Beth:

You never want to say "never," but the liklihood of a amn born in 1853 serving in any of the Confederate forces is very, very remote. He would have turned only 12 some time durng 1865, and the possiblity of an eleven or twelve year old serving at that stage of the war is beyond remote. The Confederacy had lowered the age of of those service to service to 16 by that stage of the war, but Southerners were realistic, and there would have been few mothers or fathers who would have let their underage son enlist or serve in what was clearly lost by the beginning of 1865.

The youngest Copnfederate soldier whose record I have seen was 13, almost 14 at enlistment, and even there I suspect his birthdate may have been earlier. It was early in the war, when, in the blush of wartime fervor a handful of big strapping younsters did enlist, undoubtedly with the connivance of the mustering sergeants and officers, and of their parents.But the bloom was off the lilly by 1864 and 1865, both North and South.