Why did so many school-age kids not attend school during the Civil War?

Answer 1

Southern states often didn't have local schools, and boys were tutored at home. Girls didn't attend schools and were taught how to run a house, cook, clean, take care of animals, and care for children. The Southern agrarian lifestyles meant that many people didn't live in cities. During the Civil War, many young boys joined the war. Teachers enlisted to fight so classes weren't held. There were boy soldiers as young as 10 years old. Many began as drummer boys but ended up fighting. The drummer boys often didn't live long because they would drum out the orders for the troops. The opposite side would aim for them to stop the orders to cause confusion among the troops. One story is about a drummer boy who had a cannon ball hit his drum, but he lived. So, instead of getting another drum, he got a gun. He fought in most of the major battles of the war and was 17 years when the war ended. The school age kids of the 1860s lived and fought throughout the Civil War. Even today, children are affected by the wars they live through. Some are left orphans when parents die and the houses and cities they live in are bombed and burned. They have to look for food and places to hide. They fight, and they take care of younger children or help a mother. School is the last thing on their minds. It is the same in 1860 and in 2015 in war zones.