Johnny Shiloh

John Lincoln Clem
Lance Sergeant Clem, age 12, in 1863
Birth name	John Joseph Clem
Born	August 13, 1851 Newark, Ohio, U.S.
Died	May 13, 1937 (aged 85) San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Buried at	Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington County, Virginia, U.S.
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	Union Army United States Army
Years of service	1863–1864, 1871–1915
Rank	Major general
Unit	22nd Michigan Infantry 24th Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars	American Civil War Battle of Chickamauga

American Civil War

John Lincoln Clem (August 13, 1851 – May 13, 1937) was a United States Army general who served as a drummer boy in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He gained fame for his bravery on the battlefield, becoming the youngest noncommissioned officer in Army history. He retired from the U.S. Army in 1915, having attained the rank of brigadier general in the Quartermaster Corps; he was the last veteran of the American Civil War still on duty in the U.S. Armed Forces. By special act of Congress on August 29, 1916, he was promoted to major general one year after his retirement.

Born with the surname Klem in Newark, Ohio on August 13, 1851, he is said to have run away from home at age 10 in May 1861, after the death of his mother in a train accident, to become a Union Army drummer boy. First he attempted to enlist in the 3rd Ohio Infantry, but was rejected because of his age and small size. He then tried to join the 22nd Michigan, which also refused him. He tagged along anyway and the 22nd eventually adopted him as mascot and drummer boy. Officers chipped in to pay him the regular soldier's wage of $13 a month and allowed him to officially enlist two years later. Research has shown that Clem's claims about the 3rd Ohio and running away from home in 1861 (rather than in either 1862 or 1863) may be fictitious.

A popular legend suggests that Clem served as a drummer boy with the 22nd Michigan at the Battle of Shiloh. The legend suggests that he came very near to losing his life when a fragment from a shrapnel shell crashed through his drum, knocking him unconscious, and that subsequently his comrades who found and rescued him from the battlefield nicknamed Clem "Johnny Shiloh." The weight of historical evidence however suggests that Clem could not have taken part in the battle of Shiloh. The 22nd Michigan appears to be the first unit in which Clem served in any capacity, but this regiment had not yet been constituted at the time of the battle (mustering into service in August 1862 – four months after the Battle of Shiloh). The Johnny Shiloh legend appears instead to stem from a popular Civil War song, "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" by William S. Hays which was written for Harpers Weekly of New York. The song was written following the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, and may have been written with Clem in mind because he had already become a nationally-known figure by that time.