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The Weirdest Ways Children Were Treated in History

Khalid Elhassan March 28, 2021 36 min

Baby dangling over the street in a cage. The Sun

The 1st Indiana Heavy Artillery Regiment, formerly the 21st Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, outside Port Hudson in 1863. Library of Congress

16. A Young Child Soldier’s Extensive Service

In 1862, Confederates captured Edward Black during the Battle of Baton Rouge, and he was imprisoned in Ship Island. However, he regained his liberty when federal troops overtook his captors and freed the Union prisoners. Soon thereafter, in September, 1862, Edward was discharged from the Union Army. He did not stay out of uniform for long, however. Edward reenlisted in February, 1863 with his old unit, which in the interval between his discharge and reenlistment had been converted from infantry to artillery.

The 21^st Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment was reconstituted as the 1^st Indiana Heavy Artillery Regiment. Edward returned to his old comrades, and served with them as the regiment was kept busy until war’s end. During that time, Edward saw active duty in Berwick Bay, and took part in operations in Western Louisiana. He also participated in the advance on and subsequent siege of Port Hudson, joined the Sabine Pass Expedition, and finally settled in for garrison duty, first at New Orleans, and then at Baton Rouge.

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.