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Between 1819 and 1845, as veterans of the Revolutionary War were filing applications to receive pensions for their service, the government was surprised to learn that many of the soldiers were not men but boys, many of whom were under the age of sixteen and some even as young as nine. In Boy Soldiers of the American Revolution, Caroline Cox reconstructs the lives and stories of this young subset of early American soldiers, focusing on how these boys came to join the army and what they actually did in service. Giving us a rich and unique glimpse into colonial childhood, Cox traces the evolution of youth in American culture in the late eighteenth century, as the accepted age for children to participate meaningfully in society--not only in the military--was rising dramatically.Drawing creatively on sources such as diaries, letters, and memoirs, Caroline Cox offers a vivid account of what life was like for these boys both on and off the battlefield, telling the story of a generation of soldiers caught between old and new notions of boyhood.

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9781504691178

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Caroline Cox (1954-2014) joined the University of the Pacific faculty in 1998 and was recognized with many teaching awards over the course of her tenure, including the University's Distinguished Faculty Award. She also served as interim dean of College of the Pacific and in a variety of other leadership capacities. Dr. Cox authored A Proper Sense of Honor Service and Sacrifice in George Washington's Army; The Fight to Survive: A Young Girl, Diabetes, and the Discovery of Insulin; and Boy Soldiers of the American Revolution. Robert Middlekauff is Preston Hotchkis Professor of American History, Emeritus, at the University of California, Berkeley. He has been Director of the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, and Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University. His books include The Mathers, which won the Bancroft Prize;The Glorious Cause, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and Benjamin Franklin and His Enemies. Traber Burns worked for thirty-five years in regional theater, including the New York, Oregon, and Alabama Shakespeare festivals. He also spent five years in Los Angeles appearing in many television productions and commercials, including Lost, Close to Home, Without a Trace, Boston Legal, Grey's Anatomy, Cold Case, Gilmore Girls, and others.

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