The Last Veteran of the Civil War
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In this video:
The American Civil War ended almost a century and a half ago (April 9th, 1865) with the surrender of the Confederate forces at the Appomattox Court House in Northern Virginia. About 54 years ago, in December 1959, the last reported surviving veteran of the Civil War, Walter Washington Williams, passed away in Houston, Texas at the reported age of 117. President Dwight Eisenhower declared it a national day of mourning and gave him an honorary rank. Congress recognized his passing on the floor. Reporters, writers, and well-wishers all came to Houston to pay respects to the man who was America’s last direct living link to the war that divided the United States for a time. Of course, this all may have been a lie.
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Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_W...
ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00007477/00001/2j
news.google.com/newspapers?id=...
news.google.com/newspapers?id=...
www.civilwaralbum.com/misc13/w...
www.veteranstoday.com/2009/02/...
www.gunslot.com/pictures/walte...
www.ovguide.com/walter-william...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowell_K...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bel...
www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg....
www.confederatedigest.com/2010...
Image Credit:
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1.bp.blogspot.com/-V_Oqtpim_vU...
www.civilwaralbum.com/misc13/2...
i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p...
altoscv2009.homestead.com/Last...
www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united...
www.confederatelegion.com/imag...
1.bp.blogspot.com/_uYhwjSHoQ3k...
www.gunslot.com/files/gunslot/...
msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/...
www.shfwire.com/wp-content/pho...
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...
archives.delaware.gov/usr/img/...
www.simpleselfdefenseforwomen....
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...
yankeetirade.com/blog12/wp-con...
public.media.smithsonianmag.co...
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attic.areavoices.com/files/201...
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upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...
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Oh, I just wrote a highly-restrained but hopefully scathing comment on your last video, and now you pop up again to tell me (who teaches up Native history up here in the Great Lakes "Middle Ground") about Thanksgiving.
No, no,--I tell myself, you mustn't rip people apart BEFORE you watch whatever crap they have posted--you must wait until after you watch before saying anything, and there are many other factors to be considered.
So here I go to watch the video; maybe I'll be back to follow up, but really, I need to focus on real teaching, rather than random journalists who think they have suddenly found a "new angle," without even realizing how old a "story" it really is.
@@rebeccamead5060 shut up bitch
That would've been insane to live through the civil war, the rest of the 1800s, the turn of the century, world war 1, the depression and world war 2
Dropkickpennyday95 There are people alive today who have gone from Pre-World War I technology to FaceTime and Uber.
It's not that insane really. Take 1945 and subtract 1850 from it and you get 95. Even then that age wasn't too uncommon and the civil war was 10 years later. That gives you time to see the civil war, defeat of the west, the turn of the century, ww1 the booming 20s, the great depression, and ww2
ZB classic vehicles it’s the roaring 20s I believe :)
Brick By Brick I've actually heard it referred to both depending on exactly what part of the 20s your talking about
ZB classic vehicles the early part of the twenties
My grandpa grew up during the depression. He would tell me about going by the court house in Tennessee and seeing all the old Civil War vets who would serve on juries just to earn some money to buy tobacco. He would listen to their stories and believed maybe half of them. He said some were pretty wild. But for a kid it was fun to listen to them.
Interesting comment my Grandmother was a young girl here in Kerry (Ireland ) at the turn of the 20th century the old people in the area recalled the famine the stories they told her and she told me are very different to what is now the accepted History
Do you perchance remember some of these stories? I haven't done much research into the famine but I'm always interested in contradictions of accepted history.
Edit: I'm also interested in any of the civil war stories you can remember landfair :P
Sorry I was young when he talked about that. I don't remember if he even told me any. He just said he would listen to them as a kid.
landfair123 Np, I actually hadn't thought about how long the Civil War veterans lived so it was a mild surprise that your grandfather knew some as a kid, but it does make perfect sense.
KingdomOfDimensions
My grandfather was born in 1925. There were lots of veterans left up until the 40s.
I was born in 1949 and I can remember stories of Civil War veterans who were still alive or had just died. My great-grandfather fought for Gen. Hood in the Civil War.
I certainly was. My dad's family is very old. He was the baby of the family. My grandparents married in 1901. My great grandfather is buried outside Carthage, TN. I've seen the grave. We have done family genealogy and I am 100% positive about it.
Bbendfender I've heard stories of vietnam vets. When I was a kid, I'd listen to their war stories and they were still physicaly fit back then
damiion, I served in the USAF during the Vietnam war but never went to Vietnam. I am 67 and I know lost of Vietnam Vets. I know they suffered much more than I did and now most of them look much older than me. We are losing veterans at a very high rate these days.
TeleWacker so ur 68 and watch youtube videos ... cool
TeleWacker That's good. The US military just murders rapes and loots anywhere it goes. The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist, and the US military is the worst terrorist organization in the world.
