DRUMMER BOY, BENJAMIN F. HILLIKER
Company A, 8th Wisconsin Infantry.
At Mechanicsburg, Miss.
4 June 1863
Union troops were badly outnumbered at the battle at Mechanicsburg, the drummer Benjamin Hilliker put down his drum and took up a musket and ran forward to join the fight, crawling forward to engage the enemy at close quarters.
Hilliker fought with great valor until a Minnie Ball struck him in the head and ”went clean through and out the other side”
During his short time in battle, the young man proved himself to his comrades, but paid the price for his bravery. An officer gave the order to “lay him in the shade; he won’t last long.”
Ben Hilliker had different plans. –He recovered from this wound and survived the war living until 1916.
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