. But we know for a fact that they killed and were killed

No one knows exactly how many boys served in the Civil War. But we know for a fact that they killed and were killed. Some of these boys showed more courage than most, which allowed them to endure the hardships of war. In the early morning of April 12, 1861, troops of the Confederate army assembled one mile outside of the Union fort, Fort Sumter. As the light of day appeared, the Confederates waited until they heard the command. With the orders to attack by P.G.T. Beauregard, the Civil War began. Because of the fall of Fort Sumter President Lincoln called for volunteers. Thus started the arrival of anxious young men willing and ready to fight for their side. Many saw the war as a sure way to settle the dispute between the North and the South. No one is quite sure of the number of young boys enlisted in the armies of the North and South. Most record keeping was relaxed and unorganized. There was no real way to tell how old a boy was. Most of the time the boys lied about their ages, and most of them got in. Sometimes the parents of a young boy would allow or even force their son to become a soldier. This was the case for fifteen-year old Ned Hutter of Mississippi. I am sixteen next June, I said....The officer ordered me out of line and my father, who was behind me, stepped to the table. He can work as steady as any man, my father explained. And he can shoot as straight as any man who has been signed today. I am the boys father. It must have been the way he said the words...[because] the officer handed me the pen and ordered, sign In the North the boys joined the army to escape the boring routine of farm life and to take an exciting adventure. They didnt join with the intention of stopping slavery. Northern boys new very little of what slavery was, but they new they wanted to take over the South and set them straight. The Southern boys h...