Bonus fact 4: 2020 was the year the last Civil War pension was paid out to a child of a Civil War veteran. Irene Triplett was the daughter of Mose Triplett, a veteran who strangely fought for both sides of the war, deserting after the Battle of Gettysburg (which he missed) and thereafter joining the Union army. He was 84 when he fathered his daughter (the mother was 34).
Current (2021) sperm counts very low in America as well as libido, in part due to chemicals in food, government lock downs, drug and alcohol use as well as the woosification of males by WOKE culture. Not likely any current 84 year olds will be imprenating anyone.
Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about
@@doraran2138 woosification???? is that a med term ??? there, there, I am sure those wooses arent after your ass
@@doraran2138
You mean sissification or wussification?
my great great great great grandmother was of Cherokee decent and her name was Irene
must have seen so much change. Damn
I'd be curious on their thoughts of the weapons and vehicles that were being used for world war 1 and 2 and how surprised they may have been on the technological advances that had taken place
0
No, Emma Morano has soon a lot of change. She was born on November 29, 1899, and is still alive today
Just see how poorly the generals and marshalls adapted to WW1
That must've been so exciting!
I'm trying to picture it.
It is possible that he may have been employed by a Confederate unit as perhaps a drummer boy or some similar capacity. That was common. Often such children were given uniforms. He may simply have considered himself a soldier based on that, from the perspective of a child of ten or eleven based on the birth date in the census record.
I point this out because there was an oral tradition in our family that one of my ancestors was a veteran of the revolution. When I did some research I found he was 12 years old in 1776 so initially I just assumed someone got their facts screwed up but then I did some more research and found out that his father was a captain and later a major in the state militia in the 1760s-1780s. Upon further research I discovered that his son turned 19 before the end of the revolution and was indeed a lieutenant in that militia and fought in three minor battles in the revolution. What astonished me was to learn that he was among the youngest members of the militia when he joined at age 13 in 1777. Later he served as a major himself in the War of 1812 when he was 48 and is one of a small number of people who served as an officer in both wars. It took a lot of digging to find documents to prove this and records were fairly well kept in that part of the country for such things.
My point is that just because he was quite young does not prove he didn't participate in the civil war as what most people would consider an actual member of a Confederate unit.
One final note, when I was a child I met an elderly woman who described what it was like to be a slave in the south. She had only been a child at the time of the Civil War but she gave some amazing details about her early life in the south. She was well over 100 when she told me about her life as a slave. That was 1967, 102 years after the end of the civil war. Supposedly she was born in Alabama in 1859. She showed me a photo that her master had taken of thirty slaves standing in front of the mansion her master had lived in. She was the little child sitting cross legged on the far left of the group. .
VEry nice story. Would you mind telling what she said in more detail?
there was a fairly famous "Drummer Boy at Shiloh:
John Clem ran away from his Newark, Ohio home in 1860. He was 9 years old. When war broke the following year he attempted to join the Union Army but was rejected. Undeterred, the determined 10-year-old tagged along with the 22nd Michigan Volunteer Infantry until he was finally adopted as its mascot and drummer. He was supplied with a scaled-down uniform and a shortened rifle.
Clem distinguished himself at the Battle of Shiloh where an artillery shell destroyed his drum. Newspapers got hold of his story and he soon became known as the "Drummer Boy of Shiloh."
Clem gained further renown at the Battle of Chickamauga in September of 1863. In the thickest of the fighting, three bullets passed through his cap without doing him any harm. Separated from his unit, he escaped capture when he shot and killed a Confederate soldier who ordered him to halt. Newspapers now labeled him "The Drummer Boy of Chickamauga."
Little Clem's luck ran out a month later when he was captured by Confederate cavalry while he was serving as a train guard. He was freed in a prisoner exchange a short time later, but not before the Confederates held him up as evidence that the North was so desperate that it would enlist children in its fight. Clem was rewarded with advancement to the rank of Sergeant and assigned to the headquarters of the Army of the Cumberland.
Clem left the Army in 1864 and rejoined it in 1871 as a 2nd Lieutenant. He rose in rank to brigadier general becoming Assistant Quartermaster General of the United States Army in 1903. He retired from the Army in 1915 and died at age 85 in 1937. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery
www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/shiloh2.htm
DonMeaker
I just came across your comment and had to say thank you, since reading your information is astonishing and informative!! I love history, and this is exactly why I read the comments on topics like this.
nunya biznez That is really cool. 😎.
nunya biznez how do you find stuff about your ancestors?
I love how whenever he reads a quote, the bitrate goes from: "Actually decent" to "Iraqi Insurgent".
