#152: The Legend of Johnny Shiloh

During the Civil War, there were many legends surrounding young drummer boys on the battlefield. Arguably, the most famous of these was about Johnny Shiloh who gave the ultimate sacrifice on that Tennessee battlefield. The problem with this legend is that it was probably based on a young boy named John Clem, who not only didn't die in battle, he wasn't even at Shiloh. He did make a name for himself at Chickamauga, though.

This week's Ghosts of Arlington are:

1. Army Major General John Lincoln Clem, Section 2, Grave 993
2. Army Bugler John Cook, Section 17, Grave 18613

The introduction and transition music heard on the podcast is composed and recorded by the eldest Ghosts of Arlington, Jr. While the rest of his catalogue is quite different from what he's performed for me, you can find his music on bandcamp.com under the names Caladrius and Bloodfeather.

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Transcript

Welcome back to Ghosts of Arlington, and thank you for joining me for Episode 152: The Legend of Johnny Shiloh. [PLAY INTRO MUSIC]

Sometimes I hear about someone's story and when I find out they are buried at Arlington, I want to learn more so I can turn it into a podcast. However, not everyone who lived an interesting life has enough scholarly research done on them to produce a thirty-or-so minute episode and today’s story may be one of those. 

Just about everything published on this guy was written for children and most of what I read gave contradicting accounts, but the story has a good foundation so I’m going with it, even if the run time ends up being a little short.

One of the legends of the 1862 Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, was that of a young drummer boy who died on the battlefield. Writers and poets heralded the bravery of the young drummer boy from Shiloh - and by extension, the heroics of all soldiers.

Examples of drummer boy lore include Samuel J. Muscroft’s 1870 play “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh,” Herman Mellville’s poem “Shiloh,” Richard Coe’s “The Men of the West,” H. Pleasants McDaniel’s “Our Boys Who Fell at Shiloh,” and Forsythe Wilson’s “The Old Sergeant.”

The below following is an excerpt from American poet and lyricist William Shakespear Hays’s popular 1862 song “The Drummer Boy of Shilo” - oh, and for the record, Hays’s middle name of Shakespeare was a nickname he eventually incorporated into his formal name when he began his professional career:

On Shiloh's dark and bloody ground,

The dead and wounded lay;

Amongst them was a drummer boy,

Who beat the drum that day.

A wounded soldier held him up

His drum was by his side;

He clasp'd his hands, then rais'd his eyes,

And prayed before he died.

He clasp'd his hands, then rais'd his eyes,

And prayed before he died.

"Look down upon the battle field,

Oh, Thou our Heavenly Friend!

Have mercy on our sinful souls!"

The soldiers cried "Amen!"

For gathered 'round a little group,

Each brave man knelt and cried;

They listened to the drummer boy,

Who prayed before he died,

They listened to the drummer boy,

Who prayed before he died.

"Oh, Mother," said the dying boy,

"Look down from heaven on me,

Receive me to thy fond embrace-

Oh, take me home to thee.

I've loved my country as my God;

To serve them both I've tried,"

He smiled, shook hands - death seized the boy

Who prayed before he died.

He smiled, shook hands - death seized the boy

Who prayed before he died.

While surely inspired by many young boys who ran off to war in the 1860s thinking it would be a grand adventure, only to be shocked by the horror they encountered, this poem is about any particular drummer boy - though some have thought it might have been partly inspired by a lad known as Johnny Shiloh.

Funny enough, Johnny Shiloh was not at the 1862 Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, but he did become famous for an incident that occurred during the 1863 Battle of Chickamauga in Georgia. To be fair, Johnny Shiloh rolls off the tongue a lot easier than Johnny Chickamauga.

John Lincoln Klem (he probably adopted the middle name Lincoln later in life) was born on August 13, 1851 in Newark, Ohio. He is said to have run away from home in May 1861 when he was 9 year-old after the death of his mother who was hit by a train while crossing railroad tracks. Assuming a new name - and by new name, I mean he changed the spelling of his last name from K-L-E-M to C-L-E-M, he tried to enlist as a drummer boy in the 3rd Ohio Infantry but was rejected because of his age and his small size. He was also turned away from the 22nd Michigan Infantry, but with nothing better to do, he tagged along anyway and was eventually adopted by the 22nd as a mascot and unofficial drummer boy. Since he was not on its official rolls, the officers in the 22nd chipped in to pay him the regular soldier’s wage of $13 a month; he was officially allowed to enlist two years later because apparently it is much less morally ambiguous to have an 11-year-old in your formation than a 9-year-old. Ah, ye olden days.

