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.

The chaos after a battle was horrendous. There were huge craters from cannon balls and clouds of black smoke. Horses trampled everywhere as men searched for their friends not knowing whether to call their names or try to figure out their identities by looking through the dismembered bodies.

As young as they were, the boys withstood the drilling and training of becoming a soldier. They had to learn what a soldier really was and how to become one. They all felt that the repetitive drilling was very boring, even though it was useful to them. Most of them didn't have much target practice or even handle a real rifle.

The homecoming of the Northern and Southern soldiers differed. In the North ringing bells, firing cannons, and cheering crowds announced the troops into town. They were proud of their boys who had become heroes.

As the war trudged on new problems appeared. They now had to worry about finding food and clothes. Many a time they found themselves waiting on food shipments. Although foraging was forbidden by both armies it was a popular way to obtain food. Foraging is the act of living off of the land. They would hunt in nearby forests or gather nuts and berries. Soldiers would sometimes find the nearest home and ask to buy food from the owners, and if they were denied of their request they took what they wanted, sometimes at gunpoint. Some feared being lost in battles, or dying alone. The biggest fear of a soldier was dying and no one knowing where his body was.

In the North the boys joined the army to escape the boring routine of farm life and to take an exciting adventure. They didn't 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.

Everything was fine until the soldiers experienced the fighting for themselves. The war up until the point of engaging in battle was a dream, a place and thing you wanted to experience. Some boys had no idea what they would see. One boy remembers his e

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1385
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)