I know lmao
ANx3h well memed m8
Hunter Evans
thanks?
i started noticing that when i watched more often, so he puts work into these videos
Yakuri is my spirit animal
The last combat veteran of the Union Army was my ancestor, James Albert Hard. During his service he suffered a serious leg wound, but he and the leg survived. With the benefits of modern medicine, his leg was amputated shortly before his death in 1953, aged 111. His daily regimen included a short whiskey and a long cigar until his nursing home banned the smoking of cigars when he was around 107. Many of his ancestors (from Arlington, Vt) also lived very long lives, possibly connected to the extremely hilly terrain they had to traverse each day. Hard fought at Bull Run, Antietam and Chancellorsville, and met President Lincoln at a White House reception.
Wow!!
Interesting I've been on all three of those battlefields Chancellorsville they still take the Marines from Quantico down there make them do Jackson's 17-Mile flanking maneuver around hookers Union troops Lincoln fired hooker after that and he put McClellan he wasn't much better he got fired after Antietam
Sure totally
Awesome story mr.Robert holy smokes cant imagine what he went through and saw the Horrors of War then total carnage and men suffering
This man lived through the Civil War, WW1 AND WW2 that is incredible.
You forgot Spanish American war
@@Alpha_4608 wasn't as big or as influential
@@franciscosansalone no, it was
@@michimuffins3609 it was only influential to spain as it was one of the causes if the civil war
@@franciscosansalone what? Lol
little fun fact: the last person to witness Lincoln's assassination lived long enough to tell his story of what he saw to be broadcasted
On a talk show in 1964, it's on youtube right?
@@zenon459 yep
It was "I've Got A Secret". I saw it on TH-cam. I don't recall what year it was broadcast. He was like 98 or 99 years old.
@@nicoleknight9412 the man died not too long after that broadcast
The last man standing was a Confederate soldier? Sounds like the South won after all.
Makes sense since the South was still fighting "The War Between The States".
xaenon Who surrounded to who the south is part of the USA 🇺🇸 not a independent country
JOKE (n) a thing that someone says to cause amusement or laughter.
Bowser Jr an Friends Gonna laugh. My ancestor is General Lee and I will rise up the South again and then we'll see who actually won.
xaen
on
"Hello, I'm Simon Whistler..." no you're not! (stops to draw beard on the monitor screen with a felt tip pen)...."Oh NOW I recognise you!"
My thoughts too. His speech habits are so different here, too!
I honestly got a shock 🤣
Feel the exact same.
What does that even mean
Clearly all of us were recommended this old video...much to our horror 🤣
Back in the '50s and early '60s, I watched a TV program called You Asked For It. Viewers would send in suggestions for stories, and the program would select some, do the research, and air the results. On of the suggestions that was aired was a request for the last survivors of the Civil War, one a Yank, the other a Rebel, to talk to each other via telephone. As I recall, they were very old men. I do not remember their names.
how old are you? No problem with that. I Just want to know
777scubadiver awesome
My mother started that show. Every time I turned around she smacked my rear and said "you asked for it."
@@vitorb.macarthy348 probably 83
@@gennymikel4296 lmao
My family has relatives on both sides of the civil war. My father's grandfather fought for the confederacy and my mother's grandfather fought for the Union. From the stories I heard growing up from my grandfather, there wasn't much animosity between the Civil War veterans as they got older. They were able to put it behind them and respect one another for the hell they had been through.
I am 61. As a child I had a teacher, Mrs. Carlson. She taught us about the civil war but at 9 years old I still had trouble understanding the war and its meaning. The one big impression I had from her was that both sides were Americans and both were great fighters. Shocking when you hear the woke crap taught today. I grew up in the Northeast but Mrs. Carlson taught us about the greatness of Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis as well as Grant and Lincoln.. Whenever I'm in the deep south I feel at home.
@@victorblock3421I just learned this in my college course. That aspect you hear of the greatness of lee and Davis is known as the last cause view of the Civil War. A very big concept amongst the South. Look more into it but anyhow can’t get enough of my history
He: "Hello, im Simon Whistler"
Me: pffff no, you aren't
This beardless man is an imposter.
and now were about to lose the remaining WW2 combat veterans..
Not really. The last one will probably die in the 2040's. A lot of us might die before that.
Bob Allen very true maybe longer if we lucky it’s possible just unlikely but what you said about 2040 is most probably correct but you never know maybe longer maybe less
Nah no worries Grampa Simpson will always be here.
@@davedave6670 it might even be longer, remember that on 1945 Germany started using child soldiers in the Hitler youth or the Volkstrum
I think the world will lose all of them as late as 2030s, perhaps even early 2040s as Bob had mentioned because Germany do recruit people as young as 10 in WW2 as a last ditch attempt to defend the fatherland. A priest I knew in his 80s was conscripted by the N* regime in 1945 as a panzerjagdgruppe(tank hunter), so assuming that this priest and some of his surviving friends would live to a ripe age of 100-105 years of age, they could pass on as late as 2040 if the said individual was born in 1935, fought as a Youth in 1945 when he was 10 years old and live to the age of 105 by which time he would reach the age of 105 in 2040.
