In May 1861, John Lincoln “Johnny” Clem, a 9-year-old boy from Newark, Ohio, ran away from home to join the Union Army during the American Civil War..
However, the commander of the 3rd Ohio Regiment rejected him, saying he “didn’t draft babies.” The commander of the 22nd Michigan Regiment also told him the same thing. Determined, Johnny followed the regiment anyway, posing as a drummer boy, and was eventually accepted. Although not formally drafted, he performed camp duties and received a salary of $13 a month, collected and donated by the regiment’s officers.
The following April, during the Battle of Shiloh, Clem’s drum was destroyed by artillery fire, attracting the attention of the press, who nicknamed him “Johnny Shiloh, the Littlest Drummer Boy.” A year later, at the Battle of Chickamauga, he was carried on a gun carriage in the front lines, carrying a musket that was adjusted to his size. During a retreat, a Confederate officer called out to him, shouting, “Surrender, you damned little Yankee!” Johnny responded by shooting and killing him. This brave act made him nationally known as the “Drum Boy of Chickamauga.”
Clem remained in the Army throughout the war, serving as a courier and being wounded twice. Between Shiloh and Chickamauga, he was formally drafted, began to draw pay, and was promoted to sergeant at age 12. After the Civil War, he attempted to enter West Point but was rejected because of his poor education. Through a personal appeal to President Ulysses S. Grant, his commander at Shiloh, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Regular Army on December 18, 1871. In 1903, he rose to the rank of colonel and served as assistant to the Quartermaster General. He retired in 1916 with the rank of major general, after an incredible 55 years of service.
General Clem died in San Antonio, Texas, on May 13, 1937, three months shy of his 86th birthday, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
