Imagine if you are a teenager, marching into a battle with no armor, no weapons, and no ways of self-defense. All you have is a drum and a pair of drumsticks, which you must play throughout the entire battle. Without the drum, soldiers would have no way to hear the general’s commands which would make them a school of fish in a barrel. This was the job of drummer boys in the American Civil War, the bloodiest war in American history with around 620,000 deaths. In “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh”, written by Ray Bradbury, drummer boy Joby is terrified of the impending battle the next day. This was likely similar to how the soldiers in the true battle felt, and for a good reason. Over 13,000 men died on the Union side and almost 11,000 died on the