Cadets
According to this source:
http://www.vmi.edu/archives/civil-war-and-new-market/battle-of-new-market/new-market-faq/
257 Virginia Military Institute cadets were in the Battle of New Market. Ten were killed or mortally wounded and 45 were wounded. That makes 3.89 percent killed or mortally wounded and 17.509 percent wounded in one battle. Total casualties 21.4 percent.
How old were the cadets who fought at New Market ?
Although the ages ranged from 15 to 25, most cadets were between 17 and 21 years old-- that is, very similar in age to today's college students. The youngest cadet was Lewis S. Davis (15 years, 0 months, 28 days); the oldest was James S. Larrick (25 years, 8 months, 16 days).
Rebel commander John C. Breckinridge had a total of about 4,087 troops in the Battle of New Market and had about 531 casualties and losses or about 12.9 percent. Union commander Franz Siegal had about 6,275 men and about 841 casualties or about 13.4 percent.
It seems obvious to me that many of the soldiers in the Union and Rebel forces would have been age 25 and younger when first enlisted.
Benjamin Apthorp Gould, in Ages of the United States Volunteer Soldiery, 1866, presents tables for the ages of 1,046457 United States Volunteers. The ages are taken from the ages of the volunteers from the muster rolls when their units were mustered in to Federal service. Recruits who joined the regiments after first mustering in were not included, nor were drafted men and substitutes, etc. The statistics also omitted some of the units raised later in the war by various states and territories and also units raised directly by the Federal government (the regular army, three regiments of sharpshooters, and 175 regiments of United States Colored Troops), etc.
Gould’s statistics show that all except 1.5 percent of (the included) enlisted men were between 18 and 46. All but 3.3 percent of (the included) officers were between 18 and 46. The rest of the officers were older - up to a few generals in their seventies - except for a very few younger ones. The average age was 25.8083 years.
The youngest soldiers included 97,136 aged twenty one, 71,058 age twenty, 90,215 age nineteen, 133,475 age eighteen, 6,425 age seventeen, 2,758 age sixteen, 773 age fifteen, 330 age fourteen, and 127 age thirteen.
Since they come from a sample of 1,049,547 soldiers, 0.0001321 enlisted age 13, 0.0004354 enlisted age 14 or younger, 0.0117 enlisted age 15 or younger, 0.00379 enlisted aged 16 or younger, 0.0099214 enlisted age 17 and younger, 0.137 or 13.7 percent age 18 and younger, 0.223 or 22.3 percent enlisted age 19 and younger, 0.29 or 29 percent aged 20 or younger, and 0.3833 or 38.33 percent enlisted age 21 and younger.
The average height of Federal Soldiers was five feet 8 ¼ inches, with the tallest six feet 10 ½ inches and the shortest (aged 24) three feet, four inches (40 inches).
Since the statistics come from a sample of about 1,049,457 persons, the 2,645,750 total enlistments in the Union army should be about 2.5210656 times as many.
So there would be about 244,886 aged twenty one, 179,141 age twenty, 227,437 age nineteen, 336,499 age eighteen, 16,197 age seventeen, 6,953 age sixteen, 1,948 age fifteen, 831 aged fourteen, and 320 age thirteen.
George Langdon Kilmer, “Boys in the Union Army” Century, May to October, 1905, page 269, claimed that: “Probably 200,000 recruits overstated their ages a year or more, and from 250,000 to 300,000 years should be deducted from the grand aggregate of ages in order to reach the correct average.” And: “…yet is it is evident that tens of thousands, perhaps during the whole war over one hundred thousand recruits, gave in their ages as eighteen when they were not seventeen, many not even sixteen.”
Thus according to official statistics 0.99 percent of union soldiers enlisted age 17 or younger even though 18 was the minimum age except for musicians (drummer boys, etc.). Union soldiers who enlisted age 18, about the same age as most of the VMI cadets at New Market, should have been about 12.7 percent of the total Union enlistments.
Of course that is going by the officially recorded ages at enlistment.
Kilmer, quoted above, believed that hundreds of thousands of recruits overstated their ages by a year or more. And he claimed that: “…yet is it is evident that tens of thousands, perhaps during the whole war over one hundred thousand recruits, gave in their ages as eighteen when they were not seventeen, many not even sixteen.”
Thus it was Kilmer's belief that somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000 boys age 15 and 16 enlisted claiming their age was 18. That would be between 0.00377 and 0.0377 of the total enlistments.
And then there would be 17 year olds who claimed to be 18 or older.
Thus it seems probable that in most Civil War battles a few percent of the union soldiers might have been 18 and younger, the same age as the VMI cadets at New Market.
During the US Civil War or Rebellion the American forces lost about 140,414 killed in battle, 224,097 other deaths, for a total of 364,511 deaths, and 281,881 wounded, for a total of 646,392 casualties. Each percent the union forces that was age 18 or younger is 6,463.92 killed, died, or wounded boys eighteen years old or younger, the same age as most of the VMI cadets at New Market.
Beckenridge had about 4,087 soldiers and Siegal had about 6,275, for a total of 10,392, minus 257 VMI cadets makes 10,105. Beckenridge and Siegal had a total of 1,372 casualties - killed, wounded, missing, & prisoners - minus 55 VMI cadets makes 1,317. Thus there were 10,392 soldiers who weren't cadets who suffered 1,317 casualties or 12.67 percent.
If Siegal's 6,275 Union soldiers were typical, 0.0099214 of them, almost one percent, or about 62.25, had enlisted with official ages of 17 and younger, and about 12.7 percent, or about 796.925, had enlisted with official ages of 18, and an unknown number, maybe tens or hundreds, had lied about their ages and enlisted age 18 and under. Depending on various factors, it is possible that ten, or fifteen, or twenty percent of Siegal's men had enlisted age 18 or younger. Since Seigal's men had enlisted varying numbers of months and years before the battle, they had aged a varying amount by the time of the battle, and so an unknown proportion - possibly several percent - of those who had enlisted age 18 and younger were still 18 and younger during the battle.
And it is similarly probable that an unknown proportion, possibly several percent, of Beckenridge's non VMI troops were still 18 and younger during the battle.
If one percent of the 10,392 soldiers present were 18 and younger during the battle that would be about 103.92. If two percent were 18 and younger that would be about 207.84. If three percent were 18 and younger that would be about 311.76, and so on. If as many as ten percent were aged 18 and younger during the battle that would be about 1,039.2.
If one percent of the 1,317 non VMI casualties were 18 and younger, that would be about 13.7. If two percent of the 1,317 non VMI casualties were 18 and younger, that would be about 26.34. If three percent of the 1,317 non VMI casualties were 18 and younger, that would be about 41.1, and so on. If as many as ten percent of the 1,317 non VMI casualties were 18 and younger, that would be about 131.7.
Thus is is certainly reasonable to suppose that the number of non VMI casualties - killed, wounded, missing, & prisoners - at the Battle of New Market who were aged 18 and younger might have been comparable to the number of VMI cadet casualties - killed, wounded, missing, & prisoners - who were age 18 and younger, and possibly larger.
The Virginia Military Institute Cadets at New Market are famous because their unit was entirely composed of students instead of having boys of similar age scattered among older men, and because some of them came from very famous, wealthy, and important southern families.
So their fame has been kept alive partially by the snobbery of southern aristocrats who prefer to remember brave boys and young men from aristocratic families instead of equally brave boys from lower class southern and northern families.
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