Speaker 1: Yeah, So when you think about going to war, doesn't
Speaker 1: it seem like it would be the most frightening experience
Speaker 1: of your life. Well, now imagine it's the Civil War,
Speaker 1: the bloodiest war in US history, with hand to hand
Speaker 1: combat using guns that misfire, rusty blades and makeshift uniforms.
Speaker 1: There's a severe lack of food, clean water, and basic
Speaker 1: supplies including blankets and shoes. Worst of all, disease is rampant. Well,
Speaker 1: now imagine you go into this war at the age
Speaker 1: of nine, just a little boy. I'm Patty Steele. The
Speaker 1: Unbelievable Life of General Johnny Clem. Next on the backstory.
Speaker 1: The backstory is back. The Civil War was the bloodiest
Speaker 1: war in US history. It's the last big war fought
Speaker 1: with hand to hand combat, using guns that misfire, rusty
Speaker 1: knives and swords and primitive, badly made cannons and gatling guns. Uns.
Speaker 1: Soldiers are lucky if they have shoes and they're wearing
Speaker 1: makeshift uniforms. In fact, many were made using shadi that
Speaker 1: was a fabric made from scraps of wool and lint
Speaker 1: that was pressed together but tears really easily and literally
Speaker 1: disintegrates in the rain. Not really great qualities for combat uniforms,
Speaker 1: and that's where the term shoddy merchandise originated. Plus there's
Speaker 1: a severe lack of food, with con artists selling the
Speaker 1: government sugar which turned out to be sanded coffee that
Speaker 1: was just rye seeds and putrid meat. Clean water, decent
Speaker 1: horses and donkeys, and basic supplies including blankets are almost
Speaker 1: impossible to get. There are few doctors, no real medical supplies,
Speaker 1: including anesthesia, and worst of all, illness is epidemic, including dysentery, typhoid,
Speaker 1: and malaria, to name just a few. At least six
Speaker 1: hundred thousand people died in this war, with two thirds
Speaker 1: dying from disease, and that total toll is more than
Speaker 1: the death tolls of World War I and World War
Speaker 1: Two combined. And you were thirteen times more likely to
Speaker 1: die fighting in the Civil War than in Vietnam. And
Speaker 1: yet there was an intense passion on the part of
Speaker 1: those joining up ideology, honor, patriotism, and just being part
Speaker 1: of the cause with their motivation. Now, imagine you feel
Speaker 1: that passion and attachment to the cause. You're anxious to
Speaker 1: go into this war to defend the Union, and you're
Speaker 1: only nine years old, just a little boy. In May
Speaker 1: of eighteen sixty one, nine year old John Lincoln Clem,
Speaker 1: an orphan, runs away from the home of the people
Speaker 1: he lives with in Ohio to join the Union Army.
Speaker 1: But big surprise here, the army is not all that
Speaker 1: interested in signing up a nine year old. The commander
Speaker 1: of the third Ohio Regiment told him he was an
Speaker 1: enlisting in, and he said take a hike. Then Johnny
Speaker 1: tries the twenty second Michigan Regiment and he gets the
Speaker 1: same feedback, But this time Johnny simply tags along with
Speaker 1: that regiment, acting as a drummer boy, and they decide
Speaker 1: to keep him. He actually gets a soldier's pay of
Speaker 1: thirteen bucks a month by dight, he's all donated by
Speaker 1: the officers, not official pay. In one battle, Johnny's drum
Speaker 1: is shot by an artillery round, but he's okay. The
Speaker 1: press calls him Johnny Shiloh, the Smallest Drummer. A year later,
Speaker 1: he rides with an artillery case onto the front clutching
Speaker 1: a musket trimmed to his size. Suddenly, a Confederate officer
Speaker 1: runs after him and the cannon he's riding with and yells,
Speaker 1: surrender you damn little yankee. Johnny shot him dead. Now
Speaker 1: he gets national attention. Johnny stayed with the army throughout
Speaker 1: the war. He was even shot and wounded twice, but
Speaker 1: he stayed on. Now by the time he turns eleven
Speaker 1: years old, he's regularly enrolled in the military, and he
Speaker 1: gets his own pay. By twelve, he's promoted to the
Speaker 1: rank of sergeant, the youngest non commissioned officer in military
Speaker 1: history to this day. After the Civil War ended, Johnny
Speaker 1: tried to get into West Point, but he was turned
Speaker 1: down because he had hardly gone to school and thus
Speaker 1: failed the entrance exam. But he appealed to President Ulysses S. Grant,
Speaker 1: who had been his commanding general at the Battle of Shiloh.
Speaker 1: Grant then appointed him a second lieutenant. At the age
Speaker 1: of nineteen, Johnny was a lifer. He stayed in the army,
Speaker 1: becoming a colonel in nineteen oh three. He finally retired
Speaker 1: as a major general in nineteen sixteen, having served an
Speaker 1: amazing fifty five years, even fought in the Spanish American War.
Speaker 1: He had married the daughter of a Union general back
Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy five, but she died twenty four years later.
Speaker 1: His next wife was actually the daughter of a Confederate soldier,
Speaker 1: which Johnny said made him the most United American alive.
Speaker 1: General Johnny Clem died in Texas in May of nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty seven, just shy of his eighty sixth birthday. What
Speaker 1: a life he lived. He's buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Speaker 1: We have to ask ourselves where did these kind of
Speaker 1: people come from? At nine years old, John Lincoln Clem
Speaker 1: had the fortitude to fight for what he believed in,
Speaker 1: even after living through the reality and not just the dream.
Speaker 1: I hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele. I
Speaker 1: would love it if you'd subscribe or follow for free
Speaker 1: to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to
Speaker 1: dm me if you have a story you'd like me
Speaker 1: to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram
Speaker 1: Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel
Speaker 1: Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner.
Speaker 1: We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free
Speaker 1: to reach out to me with comments and even story
Speaker 1: suggestions on Instagram at real Patty Steele and on Facebook
Speaker 1: at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the backstory with
Speaker 1: Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't know you
Speaker 1: needed to know.