While Clem (and the 22nd Michigan) were not at Shiloh, they were at Chickamauga about a month after his 12th birthday. Describing the battle, Clem said he rode in an artillery caisson to the front lines and wielded an infantry musket cut down to his size; this made him the youngest combat soldier in US Army history. In the course of a Union retreat, he shot a Confederate colonel who demanded his surrender. After the battle, and now dubbed “The Drummer Boy of Chickamauga,” Clem was promoted sergeant, the youngest person to ever be made a non-commissioned officer in the US Army.

Though surely apocryphal, the Library of Congress does have in its collection a hand written letter written in Chattanooga, dated January 27 1864. The library’s website - which includes images of the first three pages of the letter - does not include who wrote it; it begins “my dear son” which also doesn’t help identify the author, but it appears to be from someone in Clem’s unit, writing home. It reads in part:

“I will tell you a story of a little boy… His name is John Clem. Johnny’s Father and Mother died leaving him a poor boy without friends and without money and when this war broke out he was enlisted by some officer as a drummer boy. He was only ten years old. He came to [Kentucky] with his [Regiment] marched when his Company marched and always rose early in order to beat his drum to awake all the men for reveille. He was a good boy—always obeyed his Captain and always tried to do his duty like a man. Being a good boy every one liked him, because good boys always have a great many friends—he had many.

“Last summer his drum was broken by some accident and poor Johnny often cried because he had no drum to beat, but he always kept up with this company in either hot or cold weather and often he had to sleep on the cold damp ground without a blanket. He has no good bed like Gen. Johnsons boys.

At the battle of Chickamauga he was told to stay in rear and not go into the battle but he was very anxious to see how men fight so he kept up and soon a soldier was killed and Johnny took his gun and loaded and fired it. His [Regiment] was soon driven back but Johnny would not run. He stood by a tree and presently a rebel Colonel with several orderlies came up to him. The Col said "you little Yankee throw down your gun and surrender." He replied Johnny Clem never surrenders and at the same time fired and killed the Colonel and then escaped and joined his Regiment. As soon as his Colo. heard of the gallant conduct of Johnny he made him a Sergeant and I saw him yesterday stepping around giving orders as big as if he were grown. He wears the Sergeants' Chevron, but he looks like a very small soldier. He is studying to qualify himself for West Point and Gen. Thomas says he will send him there as soon as he is old enough. Johnny will make a great man some of these days and so will any boy who is obedient and faithful in the performance of his duty.”

Clem’s fame grew when Secretary of the Treasury, and fellow Ohioan, Salmon P. Chase, decorated him for his heroics at Chickamauga and his story became known nation-wide. There is some debate about the colonel he said he shot - no eyewitness was able to corroborate the story - but that doesn’t necessarily mean he made it up. Confederate Colonel Calvin Walker, commander of the 3rd Tennessee, who opposed the 22nd Michigan toward the end of the battle, was wounded in the fight.

Clem continued soldiering after Chickamauga was captured by Confederate cavalrymen while guarding a train. His captors confiscated his uniform , including his cap which had three bullet holes in it. This upset Clem terribly as he saw the hat as a good-luck charm. He was included in a prisoner exchange a short time later, and Confederate newspapers used his age and celebrity status for propaganda purposes, to show to <<QUOTE>> what sore straits the Yankees are driven when they have to send their babies out to fight us.” 

After being exchanged, Clem continued to serve in the Union Army - joining the Army of the Cumberland and serving as an orderly. He was wounded twice during his time in service and was discharged in September 1864. Less than a year before the end of the war.

[TRANSITION MUSIC]

Returning to civilian life, it appears that Clem remained in Washington, DC where he was discharged and decided to focus on his education. He graduated from high school in 1870 and in 1871 was elected commander /SLASH/ captain of the “Washington Rifles,” a District of Columbia militia unit. As the letter I read earlier said, he did try to get into West Point, but he failed the entrance exam. After hearing that, President Ulysses S. Grant took matters in his own hands and personally appointed Clem a second lieutenant in the 24th Infantry Regiment in December 1871 (before it became a Buffalo Soldier unit). In 1874, he was promoted to first lieutenant whereupon he successfully graduated from artillery school at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. In 1882, he was promoted to captain and left the infantry. He transferred to the Quartermaster Corps where he would remain for the rest of his career. He was promoted to major in 1895.

