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America’s Youngest Warriors – Children Who Fought for the US

Khalid Elhassan April 4, 2025 17 min

Children - US Army Sergeant John Lincoln Clem — US Army Sergeant John Lincoln Clem. Metropolitan Museum of Art

9. The Kid Who Killed a Confederate Colonel

Children - John Lincoln Clem shoots a Confederate colonel at the Battle of Chickamauga — Illustration showing the exploit of John Clem as he shoots a horsed Confederate colonel during the Union retreat at the Battle of Chickamauga. Interim Archives

John Lincoln Clem’s army cap was pierced three times by bullets. His courage was not enough to save the Union forces from defeat. On the afternoon of September 20^th, at the close of the battle, Clem was one of the thousands of federal soldiers separated from their units during a chaotic retreat that was more like a flight than an orderly withdrawal. As he wearily lugged his sawed off rifle, Clem heard a horse approach from behind. When he looked back, the child soldier was confronted by a Confederate colonel on horseback, riding ahead of and urging on his pursuing Rebel soldiers. When he saw a little boy in Union blue toting a rifle, the enemy colonel ordered Clem to “Drop that gun!” and surrender forthwith. Young Johnny turned around, coolly raised his rifle, took aim, and shot the Confederate colonel off his horse.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.