1 00:00:00,760 --> 00:00:03,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, So when you think about going to war, doesn't 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: it seem like it would be the most frightening experience 3 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:09,160 Speaker 1: of your life. Well, now imagine it's the Civil War, 4 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,800 Speaker 1: the bloodiest war in US history, with hand to hand 5 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:18,120 Speaker 1: combat using guns that misfire, rusty blades and makeshift uniforms. 6 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: There's a severe lack of food, clean water, and basic 7 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: supplies including blankets and shoes. Worst of all, disease is rampant. Well, 8 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: now imagine you go into this war at the age 9 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 1: of nine, just a little boy. I'm Patty Steele. The 10 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: Unbelievable Life of General Johnny Clem. Next on the backstory. 11 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,880 Speaker 1: The backstory is back. The Civil War was the bloodiest 12 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: war in US history. It's the last big war fought 13 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: with hand to hand combat, using guns that misfire, rusty 14 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 1: knives and swords and primitive, badly made cannons and gatling guns. 15 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: Soldiers are lucky if they have shoes and they're wearing 16 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 1: makeshift uniforms. In fact, many were made using shadi that 17 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: was a fabric made from scraps of wool and lint 18 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: that was pressed together but tears really easily and literally 19 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: disintegrates in the rain. Not really great qualities for combat uniforms, 20 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: and that's where the term shoddy merchandise originated. Plus there's 21 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: a severe lack of food, with con artists selling the 22 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: government sugar which turned out to be sand coffee that 23 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:36,120 Speaker 1: was just rye seeds and putrid meat. Clean water, decent 24 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: horses and donkeys, and basic supplies including blankets are almost 25 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 1: impossible to get. There are few doctors, no real medical supplies, 26 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: including anesthesia, and worst of all, illness is epidemic, including dysentery, typhoid, 27 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: and malaria, to name just a few. At least six 28 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:59,080 Speaker 1: hundred thousand people died in this war, with two thirds 29 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: dying from disease, and that total toll is more than 30 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: the death tolls of World War I and World War 31 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: II combined. And you were thirteen times more likely to 32 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 1: die fighting in the Civil War than in Vietnam. And 33 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:16,960 Speaker 1: yet there was an intense passion on the part of 34 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: those joining up ideology, honor, patriotism, and just being part 35 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,919 Speaker 1: of the cause. With their motivation. Now, imagine you feel 36 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,840 Speaker 1: that passion and attachment to the cause. You're anxious to 37 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: go into this war to defend the Union, and you're 38 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: only nine years old. Just a little boy. In May 39 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: of eighteen sixty one, nine year old John Lincoln Klem, 40 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: an orphan, runs away from the home of the people 41 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: he lives with in Ohio to join the Union Army. 42 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 1: But big surprise here, the army is not all that 43 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: interested in signing up a nine year old. The commander 44 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: of the third Ohio Regiment told him he was an 45 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: enlisting in, and he said take a hike. Then Johnny 46 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: tries the twenty second Michigan Regiment and he gets the 47 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: same feedback, but this time Johnny simply tags along with 48 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: that regiment, acting as a drummer boy, and they decide 49 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: to keep him. He actually gets a soldier's pay of 50 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: thirteen bucks a month, but he's all donated by the officers, 51 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: not official pay. In one battle, Johnny's drum is shot 52 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: by an artillery round, but he's okay. The press calls 53 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 1: him Johnny Shiloh, the Smallest Drummer. A year later, he 54 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: rides with an artillery case onto the front, clutching a 55 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: musket trimmed to his size. Suddenly, a Confederate officer runs 56 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: after him and the cannon he's riding with and yells, 57 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: surrender you damn little Yankee. Johnny shot him dead. Now 58 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: he gets national attention. Johnny stayed with the army throughout 59 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: the war. He was even shot and wounded twice, but 60 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:02,960 Speaker 1: he stayed on. Now, by the time he turns eleven 61 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: years old, he's regularly enrolled in the military, and he 62 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: gets his own pay. By twelve, he's promoted to the 63 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 1: rank of sergeant, the youngest non commissioned officer in military 64 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 1: history to this day. After the Civil War ended, Johnny 65 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:22,160 Speaker 1: tried to get into West Point, but he was turned 66 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 1: down because he had hardly gone to school and thus 67 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:29,960 Speaker 1: failed the entrance exam. But he appealed to President Ulysses S. Grant, 68 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:33,359 Speaker 1: who had been his commanding general at the Battle of Shiloh. 69 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 1: Grant then appointed him a second lieutenant. At the age 70 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: of nineteen, Johnny was a lifer. He stayed in the army, 71 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: becoming a colonel in nineteen oh three. He finally retired 72 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: as a major general in nineteen sixteen, having served an 73 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,599 Speaker 1: amazing fifty five years, even fought in the Spanish American War. 74 00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:58,040 Speaker 1: He had married the daughter of a Union general back 75 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:01,600 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy five, but she died twenty four years 76 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: later his next wife was actually the daughter of a 77 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:09,880 Speaker 1: Confederate soldier, which Johnny said made him the most United 78 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: American alive. General Johnny Clem died in Texas in May 79 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: of nineteen thirty seven, just shy of his eighty sixth birthday. 80 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:24,120 Speaker 1: What a life he lived. He's buried at Arlington National Cemetery. 81 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 1: We have to ask ourselves where did these kind of 82 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: people come from? At nine years old, John Lincoln Clem 83 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: had the fortitude to fight for what he believed in, 84 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:47,159 Speaker 1: even after living through the reality and not just the dream. 85 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 1: I hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele. I 86 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:53,920 Speaker 1: would love it if you'd subscribe or follow for free 87 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:57,720 Speaker 1: to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to 88 00:05:57,839 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: DM me if you have a story you'd like me 89 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram 90 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production 91 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel 92 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:18,600 Speaker 1: Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. 93 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:22,360 Speaker 1: We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free 94 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:24,719 Speaker 1: to reach out to me with comments and even story 95 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:28,839 Speaker 1: suggestions on Instagram at real Patty Steele and on Facebook 96 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with 97 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't know you 98 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: needed to know.