# When was the Last Civil War Veteran's Convention Held? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 7, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-civil-war-veterans-convention-held/516729 "2009-11-07T19:05:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-civil-war-veterans-convention-held/516729/21 "2009-11-09T16:09:27Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > …Probably the closest thing to a last “major” Confederate Reunion was the world premiere of GONE WITH THE WIND in Atlanta in 1939… And in one of my favorite historic ironies, a 10-year-old Martin Luther King Jr. sang with the Ebenezer Baptist Church choir at the (segregated) premiere party. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-civil-war-veterans-convention-held/516729/22 "2009-11-09T16:36:14Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > For what it’s worth, when I was about 12 in 1938-39, living in a small upstate NYS town, there were three Civil War vets who showed for Decoration Day (now Veteran’s Day). They sure were old, but after riding a truck in the parade, they sat around talking to people in the park. A friend and I just stood there listening in awe to these guys. The one thing that blew my mind was that one mentioned that his grandfather had fought in the Revolutionary War. The implications of that still blow my mind. It is a young country. If only Quentin Tarentino had heard this story 20 years ago! “Back in 1862, as I went to answer the Union’s call to arms, my grandfather, who had fought in the Revolutionary War against the British, showed me a pocket watch – this watch – that he had bought in Boston on his way to Bunker Hill. For luck, he said. That watch I carried with me every day I fought those Johnny Rebs, then I put it in a tin until my son, your grandfather, went off to fight the Krauts in the Great War…” ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-civil-war-veterans-convention-held/516729/23 "2009-11-09T16:46:55Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > For what it’s worth, when I was about 12 in 1938-39, living in a small upstate NYS town, there were three Civil War vets who showed for Decoration Day (now Veteran’s Day). They sure were old, but after riding a truck in the parade, they sat around talking to people in the park. A friend and I just stood there listening in awe to these guys. The one thing that blew my mind was that one mentioned that his grandfather had fought in the Revolutionary War. The implications of that still blow my mind. It is a young country. You were 12 in 1938? You’re 82 years old, KlondikeGeoff? That’s awesome. We’ve done all sorts of various polls here, but are you the most senior member here on the Straight Dope? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-civil-war-veterans-convention-held/516729/24 "2009-11-09T19:02:00Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > During the early days of World War II, one of the ‘Rosie the Riveter’ women who went to work in factories to free up men for the Army was a 70-year-old widow who helped build B-17s. Her late husband had been Gen. Joseph Longstreet, CSA, whom she had married young when he was an old man. [nitpick]James Longstreet[/nitpick] She lived long after WW2 as well; she died in 1962 at age 99. A Confederate general’s wife (and though she was much younger she wasn’t a child bride- she was in her 30s and he was in his 70s when they married) actually lived to see JFK, which also shows what a young country it is. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-civil-war-veterans-convention-held/516729/25 "2009-11-09T19:26:59Z")
A bit off topic, but a few years ago I was surprised to learn that the GAR sponsored ‘Retirement colonies’ in Florida - and helped start the migration of retirees south. > **[Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall (St. Cloud, Florida)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Army_of_the_Republic_Memorial_Hall_(St._Cloud,_Florida))** > > The Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall is an historic building located at 1101 Massachusetts Avenue in St. Cloud, Florida, in the United States. The city of St. Cloud had been founded by the Grand Army of the Republic or GAR, as a retirement colony for its members. The hall was built in 1914 by members of the GAR as a memorial to the Union Army veterans of the Civil War. It was one of many such halls built in the country. On February 21, 1997, it was added to the U.S. National Register of... [http://www.fivay.org/zephyrhills.html](http://www.fivay.org/zephyrhills.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-civil-war-veterans-convention-held/516729/26 "2009-11-09T20:02:53Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > [This](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3765811.stm) says the last war widow died in 2004.He was 81, she was 21,married in 1927. Soon after Alberta Martin’s death was announced, the newspapers revealed that [Maudie Celia Hopkins](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/business/the-last-civil-war-widow-has-a-successor-it-would-seem.html) was still alive. When she was about 19, she had married 86-year-old William Cantrell in 1934. However, Maudie died [last year](http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=29145146) at the age of 93. So unless there’s an elderly woman somewhere out there keeping quiet about her place in history, it appears that there are indeed no surviving widows of Civil War veterans. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-civil-war-veterans-convention-held/516729/27 "2009-11-09T20:25:21Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > Soon after Alberta Martin’s death was announced, the newspapers revealed that [Maudie Celia Hopkins](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/business/the-last-civil-war-widow-has-a-successor-it-would-seem.html) was still alive. When she was about 19, she had married 86-year-old William Cantrell in 1934. However, Maudie died [last year](http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=29145146) at the age of 93. So unless there’s an elderly woman somewhere out there keeping quiet about her place in history, it appears that there are indeed no surviving widows of Civil War veterans. [Alan Gurganus joke] The question is, did either of them “tell all”? 😃 [/Alan Gurganus joke] ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-civil-war-veterans-convention-held/516729/28 "2009-11-09T20:42:13Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > Soon after Alberta Martin’s death was announced, the newspapers revealed that [Maudie Celia Hopkins](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/16/business/the-last-civil-war-widow-has-a-successor-it-would-seem.html) was still alive. When she was about 19, she had married 86-year-old William Cantrell in 1934. However, Maudie died [last year](http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=29145146) at the age of 93. So unless there’s an elderly woman somewhere out there keeping quiet about her place in history, it appears that there are indeed no surviving widows of Civil War veterans. Though the possibility certainly exists. Some whose whose pension was invalidated by the new legislation or by remarriage may never even have mentioned it to their children (by the next husband) since they were probably a bit embarassed by marrying a 90 year old when they were 18. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-civil-war-veterans-convention-held/516729/29 "2009-11-09T20:48:07Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > [Alan Gurganus joke] > The question is, did either of them “tell all”? 😃 > [/Alan Gurganus joke] That book was actually inspired by an article about the May-December pension marriages. Originally he planned to write it about a teenager-ancient pension union, but decided it would be a much better novel to make it a “real” marriage (i.e. consummated and kids and all). He also planned to call it “The _Last_ Surviving Confederate Widow Tells All” but changed that when widows started popping up all over the place; the death of the last one would be announced and followed by a “scratch that— we found one here and she says ‘I’m not dead yet’”. Also a case of a great idea for a novel not being fully carried out as it has too many plotholes and omissions. One of the biggest is her children: in the book Lucy has 9 children and has outlived them all, some of them dying of old age- though in fact they’d only be in their 70s or early 80s at the most- and she has no grandchildren, which while possible is unlikely with that many kids. Also the fact that her husband was _barely_ a CSA veteran, having joined when about 14 in the last year of the war; it would have been more interesting to make him a few years older, and also not the “we’ve seen it to death” plantation mansion/veranda class as it’s amazing how seldom the yeoman farmer class of the Civil War (the vast majority) appears in novels about the war. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-civil-war-veterans-convention-held/516729.md?page=1)