Jean Ballinger

Letters from a Drummer Boy: "Dear Mother" Jean Ballinger

This is a look into the life of an eighteen-year-old drummer boy from Worcester, Mass. who served in the Civil War for 100 days. It contains his daily diary entries from July 11, 1864 to November 4, 1864 when he finally "got to sleep in my own bed" followed by long descriptive letters home to his mother detailing his daily life. You accompany him on his cold, rainy, seasick journey on the Gen. McClellan, from Boston to Alexandria, Virginia. Then experience his frequent diet of coffee, burnt beans and hard tack with maggots, "once a cow ate some and died." You can visualize the muddy sultry streets with thousands of tents, wagons, soldiers, wounded and the dying, and feel his pain as he drums for funerals. He takes you to the battlefield of Bull Run and to farmhouses where they raided gardens for food. You learn about the punishment of soldiers, frequent skirmishes with the "Rebs" and then at mail call how happy he was to get boxes from home containing all his favorite things, once including moldy pickles, which he was determined to save. You experience first hand many difficult days then smile as he speaks about hearing "Abe" speak to them in Washington just before his regiment left to go home, a boy no more - now one who had experienced the Civil War up close and very personal.