lpurch6636@aol.com (LPurch6636) wrote: >I have been trying to find my G-Uncle ELIJAH HAMLER (NJ) since the verbal >family story that "he went, under-age, into the Civil War." The story also >says that he was a drummer. Well, I can find no record of him after the Civil >War. Does anyone know how to find their underage soldier ancestors from the >Civil War? They are just as likely to be on the rolls as those who were 'of age'. Though I don't find your ancestor b.1846 terribly unusual. The drummers of the civil war were quite often men under 18, over 50 or disabled. The Longs'; "The Civil War, Day by Day" has an abbreviated summary of Union soldier's ages on p707. They cite the US Sanitary Commission's 1866 booklet [43pp] "Ages of US Volunteer Soldiery" pp5-6. [That's worth ordering through ILL-- 43 interesting pages of statistics about the male population of various states, countries & the military in the 1860s.] Note that these numbers only represent about 1/2 of the enlistments. [I don't think the Longs mention that, but it is noted in the actual report.] The 1866 compiler believes that the sample of the 'first million volunteers' is random enough to be representative. My gut says it might skew the numbers a bit, though I could argue whether towards older or younger. The average age was 25.8, but there were at least several thousand under 18. These are enlistment ages [which is curious because the enlistment age was 18-45, so obviously the recruiters had some leeway.]. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the reported 18 yr olds, and maybe even some of the 19 yr olds are under 18. age number of soldiers 13 127 14 330 15 773 16 2,758 17 6,425 18 133,475 19 90,215 20 71,058 21 97,136 22 73,391 23 62,717 24 52,095 25 46,626 26-30 162,714 31-35 92,620 36-40 62,914 41-45 51,786 46 & over 5,213 So briefly-- in the '1st Million Volunteers'; =<18 143,888 19-35 748,572 =>36 119,913 So while 19-35 might be considered 'normal age', one in 4 were either under 19 or over 35 > Is there any web site for this specialty? I have looked up all the >usual information: Census Records where all the rest of the 9 members of the >family were living- everyone accounted for except Elijah; Is that 1850, 1860 and 1870 census? If he isn't on any of those, why do you think he exists-- or is he just missing in 1870? [also the 1865 census for NJ & NY -- did PA have an 1865?] I'd also be on the look-out for a 'new Hamler' appearing in '65 or '70. 'Elijah' might have become Eli, or 'Jake' or 'Slim' or 'Hammy'. > marriage records for New Jersey; death records for New Jersey; property records for New Jersey; >Baptism records for New York (where the Hamlers tended to go for baptisms) and >New Jersey; Pennsylvanvia Census records; books on German migration in the >1800's with names... > >What happened with "under-age" soldiers in the Civil War? Did they have an >especially high rate of mortality? I would guess that their mortality was lower than average. They were less likely to be subjected to hostile fire, and were probably as healthy or healthier than their older peers. OTOH-- rates don't mean much when studying an individual. [My wife's 35 yr old father of 3 enlisted in Sept 64--- survived a battle where more than 1/2 of his company was killed-- then died the next month of measles.] > Is it likely that Elijah died? I would lean more toward the younger one being the adventurer & either staying in the service, moving to a remote area, falling in love, or going to sea. > His older two >brothers who fought in the Civil War (from New Jersey) served in Virginia; but >they both came home from the Civil War. Elijah was born in 1846, making him 16 >years old when the war started. And 18 or 19 by war's end. Not draftable [in the north], but certainly 'of age'. [and the Indian wars might be attractive to a young man who 'missed the action' of the civil war] This might be one of those cases where you might want to hire a researcher who specializes in military records of that era to spend an hour or two in DC looking. Jim