6/6/2005: Union boy drummers

xob writes, "The recent discussion about the beating children take in a war made me think this picture of us sending children to war was quite poignant."

Yessir, I do agree.

"this picture of us sending children to war .............."


Were they actually deployed, or is this a novelty pic?
I'd like to learn more.

They were deployed, but on a case by case basis they may have been kept out of battles. They didn't fight* - they played the drums to regulate marches and relay orders.

* That doesn't mean they didn't get killed.

be interesting to know the whole history of boy drummers (drummer boys?)

googling those terms only gets me Beach Boys links (i dunno) and gay porn. anyone know where's a good place to read up on that stuff?

the drummers, not the beach boys or porn.

This site has some info, despite apparently being a clothing site and having two 'g's in 'bugler'. As for history, my guess is that it was considered the best way to handle the kids who insisted on joining up with their older siblings or friends.

(ignore the login prompts, they only affect the images)

Back when war was still semi-civilized, armies would deploy buglers, drummers, guidons and so on. It was considered very bad form to shoot any of those.

Worked on it a bit...

When life was simpler, but not easier and there was no compulsory education at what age does a boy become a man and a what age would a youth be deemed to be self-sufficient? In some “primitive” societies boys become men at 12-ish and go through a right of passage and live in the men’s hut. There they take part in hunts and ritual celebrations as men.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o:p></o:p>

what smiley were you actually going for there?

The youngest drummer to join via official recruiting was 8 years old though some younger ones simply joined the ranks as armies marched through their towns.

They definitely came under fire and in some cases were seasoned combat veterans at very young ages. Willie Johnston, the United States' youngest recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, earned the nation's top military honor just shy of his 12th birthday for valor under fire.

Can you say PTSD? I wonder how many of these child soldiers actually led normal lives after the war.

As I understand it, drummers were often detailed as stretcher bearers once the shooting started.

Acme Prosthetics