The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-08-20
LAST C. A. R. MAN IN ARMY
Colonel John L. Glenn is to Be Retired
on Friday.

| HUunclnS the ICLlIcuIeut lIOlH active
service at one minute after midnight
next Friday of Colonel John L. Glen
u. S. A., the only Civil War veteran
now on the active list On Friday
Colonel Glen will celebrate his Gath
/ anniversary, which is the age fixed by
law when officers of the army must
retire. Colonel Glenn, who is famous
throughout the service as Johnny
Glenn, the drummer boy of Chicamau-
ga" win be retired with the rank of
brigadier general, an honor accorded
veterans who hold the rank of colonel
on reaching the legal age of retire
i ment
/ Than the dapper little officer, so
long on duty in the war department
| by act of Congress to all Civil War
at Washington and for so many years
a daily visitor to the Army and Navy
club in the capital, there is no more
| popular officer in the army, says the
1 Washington correspondent Of the
| New York Times. Likewise there is
no more capable officer connected
with the quartermaster corps, Of
| which he has long been the ranking
| colonel.
| Colonel Glenn is the son-in-law of
confederate veteran, and this fact he
often cites in conversation with
| friends as proof of the fact that he is
! the most united American" extant.
He is loyal to the core when it comes
to his comrades of the Grand Army,
and yet there is no southener who
can be more lavish in his tribute to
the valor of the men who followed
Lee and Jackson.
Glenn was Just a little Ohio SHAY
| or" Of 10 years when President Lin
coin issued his first call for volun-
teers. The 9rd Ohio infantry was re-
cruited in the Newark .(0hio) dis
trict. In the regiment was an officer,
Captain McDougal, friend of
Johnny Glen. The future senior col
onel of the quartermaster corps was
an orphan and there was no near rel
alive to stop him when he sought out
his friend McDougal and begged per.
mission to accompany the 3rd Ohio to
tho front.
Glen told McDougal that he could
carry a gun provided it was not too
heavy, and also that he could beat
the drum " to beat the band" Cap
tain McDougal, however, could not
see the proposition in the same light
as did his enthusiastic young friend,
and told him point blank he was en-
tirely too little and tool young for
such dangerous business as that Of
soldier in wartime. All this happen
ed in May 1861.
But Glen did not lose hope. Early
in June of that year the 3rd Ohio
started for the mobilization camp at
Coyington,, Isy Ailittle boy smuggled
himself Into One or the Baggage cars,
and the following day climbed out of
the car very tired, very dirty and
very hungry in CovihstoiA The lad
was Johnny" ClemaNw own
Also at Covington was the 22pd
Michigan Infantry sClem deciaed tRat
he would try and get berths In that
regiment, and so he boldly sought outiI
the tent Of the colonel and walked |
right in The kid from Newark told
the. colonel that he wanted to go to
the front with the regiment. The |
colonel laughed aud parted the boy |
on the back.
you arc a game little fellow, all |
right" said the colonel, but this is
no place for children like you. If |
You were foot taller and some years
older maybe I'll take you along, but |
as you are neither of those things |
am afraid You will have to stay back
here with the home folks"
But elem refused to be left behind,
ana was so persistent that the colonel |
finally agreed to let him 80 along as
n sort OF combination reeimental mas
cot and emergency drummer boy.
The soldiers rugged him out in a
uniform, they provided him with a
drum and also with mIsket, the bar
rel Of the gun being sawed off short
so as to make it possible for the lit
tie fellow to carry it.
One of the FIRST battles'in which the
regiment figured was that of Shiloh.
where the confederate General Albert
Sidney Johnston was killed and
where the fame OF Ulysses s. Grant,
as a soldier nay be said to have be-
gun In that battle Glenn got into the
very hottest of the fight He came
very near losing his life when shrap
mel shell exploded within q few feet
of him. A fragment of the shell
crashed through his drum and the
shock of the explosion hurled him I'M
conscious to the ground, where he
was subsequently found and rescued
by his bigger comrades.
After the battle the soldiers nick
named Glen Johnny Shiloh and the
name stuck to him until greater
fame came to him at the terrible bat
tie of Chickamauga.
At Chickamauga the boy was again
in the thiekest of the fight. He fired
right and left with his little sawed.
off musket. General Thomas and
General Rosecrans both heard of the
heroism Of the little Newark boy at ]
Chickamatlga and he was personally
commendfd for his GOODNESS and BRAY