For years I've been looking for info about my great great grandfather....Whether he was or was not the last survivor of the Civil War....We will always be proud of Pappy.
indyracingnut oh look a 12 year old trying to be cool on the internet
justin mccoy XD
My great great grandma lived to be 115 she was born in the 1880’s and died in the early 2000’s and her dad and uncle were civil war veterans: she was born in Minnesota but only spoke German growing up and had to teach herself English as a kid. She also remembers going into town as a kid and trading with the native Americans. She lived through 2 world wars and 3 centuries. She worked on an apple farm and climbed trees until she was 104 and didn’t go into a nursing home until she was 110.the country was very different back then.
Balls on her chin ever?
Holy crap, Simon before the beard and glasses, he looks so... Different. And his cadence has changed.
I was thinking the exact thing!!
The algorithm has seen fit to show us this for some reason haha
Yeah it’s just wrong looking.
Today i found this out and im blown away lol
I was getting to finding Simon kind of smarmy and irritating to listen to. However the subject here interested me and I decided to give him another chance. He is more agreeable here. Maybe I'll give him another chance.
I wonder if the last two surviving solders of the war between the states had ever met in the mid fifties and if so what they might have said to one another?
My great, great grandfather, Martin Van Bruen Exum, fought in that war as a private as a member of the Jackson Gray's ; a unit from west Tennessee that fought in every major campaign right up until General Johnston surrendered in North Carolina about four months after General Lee's surrender at Appomattox's.
He was a farmer, and no, he didn't own slave's. But he fought for Tennessee and the south.
I understand, like many of the survivor's of that war, he went home farmed, studied law and eventually became a judge- dying in 1914.
I'm telling you all this because I believe that everyone who fought on either side of that horrible war thought they were doing the right thing at the time. Each who survived carried the scars of that event for the rest of their lives and so deserve their right and honorable passage into our nation's history.
gud
Gil Davis they met in the 20s and according to accounts there were over 80 "unexplained assaults" so there I think is your answer
Damn, i wish i knew this much about my family Confederate history. All we have is written documents saying their allegiance to the south. They where sharecroppers on the Bama-Georgia line and where being forced into poverty by the Union so they fought
I am interested in your ancestor, when was he born? Are there any weblinks (Geni, FindAGrave etc.) about him?
They are just mad a good old southern boy was the last veteran
Tripp Larkey iiiiiiiiignorant
It's possible he witnessed the war first hand, but extremely unlikely that he died at the age of 117. The Gerontology Research Group(the global authority on supercentenarians=people age 110+) has been verifying the few hundred people that reach the pinnacle of age for decades now. Only ONE man has been proven to have reached the age of 116, and only four women have been proven to have reached 117+. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." -Carl Sagan
Tripp Larkey: Your right as history tends to be slanted towards whoever wins...Though I believe that in the civil war, nobody won.
fuck the south your part of the country is pure shit...actually no i would send arizona along with you guys cause...you know...arizona
ummmm nah...nah we won....yeah the south sucks
I'm a descendant of Hood, he was not necessarily reckless, but simply brave and in charge of the shock troops.
CartezIsHere yes??
Which hood?,Compton?
LT. General Hood was one of the few C.S.A. Generals who could have won the war, Longstreet was another
Yes, it was a shock when he threw his army away at Franklin, Tennessee.
Albert Woolson was the last civil war veteran to pass away. He fought for the Union Army and he was 106 years old when he died. Wow! May God forever keep him.
Hes burried in Duluth MN
@@chriswishart461
I know... at Park Hill Cemetery.
Not the Texas sun then there at all
0:21 Why is Chuck Norris fighting himself?
samiamtheman 73 The real question is if Chuck Norris locks eyes with himself in the mirror who looks away first?
@@kingambrosius9125 i think that mirror would break
I think that would create a black hole that would swallow the universe
He fought in the revolutionary war, the civil war, the Spanish and Philippine wars, WWI, WWII, Korea, vietnam, afghanistan, Iraq and Afghanistan again. That's Chuck Norris for you.
He's not fighting himself. He ran around the Earth and is catching up with himself.
"Seemingly too young to have fought in the Civil War..." There were drummer boys, buglers, and other musicians as young as 8 in both armies. One such child "too young to fight", nicknamed "Johnny Shiloh", spent his ENTIRE life in the army and retired as a general. Too young...please...
The man with the guitar at 2:10 is the late great Johnny Horton.The song he's singing is most likely "Johnny Reb" which he recorded in 1959.Horton died less than a year after Williams in a car accident on Nov,4 of 1960 at the age of 35.
