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The Tragic History of the U.S. Child Warriors

Khalid Elhassan June 9, 2020 34 min

28. Catching Lincoln’s Eye

The Mozart Regiment at the Battle of Gettysburg. Wikimedia

In April, 1863, during a grand review of the Army of the Potomac, Gustav Schurmann caught President Lincoln’s eye, as well as the eye of the president’s youngest son, Tad Lincoln. The two became fast friends, and the child bugler was invited to the White House. Granted an extended furlough, Gustav spent a happy period with Tad Lincoln and the rest of the president’s family.

During the Battle of Chancellorsville, Gustav again displayed conspicuous courage, for which he was awarded a medal. Soon thereafter, at the Battle of Gettysburg, he once again exhibited bravery and coolness under fire, when General Sickles’ leg was shattered by a cannonball. Applying a tourniquet to staunch the bleeding, Gustav helped save the general’s life, and accompanied him to the hospital, then back to Washington.

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.