The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1915-08-11
ARMY 10 LOSE LAST
CIVIL WAR VETERAN

ARMY 10 LOSE LAST
CIVIL WAR VETERAN
Washington. D. c., Aug. 1.-THE
last Civil war veteran in activesser-
vice in the United States armySwill1
be removed from the rolls day after
tomorrow. On that day Col. John L.
Glen, the Drummer Boy Of Chicka-
mauga, = will be placed on the re-
tired list for age. Col. Glenn, who
for several years has been chief
quartermaster of the central division
Of the army, Is the last Civil warsvet-
eran on the regular pay rolls He
went through the war with 81 the
Twent tysseconditM ichtgan regiment d
Before Little Johnny" Glenn as
he is known to this day, was 10: years
old he was In the Union ranks At
the age Of IL he had three bullet,
holes. put through his cap, his pony
was shot from under him and he was
wounded several times. -
The story of gCola Clients military
career reads like fiction. He first
attempted to obtain a place as a
drummer to Capt. McDougal fssthe
Third Ohio regiment: Ills infantile
services were rejected but when the
regiment .hoarded' cars5 ats:his home
town .ofs Newark, TO-, sheaa climbed
aboard and went with the soldiers. to
Cincinnati. There he offered him
self to the Twenty-second Michigan
regiment, but was again rejected on
account Of his size and years.
The zmotherless boy insisted onsac-
companying the soldiers to- the front,
and he went with the regiment with
out acceptance until he was beating
the c""long rolf at Shiloh in April,
1862. His soldiery spirit so won the
confidence and admiration of the Of
tcers that May l., 1862,1he was en-
listed at Covington, KY, as a drum
mer. Later he servel as q marker.
A piece OF shell smashed the boys
drum. This experience won for him
the title of Johnny Shiloh -.
It was at Chickamagua that Little
Johnny" Glen: exchanged the :"'long
roll" Of the drum for the "brisk fire"
of the ,musket. When. 1.-The line Of
battle was being formed the drum
mer boy took asmusket that had been
shortened for his use, and mounted
caisson beside an artillery man. He
blazed away like a veteran. At the
close of the day when the army was
falling back on Chattanooga, his
brigade was surrounded and de
mand made for its surrender. John
ny did not fall back as quickly as the
rest and Confederate colonel, hav-
ing summoned him to surrender, came
forward with drawn sword and used
language, that the little soldier re-
.sented. II
The boy raised his musket,H shot the
colonel and then fell back as though
shot himself. Here he lay still till
dark, when he managed to rejoin.
his comrades. For his gallantry Gen.
Rosencranz made him a sergeant At
ter being captured and exchanged he
was attached to the staff Of General
Thomas He fought at Shiloh, Perry
vile, Reseca, Kenesaw, Peach Tree
Creek, ATLANTA and Nashville.
After he was mustered out with
his comrades at the close of the war
.:'Little Johnny" asked President
Grant, to- send, him to West Point.
"'But why" said the president, 'do
you not take, the examinations"
-''I did,, Mr.. President, but 1 failed
to pass. Mr.. President, you see, ]
was in the war, and while Twas there
these other boys of my age were in
school," 49, u ..~..sr, -
"What!" said = the. president,
''you were in the war? ?" The
president then wrote something, seal
ed it, and handing it. to Glen, said:
'Take this to the secretary of war;
1 guess, it, will fix you all right" j, \
The secretary of war at, once, ap-
pointed Glen "a second lieutenant. in
the regular army and from that time
to; the present he has been in active
service. He reached, the grade: Of
first Lieutenant, in. 1874, and became
q captain in 1882. > Since the latter
year he has: been attached to the
i, department. From
1903 to- 1906 he was chief. quarter
master of the Philippines = division.
During the ensuing five years he
served. in a similar capacity with the
of Texas and in 1911 he
became chief -quartermaster of the
of the Lakes, now the
central division of the army,
Col. Glenn has been the lone Civil
war veteran in active army service
since. 1912. Until that time there