Little Drummer Boy

During the Civil War, twelve year old Clarence Mackenzie signed on with the Thirteenth Regiment of the New York State Militia as a drummer boy, whose duty it was to beat out march cadence. In 1861, MacKenzie accompanied the unit to a camp in Annapolis. Tragically, he was killed on June 11, 1861 by the accidental discharge of a musket during a training exercise, becoming --at age 13 -– Brooklyn’s first war casualty.  Three thousand people attended his funeral at Green-Wood Cemetery.  MacKenzie’s grave was marked only by a wooden sign until his story became part of a book about the cemetery. After which, a campaign ensued resulting in MacKenzie’s grave being moved to a different spot and marked by this zinc statute.