Is your name the same as you Daddy's and his Daddy before?
Dustin Rabourn You have won the Internet sir!!
dustin do you know who your daddy is?
Dustin Rabourn Hehe, see whatcha did
Well a confederate was the last man that means the South Won so yeah
Snider AdvancedGameplays You need to crack open a history book..
That is not really how wars work. Unless you're joking, if so then Lel.
XD whats sad is 46 people agree with him
pretty sure it's a joke
Noisy Empire you're sad
It seems that a person born in 1850 dying in 1950 would have witnessed the greatest amount of advancement in almost all areas of life like technology, medicine, transportation, and so much more. I realize people adjust to life's improvements and inventions over the course of time but to travel by horse to the ability to ride on an airplane at 500 mph is rediculous!
Advancement in technology does not equal social advancement.
Wouldnt wonder me if that guy had just talked trash. The last surviving men of a war normaly are the child-soldiers or the very young adults. Not the officers or the petty-officers.
Lynyrd Skynyrd - The last rebel
Right on!
gaaaaaaay!
Yea I bet he sure was happy
Oldest living relative of mine was my 5x great grandfather he was born in 1741 and died in 1845 he was a veteran of the French and Indian war and revolutionary war he was 103 when he died
If he died in 1845 how is he your oldest living relative?
@@basicbodybuilding i guess he means the relative who lived the longest. He could've definitely worded it better.
Is that’s true your Ancestor will had been the last surviving veteran of the French and Indian War
What was their name? Not saying it's fake just saying that the last veteran is shown as dying in 1843 and if you share the name we might know the new last veteran of the war.
@@kets4443 Jeremiah Roden 1754-1851
imagine being alive during 1861 then being alive to see nuclear weapons.
He is buried about 14 miles from where I live, never knew that. I've been down that road before as well, that's pretty cool.
when I was a little boy circa1958 our teacher told our 1st grade class to go see the last surviving civil war vet who was going to be in our towns memorial day parade the next day. about a year later I remember hearing that the old vet had died.I have gone through life feeling a connection to the civil war era. may god bless all their noble souls
You literally knew a Civil War veteran, how cool is that, are you still alive?
@@kets4443 He was probably born in the 40s. I know a few people who were born during that time period
i give out a big rebel yell for this southern soldiers life (R.I.P.)
My great grandfather was William Henry Chapman, confederate war hero. He shot quite a few men point blank in the face. He was one of Mosby’s Partisan Rangers. My grandfather lived in his shadow.
"And havent tried to avoid any of this good Texas weather"
Man, times were different back then
Albert Woolsen (February 11, 1850- August 2, 1956) was the last surviving civil war veteran who's status is undisputed on both sides, but he never saw combat. The last surviving civil war get who saw combat was James Hard (July 15, 1843- March 12, 1953) Three other claims of civil war vets who have lived longer have been debunked
It ended at Appomattox Court House. It's the name of a town, not an actual court house.
That's a common misconception. Yes, The army of northern Virginia surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse, but there were still other Confederate armies still operating. Although it signaled the beginning of the end of the war, it didn't end right then and there.
It's purely speculation on my part here, but that war has always been frought with controversy. Perhaps some folks simply didn't like the celebration of a man who was connected to the Confederacy, whether his story be true or not, especially if it distracted from someone who served the Union. Just a thought.
MAC VENA exactly....records back then we're iffy at best...record keeping back then was not accurate
MAC VENA The so called researcher I bet, is a Hillary supporter,. A Libtard loser.
comm744 So, you think Clinton was an active politician in 1959 at the age of 12? I think we know who the 'tard loser is here.
Troubled Sole what's that Loser, oh, you got out of your mom's basement again. Better get back, it's a big.dangerous world.
comm744 Good one - never heard that one before. You have contributed nothing meaningful to this post so I guess we all lose.
I remember my grandpa saying he saw civil war veterans in the towns parade. What an era to live in.
When my dad was a boy there are still a lot of Civil War veterans around I used to talk to him about it all the time. My great-grandmother was 10 years old when the Battle of Little Bighorn was fought
0:44 "Congress recognized his passing on the floor."
that is a really odd sounding way to say that. like he was on the floor in Congress and passed there?!?
funny
That's why they called him Bill.
"Congress recognized his pissing on the floor."
There, fixed it ;-).
I remember when this guy (Walter Williams) died in 1959, the paper (Tampa Tribune, I believe it was) said that he had been part of a foraging party, but reported his age in 1864 or 1865 to have been 13, maybe 14 at the end of the war. The details were hazy, to put it mildly.
Looking back at this I suddenly remembered that I thought his death was in the early 1960's, but my memory may be playing tricks on me.
"Too young to serve in the military"
Both sides deployed child soldiers as a last resort.
