Sergeant John Lincoln Clem, The Drummer Boy of Chickamauga

Morse & Peaslee, Gallery of the Cumberland

ca. 1864 · Albumen silver print from glass negative · Photographs

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).

Artist

Morse & Peaslee, Gallery of the Cumberland

Date

ca. 1864

Medium

Albumen silver print from glass negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2013