Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1914-07-07
SOLDIER At TEN,
IS TO QUIT ARMY
Colonel Glen Last Civil War
Veteran In Active Service.
FIRST WON FAME At SHILOH


Him His Memorable Encounter
With a Confederate Colonel After
Chiekamausa-Younsest Sergeant.
AS long as the records Of the United
States army are kept Colonel John L..
Glen. senior colonel Of the quarter
master corps. will be registered as the
officer who for more than a year was
the only survivor Of the great civil
war in the army. When he goes on
the retired list next year. says the
New York Times, the very last link
that binds the army Of today to that
Of the sixties will have been forever
removed.
Colonel Glen Is a Union veteran.
also the son-in-law Of a Confederate
soldier. He was born at Newark. o..
Aug. 10. 1851. He was. therefore. not
quite ten years Of age when President
Lincoln called for volunteers.
The Third Ohio infantry was re
cruited from the neighborhood In
which Johnny Glen lived. He was an
orphan then. One May morning in
1861 the boy appeared before Captain
McDougal and told him that he want
ed to go to the front. But McDougal
turned Glen down. However, when
the Third Ohio started for Cincinnati
Johnny Glen. though not of the regi-
ment. went with it.
A Hero Under Fire.
The Twenty-second Michigan was at
Covington. Ky. across the river from
Cincinnati. at that time. The kid
from Newark sought the commanding
officer and begged to be enlisted. He
was so pcrsevering that 1t was decid-
emergency drummer. The soldiers pro
vided him with drum and muSket,
the barrel of which had been cut off
so MS to make it possible for the child
to carry it.
At Shiloh. where Grants fame as a
soldier began. Glen received his bap-
tism of fire.
After the battle the soldiers dubbed
him johnny Shiloh" a nickname that
stuck to him until greater fame was
to come to him in the battle of Chicka-
mauga.
As ut Shiloh, Glen was in the thick
Of the fray. He threw aside his drum
and went to the front with the little
short barreled musket that the men of
the Twenty-second Michigan had rig.
ged up for him. He had been enlisted
rs a marker" and had the right to
carry gun.
Youngest Sergeant Army Has Had.
After the battle General Rosecrans
made Glen a sergeant-the youngest
Of that rank who ever served In the
United States army.
Following the battle Of Chickamau-
ga. when the Union army was retiring
toward Chattanooga. the brigade to
which Glenn was attached had been or
dered to hold its position. The posi-
ton became untenabie. and the bri.
gade fell back and. In doing 80. lost
Little Johnny" Glen.
Suddenly out Of the woods he came
like scared rabbit and ran full tilt
into Confederate colonel.
"My. but you are little shaver to
be in this business" the Confederate
officer said "Rut war is war, so you
had better drop that gun"
Instead. the boy fired point blank.
The colonel fell from his horse badly
wounded. and Johnny darted into the
bushes. Late that night he turned up
mt Chattanooga.
The Confederate colonel. who recov.
cred. afterward said he would never
get over the surprise that kid gave
him."
Johnny Glen participated in other
battles. and General Grant when
president commissioned him a second
lieutenant Of the regular army in 1871.
Glenn has been in the army ever since.