The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1908-05-27

sgSA plentiful on both
sides of the terri
''AR. PRESIDENT, WAS BILE conflict. Some
In THE VAR Of the striplings
| who bore muskets were surprisingly
youthful, while there were drummer
boys of amazingly tender years. Per
haps the youngest drummer was John
ME Brooks, later John F. Brooks Esq,
! who practiced law at Ellsworth, Kan.
Johnnie went into the service as drum
mer boy at the age of nine years. He
served from July, 1863 to August,
1865. But he was not enlisted. His
| father was a fifer in the musicians
corps, and the boy went along to beat
a drum. One of Johnny's sad duties
| was to beat the dead march In Indian
apolis when the body of President
Lincoln was borne through the streets
there to lie in state for brief time
during the journey from Washington
to Springfield Thirty years after
the war this drummer boys congress
man introduced a resolution to have
the secretary Of war muster in and
discharge John F. Brooks, so that he
might get the regular pay for hts two
years of service.
Only few months ago an applica
ton was received by the New Jersey
adjutant general for a civil war vet
eran,s medal, as provided by the state
legislature, for Daniel Williams, who
was believed to have been the young
/ nc& dyyyT h0u oryu oD1ictnd
Williams went into the volunteer serv-
ice when he was eleven years, five
months and sixteen days old. That
1 was In 1862. He served with both
New Jersey and Pennsylvania volun-
teers. Mr.. Williams now resides in
/ Washington.
One of the most remarkable records
for a drummer boy Is that made by
John L. Glen, now a colonel in the
regular army. Glen was the famous
drummer boy of Shiloh" After Gen
eral Grant became president in 1869 a
youth scarcely eighteen years of age
/ gained admittance to the White House.
''Mr. President" he said, 81 came to
request you to admit me to the Mill
tary academy at West Point"
why don't you take the regular ex-
amination?' asked the president.
81 have done so, but l failed to
pass" admitted the boy
"That is very unfortunate" said the
president, "but you should have studied
harder"
'sMr. President" said the applicant,
"while the other boys who took the
examination with me were in school
was In the war;"
"What!" exclaimed the president.
"What WARP"
1.-THE civil war. served four years.
The soldier president looked the
youth in the eye. John Glenn produced
his papers, showing that he told the
truth. President Grant commissioned
him as second lieutenant in the regular
army.
Another drummer boy whose record
shines brightly was J. G. julius Lang
bein, who In later life became well
known city judge in New York. When
mere boy he enlisted as a drummer
in the Ninth New York volunteers
known as the Hawkins zouaves, a regi
ment which did some of the fercest
and most picturesque fighting Of the
war. He was the youngest drummer
boy from New York state and was said
to be the third youngest in all the
Union armies. Langbein served chiefly
in the Virginia campaigns. Like the
big soldiers in his regiment, he was
dressed In the zouave uniform, with
baggy knee trousers and short, farins
jacket, his head covered with a tas
Eeled cap. So slight and childish Lang
bein looked that he seemed out Of place
among the strong, rough men around
him, but every man in the regimen
loved the little drummer boy. One bi!
soldier who had a sweetheart up HON,
named Jennie declared that the DO.
4 looked like "the girl he left behint
him." so the drummer was known b,
his grownup comrades as Jennie
Langbein.
Adjutant Bartholomew of .Jennie's
regiment took particular interest i
the boy. He had promised Langbein'
mother that he would look after tn
little fellow as well as he could. At tn
battle of Camden, or Sawyer's Lane
: near the southern end Of the Disma
swamp canal, the Hawkins zouave
made desperate charge. A fragmen
Of exploding shell plowed frightfu
furrow IN the neck of Adjutant Ban
tholomeW, who. crazed by the shoe
and pain. staggered outside the Fed
. eral formation and wandered aimlessl