM

    Captain Henry Sturm of Company K of the 31st Virginia Infantry was 67 when he was mustered out May 1, 1862. He served from May of 1861.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE DEATH OF JAYNE MANSFIELD

-
Image
Jayne Mansfield   Jayne Mansfield died way too young on June 29, 1967 at the age of 34 in a gruesome car wreck, She was killed instantly but contrary to urban legend she was not decapitated. Jayne was called the poor man's Marilyn Monroe. She had enjoyed about a four year stint of popularity on Broadway and in Hollywood from 1954 until 1958. Her career was in decline in the late 50's and early 60's but she was still popular in Europe and on the nightclub circuit. She took her last name from her high school sweetheart Paul Mansfield when she married him at the age of seventeen. Her second husband was a former Mr. Universe named Mickey Hargitay who was from Norway. The third and last husband was Matt Cimber. Mansfield was highly educated, attending Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas and U.C.L.A. She supposedly had an IQ of 163 and was called the smartest dumb blonde ever. Of course she couldn't be too smart. In 1966, a year before her death, while
Read more

CARNTON PLANTATION

-
Image
   My first association with the Carnton Plantation in Franklin was when I would see the old house while hunting for Civil War relics in the early 1970's. There is a subdivision near Carnton today in the area where I hunted when it was primarily farm land. I knew it was an antebellum home but I wasn't aware of how historic Carnton was. It was in a horrible state of disrepair and I have learned since then that a farmer was using the house as his hay barn. In 1977 the owner of the property donated the house and ten acres to the Carnton Association and they have done a fantastic job of restoring the plantation to it's former glory. Originally the McGavock's owned 1400 acres. It was built by Randall McGavock in the 1820's. He was mayor of Nashville and a close friend of Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk. Jackson on several occasions was an overnight guest in the home.    His son John took over the plantation in 1843 upon the death of Randall. In 1848 John mar
Read more

NASHVILLE AND JESSE JAMES

-
Image
The James brothers with their mother Zerelda James   Most everyone has heard of the notorious outlaws Jesse and Frank James, however; did you know that they lived in Nashville from 1875 until March 1881? Jesse's oldest son Jesse James Jr. was born in Nashville along with his sister Mary. Jesse Jr. was born at 606 Boscobel Street on August 31, 1875. Mary was born on West Hamilton Road in Bordeaux on July 17, 1879. Jesse Jr. went by the name Tim and as far as he knew his last name was Howard. He and his sister would not know their real last names until after Jesse was killed in 1882. Jesse and his wife Zerelda would also lose two male twins in infancy.  Jesse's brother Frank lived on Clarksville Pike. While living there he and his wife Annie Ralston James gave birth to a son named Robert Franklin on February 6, 1877. For a time he would be dressed as a girl and go by the name of Mary. Why his parents did this I do not know.  The brothers were on the run. Nashville was
Read more