UCSD Professor of History, Rebecca Jo Plant will explore the topic of underage soldiers who fought in the American Civil. She focuses on the political, military, and legal debates over young enlistees in both the Union and Confederacy. The problem of youth enlistment intersected with larger issues, including the relationship between parental rights and children’s obligations, the appropriate balance of power between state and federal governments, and the degree to which the military should be answerable to local communities. Collaborating with Professor Frances M. Clarke of the University of Sydney, their extensive research on this topic has been published in their book Of Age: Boy Soldiers and Military Power in the Civil War Era, which won the 2024 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize.

The talk will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 17th in the Mission Valley Branch Library, 2123 Fenton Parkway, San Diego, CA 92108 (next to IKEA).

Of the book: “[This] impressively comprehensive and deeply researched study of underage recruits both North and South…plunge[s] their readers into the realities of the lives of the youths who comprised a meaningful segment of both Union and Confederate armies… Of Age is a masterwork, providing a panoramic view of the experiences of child and teenage combatants in the Civil War. It is one of the rare academic studies that does not just expand the field, it redefines it. Anyone wanting to understand on-the-ground military experience during the Civil War must from now on consider the sheer numbers of young people among the troops, and how their presence shaped not just the war but the direction of the country.” — Sarah E. Chinn, Civil War History

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear a unique and thoughtful study of youth in the Civil War!