I saw a tv program called "You Asked For It" in the 1950's. They had the last two surviving civil war veterans, a Northern soldier and a Southern soldier. The show had a live phone hookup between the two soldiers, airing their conversation that night.
Almost didn't recognize him without the beard...his voice though, is unmistakable.
I love to study History, it's my favorite subject in school
I know that there is still someone collecting benefits from civil war service.
Roddy Lawrence that would probably be me.
One of my ancestors was a veteran of the American Revolution and in his later years he applied for a veteran's pension and got it. He died a couple of years later but his wife, my ancestor also, continued to collect his pension right up to her death. After she died her daughter, also my ancestor pretended to be her father's widow and continued to collect until she died. Her daughter, also my ancestor got a letter a few years later asking her to come to the office with paperwork proving she was 137 years old.
Roddy Lawrence No. The last beneficiary died.
Haha. That's likely. Civil War vets are probably still voting too. lol
Did the dog (my ancestor), get his share of the benifits too?
My grandfather's mother's father was the last living Civil War veteran in Indiana, his surname was Glass. Grandpa Glass also had the honor of playing cornet in the Union Army band at the Lincoln-Douglas debate.
He could have been a drummer boy.
Randomly recommended to me and I'm shocked to see Simon without a beard and glasses. It looks beyond wrong
The last surviving Civil War veteran was alive when some of the last Revolutionary War veterans were alive. That's insane.
Yeah pretty weird like how i was alive when rosa parks died in 2005
@@rhinaffrika5825 And how my generation and many from Gen Z lived to see the last of the WWI vets pass away in the 2010s.
My family is from Vicksburg Mississippi. I found a newspaper article on a great great aunt. She was the last surviving witness to the siege of Vicksburg. How cool it was to find and read that paper!!!!
My Grandpa that is my great grandpa was the oldest survivor of civil war in Louisiana. He is buried in Shreveport in a Veterans Cemetery there. He was featured on back cover of Life Magazine in 50's i think the same year he passed. Good news is my mother his daughter said he was Christian before the war and a better more dedicated one after it and very well mannered. He passed in june 1953 William Daniel Townsend AKA Daniel Eli. I welcome to see a video or live shots of him in a doc. I have much info and pics on him. He was also in book on Shreveport LA historic. He played fiddle and these men raised much money that built the Veterans Hosp jn Shreveport and park near homer, La. I live in Cotton Valley. La I am the youngest yet surviving heir of him.
Beardless Simon. What a flashbang
When I worked for the VA, in Dallas, Tx., during 1971, they made a great deal about a veteran who showed up there for admission to the VA and was supposedly a veteran of the Spanish American War. They had the local papers do an article on him and gave him a royal treatment for a few weeks. Then it came to light that he had fought for the other side in that war and was not an American veteran at all. It was funny to see how quickly and silently they discharged him after they had his true past revealed about him. I was an orderly back then, but went on to do my Navy enlisted tour and returned to that VA as an RN when I graduated from Dallas Baptist College and later served as an officer in both the USAF and the USN Nurse Corps. The big wigs at the VA had used this man, but the joke was on them. I don't know if General Williams was a fraud or not, but it reminds me of this other fellow and I always laugh when thinking of that situation. When I was a very young man I remember attending the 4th of July parade and seeing actual Civil War Vets being driven in the parade. Most had been drummer boys and very young when they served. This was before 1959 and I was maybe 6-8 years old or so at the time. As a nurse, I have seen folk from these wars and sadly, the guys who were vets as my father, Korea vets, Viet Nam vets and so forth. Me, I never call myself a Viet Nam vet as I did not serve in Viet Nam. I am a Viet Nam era vet though and there is a very big difference. I don't care for stolen valor or anyone who does such, myself. It is sort of sad, but so many of those vets are long gone now and just memories in my mind. More power to him if he was not faking anything about his service and age.
The records being badly kept during the last years of the war makes perfect sense.
“Good Texas weather” lol
Oh my god beardless Simon is scary
Fought in the civil war, witnessed both world wars and lived quite some time
I grew up in Minnesota and I remember clearly when Albert Henry Woolson died in Duluth in 1956. I was 16 years old at the time and had studied some Minnesota 1st veterans who marched with Sherman through Georgia. There were several from the Glenwood area where I grew up but they were long gone by 1950. For a number of years the Pope County Courthouse had a room in the basement full of Civil War rifles. I remember seeing them only once or twice. After I left home the wizards of smart had them all removed. I never learned what happened to them.
When you think about it’s insane how we went from telegraphs to phones capable of getting any information you want all in the span of 1 human lifetime
Very true. However, smartphones weren't around 60 years ago.
@@finchborat I never said there were lol
John Bell Hood was a General at Gettysburg, but didn't have independent command. Additionally, he would lose a leg later in the war.
