Last surviving Confederate veterans

In Lee's Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox,^[1] historian William Marvel identified Private Pleasant Riggs Crump, of Talladega County, Alabama, who died December 31, 1951, as the last confirmed surviving veteran of the Confederate States Army.^[2] Citing English professor and biographical researcher Dr. Jay S. Hoar,^[3] Marvel states that after Crump's death a dozen other men claimed to have been Confederate soldiers, but military, pension, and especially census records prove they were impostors.^[4] Marvel further wrote that the names of two other supposed Confederate survivors alive in April 1950, according to Hoar, are not on the Appomattox parole lists and one, perhaps both, of their Confederate service claims were faked.^[4][5] An extensively researched book^[6] by Frank L. Gryzb, The Last Civil War Veterans: The Lives of the Final Survivors State by State, published March 29, 2016, supports the conclusion by Hoar, Marvel, Serrano and others that Pleasant Crump was the last confirmed and verified surviving veteran of the Confederate States Army.^[7][8]

Following the entry in the table below for Pleasant Crump is a list of the discredited or unproven Confederate veteran claimants who died after Crump's death.^[9]

Table of last survivors

William "Uncle Bill" Lundy

Name	Claimed birth date	Believed birth date	Death date
Pleasant Crump	23 December 1847		31 December 1951
Felix M. Witkoski[10][11][12]	5 January 1850	October 1854	3 February 1952
Thomas Edwin Ross	19 July 1850		27 March 1952
Richard William Cumpston	23 May 1841		5 September 1952
William Loudermilk	23 October 1848	April 1851[13]	18 September 1952
William Jordan Bush	10 July 1845	July 1846	11 November 1952
Arnold Murray	10 June 1846	1854/1855	26 November 1952
William Townsend	12 April 1846		22 February 1953
William Albert Kinney	10 February 1843	10 February 1861	23 June 1953
Thomas Riddle	16 April 1846	1862[14]	2 April 1954
William Lundy	18 January 1848	May 1860	1 September 1957
John B. Salling	15 May 1846	15 May 1856[15]	16 March 1959
Walter Williams	14 November 1842	14 November 1854	19 December 1959

On December 19, 1959,^[16] Walter Washington Williams (sometimes referred to as Walter G. Williams^[17]), reputed near the time of his death to be the last surviving veteran of the Confederate States Army, died in Houston, Texas. Williams's status as the last Confederate veteran already had been debunked by a September 3, 1959 story in the New York Times by Lloyd K. Bridwell.^[18][19] In his 1991 article in Blue and Gray magazine entitled The Great Imposters, William Marvel gave further details, including census records from before his 1932 Confederate pension application, showing Williams's birth as having occurred between October 1854 and April 1855 in Itawamba County, Mississippi. Those records showed he was too young to have served in the Confederate Army. Also, he did not identify himself as a Confederate veteran in the 1910 census which included a question about whether a person had that status.^[20][21] Nonetheless, since all the other claimants were dead, Williams was celebrated as the last Confederate veteran after his death on December 19, 1959.^[22]

When Williams's status was disproved, attention turned to the alleged second longest surviving Confederate veteran, John B. Salling of Slant in Scott County, Virginia. Marvel also showed that Salling had been too young to have served in the Confederate Army. In a post on the Library of Virginia blog on October 6, 2010, Craig Moore, Virginia State Records Appraisal Archivist, wrote that when Salling applied for a pension in 1933, Pension Clerk John H. Johnson could not find a war record for Salling at the Library of Virginia, which held the records of the Department of Confederate Military Records.^[23] Salling received a pension after providing a notarized statement attesting to his service.^[23] Moore wrote that Marvel had found census records which put Salling's birth date in 1858.^[23] After stating Marvel's finding, Moore concluded that although existing Confederate pension records do not confirm or deny Salling's claim, the Commonwealth of Virginia accepted his claimed status.^[23]

