Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 January 1913 — WAR REMINISCENCES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WAR REMINISCENCES

ONE OLD SOLDIER REMAINS Colonel John Linepin Clem, Who Enlisted at Age of Top Years, Still In Service. (By DR. ANDERS DOE.) More than 1,5(JO,OOO men took part-, on the side of the north in the great American - Civil war from 1861 to 1865. 1 They are all now out of active service, having fallen before the age limit. One only is left, and that one is Col. John Lincoln Clem, first quartermaster of the central division of the United States army, with headquarters at Chicago. The American Civil war has been called a “boy-war,” on account of the extraordinary number of youths, rangingin ages from fourteen to twenty years, that had joined the army. Of all these “Johnny” Clem was the youngest. He was ten years old when he left his home in Newark, 0., and presented himself for service as a drummer boy. He was so little that he was chased away, and was given a box on the ear when he came back home. But Johnny would not stay away. He always came back, and in the bloody battle of Shiloh we find him as drummer boy at the front of the regiment the Twenty-second Michigan. Then took place the battle of Chickamauga, one of the Jjloodiest battles of history. It was here that the Norweigian regiment, the Fifteenth Wisconsin, of which all Norwegians in America are proud, was almost completely annihilated, and its leader, Col. Hans Hegg (born in Lier, Norway), found a hero’s death. On the day following he was to have been promoted to the post of brigadier general. Here Johnny Clem was at the front, as usual, and got the name, “the Drummer Boy of Chickamauga,” a name by which he is known up to the present day. A shell struck the drum from his hands, shattering it, and Johnny sat down and cried. But he could not long sit quiet, while the battle was going on i-Jl around him, so he took a gun from, a dead soldier and commenced firing. On came the Confederates storming, and when they saw Johnny Clem with the gun they burst out laughing, but Johnny took aim and killed the leader. They took Johnny Clem and gave him a spanking, put him on horseback and rode off with him. Like a prairie fire the news spread that Johnny was captured, and the whole regiment started in pursuit, soon coming back carrying Johnny with them in triumph. The battle’ was won, and when the troops were inspected, the general called Johnny and asked him what had become of his drum. Johnny told him it had been struck by a shell. "Johnny.” said the general, “any one who cannot take care of his drum cannot be a drummer ahy longer.” Johnny cried. “But,” added the general, “Jrom now on you will be sergeant with the regiment.” Johnny went through the whole war and the day peace was concluded he looked upon as a dreary day. He was a “veteran” with medals and honorary diplomas when he was fourteen years old. I visited Colonel Clem at his office and presented myself as the correspondent of the Aftenposten*, (Christiania, Norway). The colonel Is courteous and genial. He Is broadshouldered and well proportioned, wltj| a sprinkling of gray and a charming smile. —-——'• ■ —. —: “Yes, I am the last of the veterans,” said he. ■'“l am now slxty-one years old, and in three years I shall also fall before the age limit.

“Yes, I remember well Col. Ilans Hegg. He was the leader of the Nor= wegians and their ideal. He was held in high esteem and so was the Fifteenth Wisconsin. While only a boy at that time I remember it as if it was yesterday. They went into the battle as to a play, and very few came back. The Fifteenth Wisconsin marched in front, exposed to the murderous fire, and thus bore the brunt of the battle.” • I then asked if he would give me a message for the land of Colonel Hegg, whereupon he sat down and wrote the following greeting to Norway: “It recalls to my memory the days of my youth when I think of the brave Norwegian, Hans Hegg of the Fifteenth Wisconsin regiment; and his honorable death at Chickam'auga He would no doubt have been promoted the day following if he had not found a hero’s death. My greeting to our friends, the Norwegian nation, who has given so many brave Amer lean citizens, our very best. “Most respectfully, “JOHN L. CLEM. "Colonel Second Corps.”