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America Accidentally Attacked the Soviet Union and Other Lesser Known History Moments

Khalid Elhassan February 27, 2020 34 min

Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star - Aircraft — American F-80s in action during the Korean War. Squdron

2. Joining the Action

A religious service for the 49th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. Pintrest

West Chester’s grocer, Benjamin Sweeney, was elected as captain of Company F of the 49^th Pennsylvania. He assured Charlie King’s parents that he would look after and protect their son if they allowed him to enlist. Swayed by Sweeney’s promises and by their son’s pleas, and perhaps fearing that the lad might otherwise simply run away and enlist on his own as other boys were doing at the time, Charlie’s parents relented.

On September 12^th, 1861, twelve-year-old Charlie was duly enrolled as a drummer boy in the 49th Pennsylvania. Within a short time, he was promoted from drummer boy of his company to drum major of the entire regiment. In the following months, the 49th Pennsylvania took part in the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles, during which Charlie saw more death and mayhem than he might have imagined in his boyish fantasies.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.