In the Blue & Gray article, Marvel wrote, "Every one of the last dozen recognized Confederates was bogus. Thomas Riddle was only five when the Confederacy collapsed, and Arnold Murray only nine. William Loudermilk, who insisted he fought through the Atlanta Campaign at 16, did not turn 14 until after Appomattox. William Bush and a reputed Confederate nurse named Sarah Rockwell were not 20 years old in the summer of 1865, but 15."^[24]

The motive for fabrications of Confederate Army service almost always was to support a claim for a veteran's pension during the hard times of the Great Depression.^[23][25]

In his 1991 article in Blue & Gray magazine, Marvel confirmed Albert Woolson's (February 11, 1850 – August 2, 1956) claim to be the last surviving Union Army veteran and asserted that Woolson was the last genuine surviving American Civil War veteran from either side.^[20] On October 10, 1864, Albert enlisted in Company C, 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery Regiment, becoming the company's drummer. However, the company never saw action, and Albert Woolson was discharged on September 7, 1865. Union Army veteran James Albert Hard (July 15, 1843 – March 12, 1953) was the last verified surviving American Civil War veteran who was in combat.

Notes

1. Marvel, William. Lee's Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-8078-5703-8. p. 198.
2. In a 2000 work, A Place Called Appomattox, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2000, p. 264, ISBN 978-0-8078-2568-6, Marvel supports Crump's service with a citation to Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama, M-311, RG 109.
3. Hoar, Jay S. The South's Last Boys in Gray. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1986. ISBN 978-0-87972-358-3. pp. 463–516.
4. Marvel, 2002, p. 280, citing Marvel, William (1991). The Great Impostors. Blue and Gray Magazine, Vol VIII, Issue 3. pp. 32–33.
5. Marvel's conclusions were supported by a later book: Serrano, Richard A. Last of the Blue and Gray: Old Men, Stolen Glory, and the Mystery that Outlived the Civil War. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2013. ISBN 978-1-58834-395-6. 'The Civil War Monitor'. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
6. In addition to the research he performed, Mr. Gryzb specifically thanks 47 people for their contributions to his research and writing, the National Park Service for republication of regimental histories, 3 persons who provided editorial comments and 7 descendants of Civil War veterans. He especially thanks Dr. Jay S. Hoar, Professor emeritus, University of Maine, Farmington, who published the main modern work on this subject in 1986, cited in the references, and who gave Mr. Gryzb guidance. Dr. Hoar and others showed that an earlier 1951 work contained suspect and erroneous material, p. 10. Mr. Gryzb does not include later authors such as Mr. Marvel and Mr. Serrano in the acknowledgements but discusses their work in the Introduction, pp. 7-8, cites them in the book and agrees with their key conclusions.
7. Gryzb, Frank, The Last Civil War Veterans: The Lives of the Final Survivors State by State. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2016. ISBN 978-1-4766-6522-1. pp. 133-135.
8. "That person (Crump), who will be revealed later, eventually became accepted as the last surviving Confederate veteran by an overwhelming number of Civil War historians." Gryzb, 2016, p. 7.
9. Marvel's statements are unambiguous. Yet, according to advocates for claimants who lived longer than Crump, some of the claims of these claimants may not be confirmed due to lack of conclusive evidence rather than due to debunking. In 'Last Surviving Veterans', Genealogy Trails, a volunteer-run web site, retrieved October 14, 2014, the author (Kim Torp is the name at the bottom of the page; also shown as the person who maintains the main page) states that "Marvel did not present his research on several other Confederate claims from the 1950s, some of which appear to be genuine." However, the page cites an earlier version of this article, which contained original research and speculation, as one of its sources. Gryzb, 2016, pp. 7, 133-135, supports Marvel's conclusion.
10. Sons of Confederate Veterans (1989). "Confederate Veteran". Columbia, TN: Sons of Confederate Veterans (Organization); Military Order of the Stars and Bars. Retrieved December 8, 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
11. United Daughters of the Confederacy (1952). "The United Daughters of the Confederacy Magazine". 15–17. Confederate States of America: 67. Retrieved December 8, 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
12. "The Last Veterans Biographies and Obituaries". Genealogy Trails. Retrieved December 8, 2015.
13. 1900 US Census gives age as 49
14. 1910 Census gives age as 48
15. Marvel, William (1991). The great imposters. Vol. VIII. Columbus: Blue and Gray. pp. 32–33.
16. Carroll, H. Bailey. Texas Collection, in Texas State Historical Association, 'The Southwestern Historical Quarterly' Vol. 63, No. 4, Apr., 1960, p. 602. Retrieved September 29, 2014.  – via JSTOR (subscription required)
17. August 31, 2014 Kevin Randle Blog: A Different Perspective FAKERS! September 08, 2007. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
18. Texan's Civil War Role in Doubt As Records Indicate Age Is 104, New York Times, September 3, 1959
19. Associated Press. 'Civil War Veteran's Claim Disputed', published in Spokane Daily Chronicle, September 2, 1959. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
20. Marvel, William (1991). The Great Impostors. Blue and Gray, Vol VIII, Issue 3. pp. 32–33.
21. If Williams had lived to be 117 years old as claimed, he would have been older than the oldest man confirmed ever to have lived, Jiroemon Kimura.
22. Associated Press. 'Reputed Last Civil War Veteran Dies in Texas After Long Illness: Walter Williams Put His Age at 117 – Tributes Note the End of an Era' Archived 2011-09-30 at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times. December 20, 1959. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
23. Moore, Craig, Virginia State Records Appraisal Archivist. Virginia Memory, Library of Virginia, The UncommonWealth ""General" John Salling: Virginia’s Last Confederate Veteran?" October 6, 2010. Retrieved December 02, 2020.
24. Quoted by Kevin Randle in FAKERS! "A Different Perspective", September 8, 2007. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
25. Randle quoting Marvel, "The Great Imposters".

