John Clem John Lincoln Clem ( August 13 , 1851 – May 13 , 1937 ) was a United States Army general who served as a drummer boy in the Union Army in the American Civil War . He gained fame for his bravery on the battlefield , becoming the youngest noncommissioned officer in army history . He retired from the army in 1915 , having attained the rank of Brigadier General in the Quartermaster Corps . When advised he should retire , he requested to be allowed to remain on active duty until he became the last veteran of the Civil War still on duty in the Armed Forces . By special act of Congress on August 29 , 1916 , he was promoted to major general one year after his retirement . Civil War . Born in Newark , Ohio , in 1851 as John Joseph Klem , he ran away from home at age 9 after his mother died , to become a Union Army drummer boy . He attempted to enlist in May 1861 in the 3rd Ohio Infantry , but was rejected because of his age and small size . He then tried to join the 22nd Michigan , which also refused him . He tagged along anyway , and the 22nd eventually adopted him as mascot and drummer boy . Officers chipped in to pay him the regular soldier ' s wage of $ 13 a month , and finally allowed him to enlist two years later . A popular legend suggests that Clem served as a drummer boy with the Michigan at the Battle of Shiloh . The legend suggests that he came very near to losing his life when a fragment from a shrapnel shell crashed through his drum , knocking him unconscious , and that subsequently his comrades who found and rescued him from the battlefield nicknamed Clem " Johnny Shiloh . " The weight of historical evidence however suggests that Clem could not have taken part in the battle of Shiloh . The 22nd Michigan appears to be the first unit in which Clem served in any capacity , but this regiment had not yet been constituted at the time of the battle . The Johnny Shiloh legend appears instead to stem from a popular Civil War song , " The Drummer Boy of Shiloh " by William S . Hays which was written for " Harpers Weekly " of New York . The song was written following the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863 , and may have been written with Clem in mind because he had already become a nationally known figure by that time . At the Battle of Chickamauga , he rode an artillery caisson to the front and wielded a musket trimmed to his size . In the course of a Union retreat , he shot a Confederate colonel who had demanded his surrender . After the battle , the " Drummer Boy of Chickamauga " was promoted to sergeant , the youngest soldier ever to be a noncommissioned officer in the United States Army . In October 1863 , Clem was captured in Georgia by Confederate cavalry while detailed as a train guard . The Confederate soldiers confiscated his uniform which reportedly upset him terribly — including his cap which had three bullet holes in it . He was exchanged a short time later , but the Confederate newspapers used his age and celebrity status to show " what sore straits the Yankees are driven , when they have to send their babes out to fight us . " After participating with the Army of the Cumberland in many other battles , serving as a mounted orderly , he was discharged in September 1864 . Clem was wounded in combat twice during the war . Later life . Clem graduated from high school in 1870 . In 1871 , he was elected commander / captain of the " Washington Rifles " a District of Columbia Army National Guard militia unit . After he attempted unsuccessfully to enter the United States Military Academy , President Ulysses S . Grant appointed him second lieutenant in the Twenty Fourth United States Infantry in December 1871 . Clem was promoted to first lieutenant in 1874 . Clem graduated from artillery school at Fort Monroe in 1875 . He was transferred to the Quartermaster Department and promoted to captain in 1882 . He stayed in the Quartermaster Department for the rest of his career . He was promoted to major in 1895 and lieutenant colonel in 1901 . He was promoted to the rank of colonel in August 1903 . From 1906 to 1911 he was chief quartermaster at Fort Sam Houston in Texas . Clem reached the mandatory retirement age of 64 on August 13 , 1915 when he was retired and promoted to the rank of brigadier general . On August 29 , 1916 he was promoted on the retired list to the rank of major general . After retirement he lived in Washington , D . C . for a few years , then returned to San Antonio , Texas . Personal life . He married Anita Rosetta French in 1875 . She died in 1899 , and he married Bessie Sullivan of San Antonio in 1903 . Clem was the father of two children . Clem was a companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and the Military Order of Foreign Wars . He died in San Antonio on May 13 , 1937 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington , VA . Dates of Promotion . Through his military career Clem held the following ranks : Film portrayals . In 1963 , Walt Disney produced a made - for - TV film entitled " Johnny Shiloh " , with Kevin Corcoran in the title role . The film was telecast on the Disney anthology television series .