ForeverFree
Major
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2010
- Location
- District of Columbia
This is from the website civilwarhome.com:
I'm curious about 13 and 14 year olds: could they even hold a rifle? Any thoughts? They would almost certainly have been given some kind of non-combatant duty... I would guess.
Also: I believe I've read material that indicates that the CSA was more likely to take in younger (under 18) males than the USA. Does anybody know of a good source for the age distribution of Confederate soldiers?
- Alan
Although many of those in both armies were mere youngsters in age at the time of their enlistments, they soon became men.
All but 1.5 per cent of the enlisted men in the Federal Army were between 18 and 46 at the time of their enlistment; and all but 3.3 per cent of the officers fell into that age bracket. The average age was slightly under 26 years (25.8083) at time of enlistment.
There were 127 Northern soldiers recorded as being age 13; 330 age I4; 773 age 15; 2758 age 16; 6425 age 17; 133,475 age 18; 90,215 age 19; 71,058 age 20; 97,136 age 21. From there on it gradually went down to 7012 age 45; 967 age 46; and 2366 age 50 or over.
As to physical characteristics, the average height of the Federal soldier was put at 5 feet, 8¼ inches. The tallest man authentically recorded was said to be Capt. Van Buskirk of the Twenty-seventh Indiana, who stood 6 feet, 10½ inches. The shortest man as far as records go was a member of the 192nd Ohio, and at the age of 24 he measured 3 feet, 4 inches in height.
I'm curious about 13 and 14 year olds: could they even hold a rifle? Any thoughts? They would almost certainly have been given some kind of non-combatant duty... I would guess.
Also: I believe I've read material that indicates that the CSA was more likely to take in younger (under 18) males than the USA. Does anybody know of a good source for the age distribution of Confederate soldiers?
- Alan