20 Who was the last surviving veteran of the Civil War? (U.S. Civil War)
Description
This article is from the U.S. Civil War FAQ, by Justin M. Sanders jsanders@jaguar1.usouthal.edu with numerous contributions by others.
20 Who was the last surviving veteran of the Civil War? (U.S. Civil War)
[this entry was originally written by the late Paul Cowan, but it has
been extensively revised by JMS]
1. Albert Woolson of Minnesota was the last authenticated survivor of
the Civil War. Woolson served as a Union drummer boy and died in 1956.
2. Determining the last Confederate veteran is more difficult. The
most recent and thorough study by William Marvel, published in "Blue and
Gray" magazine in Feb. 1991, finds that the last authenicated veteran of
the Confederate army was Pleasant Crump of the 10th Alabama, who died on
31 Dec 1951. Previous claims to be the last veteran of the Confederate
army (and of the whole War) were made for Walter Washington Williams (died
19 Dec 1959) of Texas and for John Salling (died 19 Mar 1959) of Virginia.
However, Marvel concluded that their claims must be rejected, since (among
other reasons) census records indicated that, in 1860, Williams was only 5
years old and Salling was just 2 years old.
3. The last surviving Civil War general was Union Brig.Gen. Adelbert
Ames, who died in 1933 at age 97.
4. The last surviving Confederate general was Brig.Gen. John
McCausland, who died on 22 Jan 1927 at age 91. Felix H. Robertson, who
was appointed B.G. in 1864, who served at such, but whose nomination was
rejected by the CSA Senate in 1865, died on 20 Apr 1928 at age 89.
Sources: William Marvel in "Blue and Gray", Feb 1991; Jim Epperson
(epperson@math.uah.edu); Ron Kolakowski (rkola@ida.org ); Stephen E. Brown
(sebrown@prairienet.org); _The Civil War Notebook_, by A.A. Nofi; _New
York Times_ article, Dec. 19, 1959;_Civil War Dictionary_, by M.M.
Boatner;_Handbook of Texas_.
Continue to:
My Books
