“small even for his age”
… promoted to sergeant for shooting a rebel officer
150 years ago the Northern press celebrated a young hero. From the February 6, 1864 issue of Harper’s Weekly (at Son of the South):
SERGEANT JOHN CLEM.
OUR YOUNGEST SOLDIER.
SERGEANT JOHN CLEM, Twenty-second Michigan Volunteer Infantry, is the youngest soldier in our army. He is 12 years old, and small even for his age. His home is Newark, Ohio. He first attracted the notice of General Rosecrans at a review at Nashville, where he was acting as marker of his regiment. The General, attracted by his youth and intelligence, invited him to call upon him whenever they were in the same place. Rosecrans saw no more of Clem until his return to Cincinnati, when one day coming to his rooms at the Burnet House, he found the boy awaiting him. He had seen service in the mean while. He had gone through the battle of Chickamauga, where he had three bullets through his hat. Here he killed a rebel Colonel. The officer, mounted on horseback, encountered the young hero, and called out, “Stop, you little Yankee devil!” By way of answer the boy halted, brought his piece to “order,” thus throwing the Colonel off his guard. In another moment the piece was cocked, brought to aim, fired, and the officer fell dead from his horse. For this achievement Clem was promoted to the rank of Sergeant, and Rosecrans bestowed upon him the Roll of Honor. He is now on duty at the head-quarters of the Army of the Cumberland.
![Maj. Genl. John Clem, 9/19/22 ([19]22 September 19; LOC: LC-DIG-npcc-07042)](https://www.bluegrayreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/07042r.jpg)
the general 59 years after Chickamauga (9-19-1922)
Wikipedia points out that “Clem’s fame for the shooting is also open for debate as there are no records of a Confederate colonel being wounded during the battle despite press reports supporting the story into the early 20th century.” In October 1863 Clem was captured in Georgia but exchanged shortly afterwards. He served with the Army of the Cumberland as a mounted orderly for General George Thomas until his discharge in September 1864. Mr. Clem rejoined the army in 1871 and never left again until his mandatory retirement in 1915. He was the last Civil war veteran to serve in the U.S. army. General Clem is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
According to The Civil War in Georgia that “More than 10,000 soldiers under the age of 18 served in the Union Army during the Civil War.”
