I had the opposite problem - an *over-age* ancestor in the Civil War! Henry lied about his age when he signed up - he said he was 44 years old when in actuality he was 52! Now if that didn't wreak havoc with trying to find his birth records!!! His 19 year old son enlisted with him at the same time and they fought side-by-side. Did you order his pension records or military records? There are some great clues there. I never would have been able to track the 19-year old son as well as I did without the pension records! Be sure to order copies of *everything* in the file and you'll even get copies of envelopes when the mail the gov't sent out was returned! (Henry died during the war - again listed in the pension records as he had surviving children.) Sherry lpurch6636@aol.com (LPurch6636) wrote in news:20020318133333.15862.00001794@mb-fy.aol.com: > 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? 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; > 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? Is it likely that Elijah > died? 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. > > Thanks for any help. > > Flanagan >