Do you have what it takes to run off and join the army, leaving your family behind? That’s what John Lincoln Clem, a nine-year-old boy living in Ohio, does as the American Civil War rages on.

In 1861, Johnny sneaks onto a train filled with men from the 3rd Ohio Union Regiment, determined to fight for his country. Johnny becomes a drummer boy, and eventually the youngest soldier to serve in the war. Living a soldier’s life, he experiences the brutalities of battle, the hunger and illness in between, and imprisonment before being sent home a hero.

Based on a True Story books are exciting historical fiction about real children who lived through extraordinary times in American History.