Anecdotally, during my time in service, I met many who, by the time they made captain, decided that the infantry was a young man’s game and became logisticians. I also want to take a minute to point out how difficult it was for officers - especially officers who didn’t attend West Point - to receive promotions in the Army post-Civil War. The Union peaked around one million men but during the 1870s and 1880s,there were only about 25,000 men in uniform, which meant there just weren't that many officer positions available and typically, to be promoted one needed a superior officer to either be promoted so their old billet became vacant, or to die. Seeing Clem receive these semi-regular promotions leads me to believe his prior wartime service was valued and he was probably a competent officer, too.

When the Spanish-American war kicked off in 1898, Clem was serving as a depot quartermaster in Portland, Oregon - about as far away from the action in Cuba and the Philippines as one can get. After the war, he was transferred to the newly acquired Puerto Rico and served as the chief quartermaster in the capital, San Juan.

Clem was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1901 and colonel in 1903. From 1906-1911, he served as chief quartermaster at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. He reached the mandatory retirement age of 64 on August 13, 1915. When he retired, he was promoted to brigadier general, as was the custom for Civil War veterans who retired as colonels. At the time of his retirement, Clem was the last Civil War veteran serving in the US Army. On August 29, 1916, he was promoted on the retired list to major general. When the US entered World War I in 1917, a few Civil War veterans rejoined for that fight, but Clem figured his nearly-five decades of service was enough - after all, soldiering is a young man’s game.

[TRANSITION MUSIC]

After he graduated from Artillery School in 1875, Clem married Anna Rosetta French, in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father, Major General William H. French, was a fellow artillery officer and the commander of the historic Fort McHenry at the mouth of Baltimore Harbor at the time. Clem and Anna had three children, only one of whom - John Lincoln Clem, Jr. - lived to adulthood; Anna died in 1899.

In 1903, after returning from Puerto Rico, Clem married Bessie Sullivan of San Antonio Texas, who he met after his posting at Fort Sam Houston. Bessie was the daughter of a Confederate veteran, which led Clem to claim that he was “the most united American alive.”

After his retirement, Clem lived in Washington, DC for a time before returning to his wife’s native Texas, where he remained for the rest of his life. He was active in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and the Military Order of Foreign Wars.

Major General John Lincoln Clem died in San Antonio, Texas on May 13, 1937, at age 85. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 2, Grave 993.

Today, 1 six-foot (nearly two meter) bronze statue of young John Clem stands near the Buckingham Meeting House in his hometown of Newark, Ohio. John Clem Elementary School is also in Newark. 

In World War II, a US Army Troopship the USAT John L. Clem was commissioned in his honor. In 1963, Walt Disney produced a two-part made-for-TV film titled Johnny Shiloh, with Kevin Cochran in the starring role. It aired on the Disney anthology television series - at the time known as Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. 

A little light on facts, the move follows a generic military outfit called the Blue Raiders. When they are called into Union service at the start of the American Civil War, their mascot drummer boy, John Clem, defies his father's wishes and smuggles himself on the train carrying the troops to camp. In spite of efforts by the troops to force him to give up and go home, Johnny refuses and tries to tough it out. He gets photographed by Mathew Brady. His father comes to get him, but Johnny runs away and returns to the regiment. He finally wears down Capt. McPherson, who agrees to let him join the regiment officially. At the Battle of Shiloh, Johnny and General George Henry Thomas rally the retreating Federal forces, but Johnny's friend Jeremiah Sullivan is killed. At the Battle of Chickamauga, Johnny wounds a Confederate colonel who was attacking his friend Gabe Trotter. After the battle, General Ulysses S. Grant promotes Gabe to a lieutenant and Johnny is promoted to sergeant. Johnny and Gabe deliver an important message to General James B. Steedman, but on the way back to Thomas's headquarters, Gabe is wounded and Johnny is captured. Even though questioned by General Joseph Wheeler, Johnny refuses to talk. He makes a daring escape and returns to the Union lines.

In 2007, another film was made - this one called Johnny appears to be a more accurate telling of Clem’s Civil War experience, but that is solely based on what I read about it online - it doesn’t look like either Johnny Shiloh or Johnny are currently streaming anywhere.

If you do make it to Section 2 at Arlington looking for Major General Clem, he has a larger headstone than the standard military-issued one; and while his rank is scrapped below it and despite everything else he accomplished in his long and distinguished career, the top of the headstone reads John Lincoln Clem, The Drummer Boy of Chickamauga.

[TRANSITION MUSIC]

Though John Clem may have been the youngest combat soldier in the Civil War, while I was researching him I also came across the story of the one of the youngest medal of honor recipients ever, who also happened to be a Union soldier - and since I found even fewer details about him than I did about Johnny Shiloh, I figured now would be a good time to share his story.