References

• Associated Press. 'Civil War Veteran's Claim Disputed', published in Spokane Daily Chronicle, September 2, 1959. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
• Associated Press. 'Reputed Last Civil War Veteran Dies in Texas After Long Illness: Walter Williams Put His Age at 117 – Tributes Note the End of an Era'. The New York Times. December 20, 1959. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
• Bridwell, Lloyd K. Texan's Civil War Role in Doubt As Records Indicate Age Is 104, New York Times, September 3, 1959.
• Carroll, H. Bailey. Texas Collection, in Texas State Historical Association, 'The Southwestern Historical Quarterly' Vol. 63, No. 4, Apr., 1960, p. 602. Retrieved September 29, 2014.  – via JSTOR (subscription required)
• 'The Civil War Monitor'. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
• Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama, M-311, RG 109.
• Gryzb, Frank, The Last Civil War Veterans: The Lives of the Final Survivors State by State. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2016. ISBN 978-1-4766-6522-1.
• Hoar, Jay S. The South's Last Boys in Gray. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1986. ISBN 978-0-87972-358-3. pp. 463–516.
• Marvel, William (1991). The Great Impostors. Blue and Gray Magazine, Vol VIII, Issue 3. pp. 32–33.
• Marvel, William. Lee's Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox Archived 2018-02-05 at the Wayback Machine. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-8078-5703-8. p. 198.
• Marvel, William. A Place Called Appomattox, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2000, page 264, ISBN 978-0-8078-2568-6.
• Moore, Craig, Virginia State Records Appraisal Archivist. Virginia Memory, Library of Virginia, The UncommonWealth ""General" John Salling: Virginia’s Last Confederate Veteran?" October 6, 2010. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
• Randle, Kevin. FAKERS! "A Different Perspective", A Commentary on UFOs Paranormal Events and Related Topics.September 8, 2007. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
• Serrano, Richard A. Last of the Blue and Gray: Old Men, Stolen Glory, and the Mystery that Outlived the Civil War. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2013. ISBN 978-1-58834-395-6.