31. A Drummer For Life
After the war, Alexander H. Johnson settled in Worcester, Massachusetts, taught drumming, and founded that town’s first drum corps. Nicknamed “Major”, in reference to his being the drum major of the town’s drum corps, Alexander settled down and raised a family of seventeen children. He was a lifelong active member in the Grand Army of the Republic, as well as a member of the Sons of Union Veterans.
In 1897, a memorial sculpted by Augustus Saint-Gaudens was unveiled in Boston. It honored the 54th Massachusetts and its colonel, Robert Gould Shaw, who died fighting at the regiment’s head during the assault on Fort Wagner. Erected in front of the Massachusetts State House in Boston, it depicts Colonel Shaw and his regiment leaving Boston for the South. Alexander is depicted with his drum, tapping the beat at the head of a column of his comrades. He lived to the age of 83, and died in 1930.
Read More: 10 American Child Soldiers of the Civil War.