The Drummer Boy at Shiloh

Fortunately, I don’t have any personal experience with war, however I often think that I am engaged in never-ending combat with my younger sister. Even so, I don’t believe war is right for anyone. A quote by Voltaire says that “It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” To me, this quote is very powerful. It speaks about the boys who are some too young to know any better, that are being celebrated to kill others. Because it's alright if its for our country, right? During a war, no matter the color of the uniform, who wears it is just a boy, marching into battle young and naïve, not knowing what he his getting himself into.

Before the battle, Joby, the 14-year-old drummer boy from “The Drummer Boy at Shiloh” by Ray Bradbury is found crying after he couldn’t sleep. He ran away to join the army in the first place, but I think he is starting to get cold feet, realizing that his “romantic dreams of battle” are maybe not what he was looking for. “ ’Well,’ said the voice quietly, “Here’s a soldier crying before the fight. Good. Get it over. Won’t be time once it all starts.’” (Page 51) I think that here the general is saying, everyone gets nervous before a battle, but most soldiers only realize that they shouldn’t have signed up, or are having second thoughts the very moment the fight is starting. When you get onto the field, there is no turning back, and it will be no use crying, because it won’t get you anywhere. If you are going to be upset, it is better to get it over with before the fight.

In the text, Ray Bradbury mentions that the soldiers are unable to sleep for they are restless for tomorrow’s battle. I think many of the soldiers are restless because tomorrow they change from scared and wide-eyed little boys, to men who kill. That is a scary thought for (if not everybody,) many, that this battle might change everything that they believed in before, and everything that they are as a human being. “Beyond the thirty-three familiar shadows forty thousand men, exhausted by nervous expectation and unable to sleep for romantic dreams of battle yet unfought.” (Page 49) These boys don’t know what they are signing up for. They all believe that what they are about to plunge headlong into will be their “Golden Days.”

The general knows that these boys aren’t necessarily ready, and I think he tries to be understanding. Maybe once, years ago, he was in this situation, rushing into battle young and carefree. Now I imagine he has aged a bit, if not in years but in experience that has left him with images that will never leave his brain. Now it is his turn to sort of train these “soldiers” who don’t know what is in store for them. “These lads, fresh out of the milk shed, don’t know what I know; and I can’t tell them- men actually die in war. So each is his own army. I gotta make one army out of them.” (Page 52-53)

Although war sometimes seems to be inevitable in our world, I believe it should always be a last resort. It is never worth the cost of lives of many innocent people like Joby. Even though times have changed, sadly the use of children in war is still pretty common around the world. I don’t support this, but I hope that everyone can have the hope and importance that Joby felt by the end of the story.