Show I A BOY VETERAN I LITTLE GIB THE YOUNGEST SOL DISR OF THC CIVIL WAR I Gilbert Van ZantU Was But Ten Years of Age When He Enlisted and Had Just Passed His Thirteenth = Thir-teenth Birthday hen He Vas Mustered Out of the Army BY MARION MILLER COpyright 1S95 by S S McClure Co Not to speak of the wasted energy of manhoods prime one of the greatest in dictments against the war is that it robbed rob-bed a generation of the youth of this country of the prime of boyhood the last sweet days of careless joyousness It transformed almost in an Instant t by its stern duties and grave responsibilities the lIghthearted lad into a man strong and earnest it is true but yet lacKitts the free and thoughtless spirit of youth Hardly one of those who enlisted in 1561 and Iio2 came out in ISfo with less their un years adaea to his development > and perhaps subtracted from his lire In vicVr of this there is subtle pathoS in the met aphOr whereby the veterans deceive themselves in regard to their loss by call ing each other the boys A BABY RECRUIT It is therefore very pleasant to record an instance of one little soldier who passed through the most active scenes Of the war and emerged from It even more of a boy in spirit than when he entered Indeed legally and almost liteiajiy he was an infant more baby than boy when he enlisted He was certainly still a child when he was mustered out In the summer of 1S62 a certain Lleuten ant Lllwood came with a mule team and three or four soldiers recruiting for the army into the little country town of Port William in Clinton county Ohio A bright little fellow by the name of Gil bert Vanzandt a native of the place volunteered to drum for him at the sol dier > meeting held in the old brick I school house and at its close the lieu i I tenant tossed him a fift cent piece the first money the bay had ever earned He I then was taken over the country by Cap I tan Hicks to drum for recruits and imagining I im-agining that a soldiers life was a continuous con-tinuous succession of such pleasant duties du-ties he enlisted August tit IbSJ with company D Seventymntn Ohio volunteer volun-teer infantry as its drummer At that I time he was 10 years 7 months and lb days old the date of his birth being December J De-cember 20 1851 The enlistment of the little fellow was after all not such a cruel thing as might be supposed His recruiting service had served as an easy transition to army life l His school teacher teach-er enlisted at the same time and Was soon promoted to the captaincy of the company In addition with Little I Gib as he was called marched away I MT DTI tv tniino mon of the rwHirhhrvrhnorl true friends Jilin ideals of manhood whose departure If he had been left behind be-hind would have rendered him more genuinely gen-uinely homesick than he ever was among the familiar places of the army Then too he was engaged in the most delightful delight-ful task in the world and one at which he was an adept drumming He drummed I drum-med In the regimental band as well as in the field and so became the pet and pride of the entire regiment BRAVE AND MODEST At Nashville Tenn the colonel had a small sword made especially for him and the entire regiment followed the gift with the present of a handsome drum I and shield While here the first of the accompanying pictures was taken Gilbert Gil-bert being at the time a month or so past the age of 11 Young as he was there was no better or more faithful soldier in Shermans army I Indeed It was his extreme youth that j added to his natural disposition tended to keep him quiet and modest in demeanor while his love for his work rendered him attentive to his duties His comrades I looked out for him and saw that his willingness wil-lingness did not result in his injury When after the battle of Resaca the duties of his position became too arduous ardu-ous on account of the heavy marches he was detailed to act as Dispatch Carrier I at Division Headquarters under General Ward In this capacity he served through f all the battles of the famous March to the Sea At Milledgev Georsasom > I of the soldiers captured a pony which tha < < general cided should be turned over to Litle Gib Being thus mounted he subsequently sub-sequently acted as one of the generals orderlies and proved to be one of the most valuable aides at headquarters As one of his comrades says By reason of being so young he did not possess the discretion dis-cretion of oder heads consequently in carrying a dispatch he usually took the most direct route regardless of the danger GIB AND HIS PONY At the muster out in Washington June 1365 when the second of the pictures pic-tures was taken Gilbert being at the time 13 years and 6 months of age he was a geniiine a boy as when he nad enlisted three1 years before Just as no money m 1Ir the vOfId could have tempted him to part with lieutenant Ellwoods naifdollar > so I the pony which had been assigned to him by his general and was dearer to him I than the coin or his sword and drum and shield in as much as it had been more friend and companion than possession ranked In his estimation above the honors Ij hon-ors tHat men generally esteem of the greatest value He knew as a good soldier that the pony having been con fiscated was Uncle bams property and so with a boys directness went straight to headquarters to gain his hearts desire de-sire its possession as his own He called on President Johnson and requested permission i per-mission to take it home The president J l i asked him which he would prefer to rl I I hav e the pony or receive a commission as j t arf officer Little Gib childlike replied I re-plied Please sir I want my pony bo the president gave orders that it should be his and receive free transportation with him to his home in Ohio where to round out the story in the proper manner man-ner they lived happily together until its deafh In 1872 To complete the parallel to the fairy story to Gilbert was also promised the gift he had rejected for the president of fered to send him to West Point But this i In the troubles of his administra lion the successor of Lincoln forgot If the father of Tad had been In the place I think that it would have taken a deal of worriment to cause him to forget for-get his promise to a little boy I Mr Van Zandt is now living In Chi cago where he Is engaged as the cashier f of the Sherman house I The name oC y I Little Gib is still appropriate as he is f slight and youthful In appearance In deed ho looks ten years younger than his actual age a fact which he explains by his having been scared out of ten years jp vth while in the army 1 Of all the men who served In the war of the rcoeil n he is the only one who I could not be drafted into service and he t w 111 reach the age of exemption 45 years next December But in case of another war for defence of the flag it is pretty safe to say that Little Gib In common with many of his comrades would not rely on the age limit to escape response to our countrys call |