John Cook was just 14 years old when he enlisted in the Union Army in Cincinnati, Ohio; standing just 4 feet 9 inches tall (about 145 centimeters) he wanted to do his part and was allowed to served as a bugler in Battery B of the 4th US Artillery Regiment. When looking at Union forces in the civil war, most units are named after states, like John Clem’s 22nd Michigan Infantry. When you see U.S. in the unit’s name - like the 4th US Artillery Regiment - it means it was made up of soldiers (what they called regulars at the time) who were already serving on active duty when the war kicked off versus volunteers who enlisted in units raised by individual states after the war began. As regulars fell during the war, they were usually replaced by volunteers, but that was neither here nor there for drummer boys and buglers.

During the Battle of Antietam, on September 17, 1862, his unit supported General John Gibbon's attack down the Hagerstown Turnpike. Immediately after unlimbering their guns (in other words, setting up their cannons), the battery came under fire from Confederate infantrymen in the West Woods. 

During the early part of the battle, his battery commander, Captain Joseph Campbell was injured by musket fire as he dismounted his horse. Cook, who was nearby, helped him to safety behind some haystacks before being ordered by Campbell to let Lieutenant James Stewart know he would have to take command of the battery.

He passed on the message and immediately noticed that most of the cannoneers had been killed. Seeing a dead artilleryman with a full pouch of ammunition, Cook took the pouch and began servicing the cannons. He continued to work as a cannoneer throughout the attack. At one point, Major General John Gibbon, who happened to be riding by, saw him doing this work alone. Gibbon — still dressed in a general's uniform — hopped off his horse and began to help. While the Confederates came dangerously close to completely taking over, Gibbon and Cook were able to successfully man the cannons and push the enemy back. At one point, Confederate soldiers Came within 15 feet (5 meters) of the guns.

The Battle of Antietam is considered the bloodiest single day in US history and according to a Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper article, 40 of Battery B's 100 men were either killed or injured during the fight.

Cook's heroics weren't limited to the Battle of Antietam. In 1863, during the Battle of Gettysburg, he worked fervently to carry messages across a half mile of open terrain as enemy fire flew around him. He also helped destroy a damaged caisson to keep it from falling into enemy hands.

Cook received an honorable discharge from the Army in June 1864; however, he wasn't quite finished serving his country. In September 1864, Cook briefly joined the Union Navy. According to Arlington Historical Magazine, he served on the Union gunboat Peosta until June 1865, shortly after the war ended.

After his second stint in the service, Cook moved back to Cincinnati, where he worked in his father's shoe shop. In 1870, he married Isabella MacBryde. They had three children, John, Rebecca and Margarette.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Cook eventually got bored working in the shoe shop, so he joined the Cincinnati police before taking a job as a county recorder.

In 1887, Cook moved his family to Washington, D.C., where he worked for many years as a guard for the U.S. Government Printing Office.

On June 30, 1894 - more than 30 years after his valiant actions during the Battle of Antietam - Cook received the Medal of Honor for his bravery during that fight. While he was in his mid-40s when the medal was presented to him, it was his actions as a 15-year-old boy that earned him his nation’s highest award for valor.

A cursory internet search brings up the name of only one medal of honor recipient younger than Cook, an 13-year-old boy named Willie Johnston who also served in the Civil War. The medal of honor was created during the Civil War, at a time when few military decorations existed. In fact, during that war, the Medal of Honor was the only decoration US officers could receive and across the board, it was presented differently then than it is now. For example the military personnel who escorted Lincoln’s body back to Illinois after his assassination were all awarded the Medal of Honor. In wee Willie Johnston’s case, he was a drummer boy and when his division was routed during the Seven Days Battle in 1862, he was the only drummer boy to keep his instrument for the entirety of the long retreat down the Virginia peninsula. During the long withdrawal, many men threw away all their equipment so they would have less weight to carry and could move more quickly, but Johnston kept his drum. The division arrived at Harrison's Landing early on the morning of July 2, with Johnston having brought his drum the whole way. At Harrison's Landing, he had the honor of drumming for the division parade on July 4, since he was the only drummer in the division who had brought his instrument off the battlefield. 

Basically, he was awarded the medal for holding on to his drum during a really long march. 

In 1916, the War Department appointed a panel to review awards of the Medal of Honor and determine whether any should be revoked for failing to meet the eligibility criteria. The board reviewed the files on 2,625 awards, including 1,517 presented for action during the Civil War. 911 Medal of Honor awards were revoked, but Johnston's was allowed to stand. 

It does look like Cook was the youngest combatant to receive the medal. 

Bugler John Cook died on Aug. 3, 1915, at age 67. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Section 17, Grave 18613 beside his wife, who died the following year.