# The last surviving Civil War veterans **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 5, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-surviving-civil-war-veterans/159285 "2003-03-05T17:37:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-surviving-civil-war-veterans/159285/1 "2003-03-05T17:37:43Z")
There was a recent thread about last veterans from various wars, and I found this about the (American) Civil War: > **[Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos](https://www.yahoo.com/)** > > Latest news coverage, email, free stock quotes, live scores and video are just the beginning. Discover more every day at Yahoo! The questions: Woolson, the last surviving Union soldier allegedly died in 1956 at the age of 108 or 109. What was the “official” record for longevity in 1956? The last authenticated Confederate soldier died in 1951. However, I was unable to find any info on when he was born? Does anyone have that info? (Notice that in this last “battle” of the Civil War, the battle for longevity, the Union won once again.)😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-surviving-civil-war-veterans/159285/2 "2003-03-05T18:32:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mjollnir \* > \*\* (Notice that in this last “battle” of the Civil War, the battle for longevity, the Union won once again.)😉 \*\* Yeah, whatever. The real honor goes to the Confederacy because the last know Civil War widow is still alive and kicking in Alabama :eek: Learn all about Mrs. Alberta Martin here: [http://lastconfederatewidow.com/](http://lastconfederatewidow.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-surviving-civil-war-veterans/159285/3 "2003-03-06T04:39:59Z")
And the last known Union widow died just recently: [http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/thursday/news\_e3d55c94d6bfe0f51092.html](http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/thursday/news_e3d55c94d6bfe0f51092.html) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-surviving-civil-war-veterans/159285/4 "2003-03-06T04:45:27Z")
And the last known Union widow died just recently: [http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/thursday/news\_e3d55c94d6bfe0f51092.html](http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/thursday/news_e3d55c94d6bfe0f51092.html) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-last-surviving-civil-war-veterans/159285/5 "2003-03-06T04:55:25Z")
I don’t know why that came out as a double post. In any case, I just noticed that the 2003 edition of the Guinness book of records says that the last survivor of the Civil War was John B. Saling, a Confederate soldier, who died March 16, 1959, aged 112 years and 305 days. Yes, there were people living to that age. Incidentally, he was not only the oldest survivor of the Civil War. He was the longest-lived known soldier from any war whatsoever.