Bro he looks completely unrecognisable without his beard.
When I was a boy every home had magazines and newspapers--how else would you know anything? They were eventually supplanted by TV, then the internet. But way back then there was the written word and it came into our household every week via Life, The Saturday Evening Post, Boy's Life, and others. From time to time there was an article about the passing of one of the last veterans of the Civil War and pictures of a group of very old men, wrinkled and bent with age, standing around a grave, a flag, a casket. I was much too young to appreciate the immensity of the occasion, these men's lives overlapped Lincoln's! Some of them had seen Grant or Lee himself. Now I be am the one bent by the years and much more appreciative am I now!
Another great video by Simon Whistler! Keep them coming.
I do know that records are very spotty even in the 50's/ My grandpa a korean war vet was told that he was not a vet of the korean war, the man had pictures, letters, and korean war memorabilia, even showing documentation of his service he was told that there was no record of him ever serving in the army, and was refused all rights and privileges that a vet gets.
Why I wish the South won. Government is incompetent. But, then, if government is incompetent, would the south's have been? Yes, because gov is incompetent.
Lost military service information was a common problem in 1800's and early 1900's. Kids did serve in the military up to including World War I.
are you kidding? military records are still a problem, i had to hire a third party just to get my dd 214 in the 2000's
Like this video - thanks for sharing!
I have really started to enjoy all of your channels I came across this gem and was like wow weres his beard and glasses. Lol you look so young in the one but it was 5 years ago.
Great expose on Walter Williams, many don't remember the controversy. Williams, I believe, started the fiction to get a pension from the state during the depression (there were alot others like Williams, but Williams outlived most of those). So when someone came knocking on his door in the 1940s, he embraced the fiction or maybe believed it himself by then.
Incorrect to say Hood was "not yet a general" when wounded at Gettysburg. He was a major general commanding a division in Lee's army. It should say "not yet an army commander." He replaced Joe Johnston as commander of the Army of Tennessee after Atlanta was lost to Sherman, so the aggressive Hood decided to counterattack and invade Tennessee. At Franklin, he rushed his forces against fortified Union positions and nearly destroyed them in 5 hours. He did the same thing later at Nashville, which did destroy them. But he did not "lose the war." The war was already lost in Nov. 1864, but Hood's adventure allowed Sherman unfettered access to the Coast, hastening war's end.
Great video can you do one about last ww1 veteran
there are multiple ww1 veterans still alive
Kevin Gonzalez The last WWI veteran died back in February 2012.
My dad was born in 1901. Died in early 70's. In one short lifetime he lived through a lot of changes
All my descendants who fought in the civil war were on the south side my mom is the first person in our family to move from the south to Michigan where I live my family has been a military service since the revolution and I hope to join the army when I am old enough god bless America god bless our soldiers
very interesting..always have been fascinated by the cival war!
*civil
His point still stands.
+Scollector thanks
It’s hard to believe that knowing this, there would’ve been veterans of the war of 1812 around the time the civil war began
There were vets from the civil war alive during ww1 and ww2
There were Revolutionary War veterans, William Richardson was born in 1765, served throughout the last 2 years of the war and died in 1873.
My grandfather told me stories that he had heard from his grandfather who served 1863-1865 in the Union Army.
Thank you, very interesting
My brother served during the civil war. He died in iraq during the first gulf war though. God bless him
what so how old are you
TheBenjammin5150 Nice lie sir.
TheBenjammin5150 Logically what you just said is not possible by any means.
TheBenjammin5150 Your brother is damn good man, I salute him. Where did he get the Cabit blood from?
I can't stop laughing!
What!!!😅
A few mistakes in this video worth mentioning;
Though Robert E Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia in April, it would not be until May that all Confederate forces had surrendered (the Rebellion was not declared "over" for another year).
At Gettysburg, John Bell Hood was a Major-General, commanding a division in the I Corps; there were four ranks of General in the Confederate armies (brigadier, major, lieutenant, and General). Divisions tended to be commanded by brigadier or major-generals.
The last regular unit to surrender was General Stand Waities Cherokee Creek Brigade in Doaksville Oklahoma Indian Territory June 23 1865. Quantrills men were surrendering in groups well into August 1865. General Jo Shelby took a adhoc Brigade into Mexico in June/July of 1865 marched to Mexico City and was turned down by Maximilian. General Mosby Monroe Parson took his staff into Mexico trying to catch up with Shelby in July of 1865, was captured by Juaristas and executed . Some of Shelby's officers joined the French Foreign Legion and were wiped out during the Franco Prussian War. Some ex Confederate officers changed their names and enlisted in the 7th Cavalry( ex reb officers could not enlist in the US Armed Forces after the war) the privates could. So Captain Thomas Tibbs changed his name to Walther Kennedy rose from private to Sergeant Major and was killed at the Battle of the Washita in 1868 mutilated stripped and buried in a mas graves of 18 unknown soldiers.
