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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

7. John Lincoln Clem After the Civil War

Major General John Lincoln Clem. The American Historical Society, Chicago

A month after the Battle of Chickamauga, John Lincoln Clem was captured by the Confederates and became a prisoner of war. Eventually released in a prisoner exchange, he returned to the ranks and resumed the fight with the Army of the Cumberland. Clem was twice-wounded, before his discharge in September, 1864. After the war, he graduated high school in 1870. He rejoined the US Army in 1871, when he was commissioned a second lieutenant by President Grant. Clem married twice, raised a family, and served until 1915, when he retired as a brigadier general and as the last Civil War veteran still serving in the US Army. A year later, a special act of Congress promoted him to major general. John Lincoln Clem died in 1937, aged 85, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

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.