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Fascinating Civil War Facts that Won’t be in the History Books

Khalid Elhassan February 8, 2021 33 min

Battle of Fort Sanders - American Civil War — Confederates in action during the Civil War. Buyenlarge Archive Photos

12. Becoming a Drummer Boy

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

Charlie King’s parents were swayed by Captain Benjamin Sweeney’s promises to look after their boy, and by their son’s incessant pleas to let him enlist in the 49^th Pennsylvania. They were probably also worried that if they did not consent to the kid’s enlistment, he might simply run away and enlist on his own as other boys were doing at the time. That being so, Charlie’s parents decided that it might be better to entrust him to the care of somebody they knew.

On September 12^th, 1861, twelve-year-old Charlie was duly enrolled as a drummer boy in the 49^th Pennsylvania. Drummer boys had been in use for centuries in many armies. The era’s tactics required closely formed columns and lines to advance and fight in well-ordered formations and in neat rows and lines. As the shouted commands of officers were often difficult to hear above the din and roar of battle, musical instruments, such as bugles and drums, were used to signal commands.

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.