+Joe Kelly Don't forget the CSS Shenandoah ;). Otherwise yes, all great examples :). The war didn't end in April, thought the ending was inevitable after April 9
Mr Mercanto there was a skirmish after Palmetto Hill In Texas which many consider the last skirmish it occurred in Florida 2 weeks after Palmetto Hill. I need to go back to my notes before posting. I didn't list the Shenandoah as the yankee whalers were unarmed and the Shenandoah fired a blank charge, but the Shenandoah flag coming down in Nov 1865 was indeed the last surrender of a ship. I have a 32 pound round shot from the CSS Missouri The last Confederate war ship to surrender in the United States in June 1865. I also failed to mention the CSS Stonewall Jackson another ship surrendered in late summer. President Johnston has the official end of the Civil War as August 20 1866 and membership in the Grand Army of the Republic goes from 1861 to 1866 as thats when hostilities in Texas were finally considered over. Walt Williams is Stolen Valor and that needs to be corrected along with his grave stone as its a insult to the Confederate Soldier.
Hood was promoted to General in 1862. He was most definitely a General at Gettysburg.
Soon to be World War Two vets like this. It’s crazy growing up and hearing the tales like they only happened a little while before you were born but by the time you become a grown up these men fade into the past, sad truly.
I'm hoping we see some of the last WWII vets make it to Sept. 1, 2039, the 100th anniversary of the start of WWII.
Lol, I have a civil war test in APUSH tomorrow
U238
APUSH was the worst
You know how horror movie watchers stereotypically tell characters not to do whatever incredibly stupid thing they're about to do? That was me, every _day_ of that course.
I was born in 1943 and as a small kid I can sort of remember talking to some cavil war veterans in Texas ( Gleanross ) .Probably was just wow did you relay fight in the civil war or some thing like that . In the mid 40's there was still a lot left .
My grandfather was born in 1892. He spoke often of hearing men at the general store talk about the war. This had to be in the early 1900's.
Wow that was Simon before he had glasses and a beard
2:11 is that Johnny Horton?
It is.
Better known as "Johnny Reb" in some of his "colorful" songs about colored people.
interesting. thank you for posting.
Just imagine a couple years from now we'll be interviewing the last remaining Vietnam survivers
if he did serve as a supplies runner then he wouldn't necessarily have been actually fighting & as stated in the video he might not have been recorded as serving so.....
blackdeath4eternity ь
Supply people face combat since the enemy will target any resupply to front line troops. Hitler lost the russian war due to no gasoline. You have not been in the military obviously.
@@montiliusbeatty9831 how things are recorded has changed, back in the day many supplies could be supplied by un-official personal & hence not recorded as serving , no military service necessary to understand, just braincells.
@@blackdeath4eternity If you have not been in the military you would not know. Your brain cells will not give you that experience.
@@blackdeath4eternity I have been in the infantry and a supply and service company as a tanker truck driver. I guess you know more than I do by not having been in the military than me being in the military. I also was a federal employee as a supply specialist working on military bases. The enemy want to isolate the combat troops and deprive them of resupply. Called being under siege. Your brain cells did not include all the information and you might be arrogant telling a soldier about the military when you were never a soldier.
Incredible, Williams lived 117 years, he saw our nation go through a lot of history. I'm sure he is enjoying the eternal peace where war and calamity are unheard of.
My great-grandfather served in the civil war He was at Gettysburg with the 11 Mississippi. He attended both Gettysburg reunions and was at my mother and father's wedding in 1940. He pi**ed some decedents of yankees off when asked if he killed any yankees at Gettysburg. He replied, "I hope so. That's what I was there for!" He died at 106 in his beloved Arkansas. R.I.P.
They did sign them up that young. It's just sad :(
HE LOOKS WRONG WITHOUT A BEARD
Bruh you're looking like Johnny Sins
General Hood was a General at the Battle of Gettysburg and commanded an entire division in Longstreet's 1st Corp, Army of Northern Virginia
My grandmother died about 10 years ago and she was in her late 90’s with Alzheimer’s. But she went to the same middle school I did when it was new! She told stories about going to school on a pony because she was from a very well to do family. Most kids walked. To think of how everything changed in her life is almost mind blowing. Pony to iPhones. Damn.
Mrs. Zippy!
minnesota pride bitches we had the last civil war veteran and we are the most bad ass vikings of the USA
***** me smart ;3
Ensec
Good.
Ensec Albert Woolson. 1850-1956. Died in Duluth. Did a report on Minnesota and famous people alive and passed a few years back.
Ensec Fuck Vikings. They were a bunch of cowards that attacked and killed defenseless villages of peasants and ran away with their tails between their legs at the sight of a slightly organized military