Willie Johnston (1850 - abt. 1941)

Willie was the youngest recipient of this highest decoration at 13 years of age for actions performed when he was 11 (almost 12) years old. ^[9]

Even though often held by the youngest soldiers, the responsibilities of a drummer boy were critical to success in battle:

in the noise and confusion of battle, it was often impossible to hear the officers’ orders, so each order was given a series of drumbeats to represent it. Both soldiers and drummers had to learn which drumroll meant “meet here” and which meant “attack now” and which meant “retreat” and all the other commands of battlefield and camp. (The most exciting drum call was “the long roll,” which was the signal to attack. The drummer would just beat-beat-beat — and every other drummer in hearing distance would beat-beat-beat — until all that could be heard was an overwhelming thunder pushing the army forward.)^[10]

Music was also considered very important to the morale of the troops. Drummer Boys had many other important tasks in the Civil War besides drumming. They collected the wounded and dead from the battlefield after battle. Drummer Boys were employed to serve in field hospitals providing pain relief to amputee patients after it was discovered that vibrations produced by drumming on the still interrupted pain signals.^[11]

Willie's unit mustered out July 11, 1865 when he would have been about 15. Willie would have spent a good part of his childhood, up to that point, at war. His unit fought in the fiercest battles including Antietam, Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania Courthouse and of course the Seven Days' Battle during which Willie earned his commendation. ^[12]His Congressional Medal of Honor is a historical record of something that would otherwise be difficult to believe.

Details of Willie's death and burial are unknown.^[13] His death is sometimes reported as having occurred on 16 Sep 1941, but the source of that date is unknown.^[9]