Conclusion

Abstract

A scene from Henry Fielding’s Amelia encapsulates the book’s main themes. Fielding depicts a private soldier manhandling a small civilian boy, rousing the ire of his sergeant and the boy’s parents and reinforcing the notion that children need to be protected from war. The very young commanding officer’s support for the soldier reflects contemporary perceptions that juveniles made poor military leaders. On the other hand, the sergeant’s compassion for the boy illustrates the argument of several chapters that children were valuable tools in highlighting warrior sensibility. Children were not only passive objects, however; Childhood and War in Eighteenth-Century Britain has highlighted how their actions and choices affected campaign dynamics. It is also important to recognize their roles in encouraging veterans to tell their stories and sharing their own memories of their wartime childhoods later in life. Historians have not recognized the significance of the child’s gaze in this way, but many contemporary soldiers shared James Anton’s delight in recounting his adventures to starry-eyed youngsters who would “think him a great man.” Children’s admiration for warriors and their desire to preserve their memory has been largely hidden from history. Bringing it to light not only broadens our understanding of childhood, it also deepens our knowledge of the eighteenth-century wars.