Sergeant John Lincoln Clem, The Drummer Boy of Chickamauga

Photography Studio Morse & Peaslee, Gallery of the Cumberland American

Not on view

In addition to gallant, if classical, portraits of Civil War elite such as Presidents Lincoln and Davis or Generals Grant and Lee, one finds stored in the same surviving Civil War carte-de-visite albums soldier heros such as twelve-year-old drummer boy Sergeant John Lincoln Clem. He earned his sobriquet and his collectible status by shooting with a small musket a Confederate colonel who demanded he surrender at the Battle of Chickamauga (September 19–20, 1863).

Sergeant John Lincoln Clem, The Drummer Boy of Chickamauga, Morse & Peaslee, Gallery of the Cumberland (Active Nashville, Tennessee, 1861–65), Albumen silver print from glass negative

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Sergeant John Lincoln Clem, The Drummer Boy of Chickamauga, Morse & Peaslee, Gallery of the Cumberland (Active Nashville, Tennessee, 1861–65), Albumen silver print from glass negative
Sergeant John Lincoln Clem, The Drummer Boy of Chickamauga, Morse & Peaslee, Gallery of the Cumberland (Active Nashville, Tennessee, 1861–65), Albumen silver print from glass negative

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