Johnny Clem

John “Lincoln” Clem (Johnny) is my hero. Johnny Clem is my hero because he took all of his strength, emotionally and physically and put it into his beliefs in the Civil War. He felt so strongly about the civil war that he volunteered to go to war/battle at the age of nine. Even though he couldn’t fight in the war, he stayed with the soldiers and helped any way he could become a “mascot” and playing the drum while the soldiers marched. Johnny had the courage and strength, emotionally and physically, to want to fight for what he believed in at age nine. He also had the strength to fight against men that were twice the size and age of him. In this essay I will prove that Johnny Clem was a hero because he was strong, physically and emotionally.

Johnny Clem was born on August 13, 1851 in Newark, Ohio and died on May 13, 1937 in San Antonio, Texas. He was trying to help the Union, in the north, win the war. Johnny grew up in the north and believed that he should help the Union fight against the Confederates. Johnny’s actions were very important because he was so young and had the bravery of a man older than himself. Even though he kept being sent home, time after time, he stayed, becoming the “mascot” of the soldiers until he was old enough to fight. At around 12 years old, they finally gave him a gun and he had the strength and courage to fight side-by-side with a grown men.

Johnny joined the 22nd Michigan unit and fought in the battle of Shiloh, which was one of the most important battles in 1862. It was one of the first battles that he ever fought in. Out of the 110,000 soldiers on both sides, 24,000 died in the Shiloh Battle. The Shiloh battle was a blood battle and for Johnny Clem, a nine year old, the blood and people dying around him did not seem to affect him. If Johnny saw that someone was lying on the ground dying he wouldn't get scared or upset he would just keep fighting. I don’t know of any other nine year old that could do that. If Johnny was tired, he still kept fighting. People might have been moaning on the ground in front of Johnny, dying right on his feet, but he didn’t show sorrow, he just kept fighting. He wasn’t shaken when a gun was fired near him or at him. Johnny’s participation in the Shiloh battle had an impact on people's lives because he gave them the courage to fight. Once they saw that this young boy could go and fight in the war and not be afraid it gave them the strength and the courage to do it, too.

Johnny fought at the battle of Chickamauga which was another major battle, which took place in Georgia near Tennessee. Soldiers from the 22nd Michigan were captured; Johnny was also captured with this group of soldiers but was able to escape. Johnny had escaped from being prisoner a few times when he fought. He gave the soldiers he fought with courage and made them feel that they could also do it.

People from the south would not have thought Johnny Clem was a hero. Johnny was fighting against them so he was not a hero to them, but a hero to the people he was fighting with, which was the Union, in the north.

People in the south fought back against people in the north, which was where Johnny was from. My hero fought and fought no matter how tired he was and even though he got captured he would try his hardest to escape. Even when there was fighting and death all around him he still had the strength emotionally and physically to keep focused and fighting. Johnny used all his strengths to fight for what he believed in. He never gave up, never quit and nothing seemed to keep him from his goal of fighting and winning the war.