June 12, 1863, Corinth Chanticleer (Corinth, Ms)
There is many a mother who has sent her son into the army as a “little drummer boy” who little thought of the ruin she was bringing upon her child. The army is no place for children. It is all a strong minded man can do to withstand the temptations to vice and dissipation which ever beset the pathway of the soldier. It is vain to say that children will not be subject to the same temptations that would demoralize a grown person. Our own personal observation teaches the contrary. We have seen children, between the ages of nine and twelve in the army, who were as thoroughly vicious as is possible for man to become, and who would go to lengths that many men would shrink from. At this age it is well known that a child’s mind is still subject to be easily moulded for future events, and at some future day when a mother beholds her son wandering from the path of honor and integrity, and dissipating with cut throat associates, she may attribute the acquiring this trait in the army when a youth. If you have no influence over your child, if he has not sufficient love and respect for you to heed your advice, our advise to you is to find him a guardian who can compel him to do so.