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The Civil War Had a Senior Citizen Regiment and Other Amazing Obscure Facts

Khalid Elhassan March 30, 2022 36 min

24. Despite Regulations Against the Use of Underage Sailors, Civil War Navy Recruiters Often Signed up Children

Civil War Facts - Powder monkey Boy First Class Aspinwall Fuller — Powder monkey Boy First Class Aspinwall Fuller aboard the USS New Hampshire during the Civil War. Imgur

As they grew up and gained experience, US Navy child sailors could rise to Boy 2^nd Class, then Boy 1^st Class. When they turned eighteen, they automatically became rated as ordinary seamen, began to receive the same pay, and became subject to the same discipline as regular adult sailors. One of the most remarkable photographs of child combatants in the US Civil War is that of Boy 1^st Class Aspinwall Fuller. Taken in 1865, it shows the lad, fourteen years old, beside a 100-pound Parrot gun.

It was taken aboard the USS New Hampshire, a 74-gun ship of the line. Fuller’s very presence aboard ship was against regulations, but as happens often in war, regulations were ignored. In 1861, President Lincoln had issued a directive that prohibited the enlistment of underage recruits without their parents’ consent. However, heavy casualties and the war’s insatiable demand for fresh bodies led many recruiters to sidestep regulations when children tried to enlist. Which explains how Fuller joined the US Navy at age thirteen, without parental consent.

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.