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Did you know the youngest soldier in the Army of the Cumberland was only 12 years old?That’s right.His name was Johnny Clem, and he stood a whopping 4 ft. 1 in. in height, but his brief story and tales of heroics could be seen on a picture card...much like today’s modern baseball cards.On Monday evening, Betty Lambert, with the Pearce Museum, presented a program to the Navarro County Historical Society about tales, bungled assassination attempts, and little drummer boys turned soldiers.The short bio of Johnny Clem was printed on a card with his photograph on the front of the card, according to Lambert. “They (soldiers) used the cards in similar fashion to the way we use business cards today,” said Lambert.Lambert shared some of the interesting information that can be found on the card. For instance, Clem had been in the army for nearly two years by the time he turned 12.First, he was a newsboy and then served as a member of the 22 Michigan Infantry. An interesting story told by Clem, and found on the back of the card as well, says that at the Battle of Chickamauga, a rebel Colonel fell by his hand.
“The Colonel shouted as he rode up to me, halt!” Clem said. “I dropped my gun to an order – throwing the Colonel off his guard – cocked it in that position, being so short the lock was nearly opposite my hand, and then just as the Colonel drew to cut my head off, I brought my gun to a charge – bayonet, fired – and down went the Colonel.” Whether his stories are true or not, since he was a young lad, can be left up to the reader.Lambert passed around a few pictures and letters from the Civil War collection. One of the pictures was that of John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.She told the audience about Booth and a few of his accomplices, and how he was the only one to follow through with the plot.Tours are available for anyone interested in viewing the Civil War collection on display at the Cook Center.More surprises were in store at the meeting as the Corsicana R.O.S.E. presented the Historical Society with a donation of $2,322.44. R.O.S.E. president, Rick Hocker, along with vice-president Margie Cooper, presented Historical Society president Eddie Pevehouse with the check at the start of the meeting. |
