The Boys War

Age Range 10 yrs and up. Some Union and Confederate soldiers were as young as twelve-years-old when they went off to fight in the Civil War and it is thought that as many as ten to twenty percent of all Civil War soldiers may have been under sixteen years of age. Jim Murphy skillfully weaves together firsthand accounts and personal letters of these countless young men with historical context to paint their portrait -- young soldiers who, either seeking escape from the drudgery of farm work or embracing fantasies of glory, participated in America's most brutal and bloody war. The Boy’s War follows these young soldiers through the rigors of camp life and drilling right into the chaos of the battlefield. The first book to explore the role of boys who fought in the Civil War, The Boy’s War is a contemporary classic.