‘The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.’
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945)
Powder monkeys were boys whose small stature well suited them to working below decks in the confined quarters of ships’ magazines. Their basic work consisted of serving gun crews powder and shot during combat, and menial tasks at other times—all for little more than meals and a place to sleep. This boy posed with a 100-pounder Parrott rifle on board the USS New Hampshire in 1864 off Charleston, South Carolina.
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