American Civil War drummer boy Frank Allen Pettis was born in 1850, in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. He enlisted in the Union Army’s 19th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment in 1862, when he was eleven-years-old. Pettis joined the regimental band alongside his father, a fife player, and served in a company that was commanded by his school teacher, Captain A.P. Ellinwood. Below are some interesting facts about Pettis’ war, typical of that of many other Civil War child soldiers.
The Importance of Drummer Boys
By the time the Civil War began in 1861, drummer boys had been used for centuries in many armies. The era’s tactics called for closely formed columns and lines to advance and fight in well-ordered formations, and in neat rows and lines. However, the shouted commands of officers were often difficult to hear above the din of battle. So commands were signaled with musical instruments such as drums and bugles. Drummers tapped out a pace or rhythm to assist with the evolutions and formations involved in marching, or in advancing on opposing forces.
Drummer boys tapped the appropriate beats on their instruments as directed by the officers in charge. They accompanied their units into combat, and were thus exposed to shot and shell as battle raged and men fell. Drummer boys often stood by the side of or near their unit’s commanders, since they might be needed at any moment to tap out an alert of pending operations and movements. They had to memorize a variety of drum calls, such as which to signal assembly, notify the officers to gather for a meeting, sound the advance or retreat, or tap out any of the sundry calls that were part of a drummer’s repertoire.
Frank Pettis’ Civil War Career and Post-War Life
Frank Pettis served dutifully with the 19th Wisconsin as it campaigned in Suffolk, Virginia, in New Berne, North Carolina, and in the sieges of Petersburg and Richmond in Virginia. At war’s end, he was with the 19th Wisconsin when it raced into Richmond. It was the first Union regiment to fly its colors triumphantly over the captured Confederate capitol building. Young frank mustered out a few months after the guns fell silent, in August, 1865. He returned home to Wisconsin, where he worked at his father’s tailor shop, before he changed careers at age twenty to become a miller.
Pettis grew into a prominent member of his community. He was a lifelong member in the Grand Army of the Republic, the Civil War’s premier veteran’s association. Many drummers say that once a drummer, always a drummer, and Pettis lent credence to that by remaining active throughout his life in the Reedsburg Drum Corps. He raised a family, and passed away in 1918, aged 68, and was survived by five grown children. His funeral procession was preceded by the Reedsburg Drum Corps, which tapped muffled drums until his coffin was lowered to his final resting place, buried near his former teacher and captain, A.P. Ellenwood.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
History Halls – Child Soldiers: Gustav Albert Schurmann’s Fascinating Civil War Career
Keesee, Dennis M. – Too Young to Die: Boy Soldiers of the Civil War (2001)
Sauk County Historical Society – Frank A. Pettis, Reedsburg’s Civil War Drummer Boy
