As we begin the first four pages of our paper so to begins the search for the perfect thesis. As I read and reread my primaries and some of my secondaries I notice that children seemed to have a positive effect on the older soldiers. I also feel like just having the effect on moral as a thesis might make it a little hard so I decided to add in their roles as soldiers. I will connect these two points by saying that winning battles is good for morale thus allowing the two ideas to feed off each other. And with that thought in mind I attempt to formulate my thesis. I am thinking for now that my thesis might read something like:
Children played a vital role in combat positions during the US Civil War in two ways, as soldiers performing daunting tasks and being afterwards portrayed as heroes and as boosters of troop moral.
For providing for better moral, battle victories aside, I plan to use as part of my evidence, "Well, the soldiers would have missed other comrades far less than the lively little drummers, and many marches through scorching sun and suffocating dust would have been much harder to bear had it not been for these little musicians. Lagging foot-steps often quickened and weary faces brightened at the sudden sound of drum and fife, and many a 'God bless you, boys; you give us cheer' went out to them in the long march." (Wisler 14). This was quoted in When Johnny Went Marching: Young Americans Fight the Civil War, the original owner of this quote is Edwin Forbes who was an artist and war correspondent.
For the providing a boost to moral through actions and valor I have a treasure trove to offer. I could mention Johnny Clem, Orion P. Howe, the VMI cadets or Richard Kirkland. For this blog post however, I will use Richard Kirkland's case of valor. Richard Kirkland was a youth soldier, a soldier older than 17 but younger than 19 when war broke out. Kirkland was 19 when he got his claim to fame. Kirkland was a Confederate soldier at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Fighting had stalemated at a place called Marye's Heights where Confederate soldiers had taken positions behind a stone wall while Union forces tried to advance across an open field. The Union advance was met with deadly fire and the Union took many casualties while the Confederates were mostly safe behind their stone wall. Now to quote Wisler again, "For an hour and a half the young South Carolinian made his rounds, pausing only to refill his canteens. One time firing resumed, only to stop when Kirkland reappeared. Shamed by the selfless act of a solitary soldier, the generals arranged a truce, and the following day surgeons attended the wounded and carried them from the field." (Wisler, 38). Yes his actions were peaceful but affected change and earned him the title "The Angel of Marye's Heights."
G. Clifton Wisler When Johnny Went Marching: Young Americans Fight the Civil War (HarperCollins Publishers, 2001).
Just something to consider for your research: In your thesis you mention that children did daunting tasks and were portrayed as heroes for that, I would try to figure out how they were portrayed as heroes differently, if at all, from adult soldiers.
ReplyDeleteI really like your thesis and where you're going with this, It seems like you are writing a two-part paper now, one on their impact on morale and another on their portrayal as heroes
I see heroes as tools of boosting troop morale. So perhaps I should change the wording to something like: Child soldiers actions not only led to military victories, but also raised the troop morale. Just a rough edit for now though.
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