J. D. Stevens
Sergeant
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2016
- Location
- Deep In The Heart of Texas
For those who enjoy a good genealogy or CW service record mystery, the sleuths among you might enjoy proving or disproving the last surviving veteran of the War Between the States. While doing some unrelated research on Find-A-Grave, I stumbled across the following FAG memorial #7590332 for Walter Washington Green Williams. The item which caught my attention was a picture of a Texas State historical marker. Never one to pass up a historical marker, I was surprised to read; “Reputed to have been the last surviving soldier of the Civil War ………….. was a forage master of the celebrated Hood’s Texas Brigade.” As a member of Hood’s Texas Brigade Association, this was excellent information especially since I had never heard about Walter Williams. I read the marker inscription two or three times and each time the first word on the historical marker jumped out at me. “Reputed” was more than I could let go, so I decided to dig a little deeper into the service of the oldest CW veteran. What was intended be a simple search would turn into a long list of confusing and contradictory documents, newspaper articles, and more questions.
Walter W. Williams applied for a Texas pension on August 11, 1932 and it was approved on August 20. The following line items are from the application page.
Line 1: What is your age: ___ 86 years of age __
Line 10: Date of enlistment and discharge: ___ “enlisted about 11 months before war closed and remained in service until Gen Lee surrendered” ___
Line 11: Letter of your company and number of regiment: ___”Company C, 5th Rgt, Hood’s Brigade” ___
Line 12: If transferred, provide details: ___”I was transferred to Gen Quantrill’s command about May or June 1865” ___
Line 13: What branch of service did you enlist ___”Cavalry” ___
Walter’s pension #50890 consists of 79 pages of mostly items added years after it was approved until a few years after he died in the 1959. On August 5, 1939, seven years after the pension was approved, the Robertson County Judge took a sworn deposition of Walter W. Williams, age 92. Walter swore he was born in Adawanda (Itawamba) County Mississippi on November 14, 1846. “I joined Company C of the 5th Texas Regiment of Hood’s Texas Brigade at Blue Mountain Tennessee about 11 months before the war closed. I served about 5 months and then was transferred to General Quantrill’s command and served in Company O of said command as well as I can now remember until the close of the war.
Having read hundreds of pensions, I know the old veterans did not always remember exact dates, exact length of service, and sometimes their unit numbers forty or fifty years later. Keeping this in mind, those who know a little about CW timelines and unit histories will question some of the statements made by Walter.
According to the FAG memorial, Walter’s parents were George W. Williams (1795–1890) and Nancy Marcus Williams (1816–1910). They are listed in the 1850 Federal Census, but there is no Walter living with his parents. He is enumerated on the 1860, 1870, and 1880 Census in his parent’s household and his age is listed as 5, 15, and 24 years respectively. Walter is found in the Federal Census enumerated every 10 years between 1860 and 1940 except 1890. All eight of these census records list Walter, Walter “G.”, or W. “G.” Williams. He is never listed with a middle initial “W.” Walter’s age in each census remained consistent with being born about 1855 until 1920 when his age jumped seven years and shows he was born in 1848. The age listed in the 1930 and 1940 censes indicate Walter was born about 1850 and 1848 respectively.
The oldest Union veteran was Albert Woolson of Duluth, Mn. who died in 1956 at the age of 109. The second oldest Confederate veteran was John B. Salling of Slant, Va. who died on March 16, 1959 at the age of 112.
In May 1956, Walter had been the crowd favorite as he took part in the Armed Forces Day parade in Houston. He rode in an open car wearing his brand new Confederate uniform given him by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. In 1956, President Eisenhower made Walter an Honorary General. In 1957, Walter was awarded a 3-inch medal authorized by the 84th Congress. Walter Williams died on December 19, 1959 at the age of 117 (?) at his daughter’s home in Houston. The nation’s flags were ordered flown at half-mast by executive order in honor of the Civil War’s last survivor. The president said, “No longer are they the blue and the gray. All rest together as Americans in honored glory." Walter’s body lay in state in a special designed casket of solid copper tinged in gray and a velvet lining in the rotunda of the Civil Courts Building in Houston for two days. Once an hour, a smartly dressed changing of the guard was executed. A team of 6 officers and 132 specially picked men from the 4th Army made up the honor guard. Hundreds filed by his casket to pay their last respects. A military procession that included a 25 member SUV drum and bugle from Ohio took Walter’s body through downtown Houston streets to the South Main Baptist Church for his funeral. Immediately after the funeral, Walter was taken to the small town of Franklin, Texas where graveside military rites were performed. Tributes came from many public officials along with messages of sympathy from citizens of all walks of life. The governors of Texas, South Carolina, and a Texas US Senator attended in person. Representatives from the 11 Southern states were sent to attend the funeral.
Walter Williams had a number of detractors who claimed he never served during the war for various reasons. My initial thoughts leaned to a possibility of two men with a fairly common name of Walter Williams became intertwined. Searching online military and census records for Mississippi, Texas, and Tennessee found a considerable number of Williams with a first name Walter or the initials “W” or “W G” or “W W” or no initials.
I have an opinion about Walter Williams based on my research, but I would like to hear what the experts on this forum think. The information for this little essay was gathered from several online sources such as FAG, FOLD3, Ancestry, TV news scripts, and over a hundred digitized newspaper articles.
Walter Williams Texas State Historical Marker
Walter Williams in old age wearing a Confederate Uniform
Walter W. Williams applied for a Texas pension on August 11, 1932 and it was approved on August 20. The following line items are from the application page.
Line 1: What is your age: ___ 86 years of age __
Line 10: Date of enlistment and discharge: ___ “enlisted about 11 months before war closed and remained in service until Gen Lee surrendered” ___
Line 11: Letter of your company and number of regiment: ___”Company C, 5th Rgt, Hood’s Brigade” ___
Line 12: If transferred, provide details: ___”I was transferred to Gen Quantrill’s command about May or June 1865” ___
Line 13: What branch of service did you enlist ___”Cavalry” ___
Walter’s pension #50890 consists of 79 pages of mostly items added years after it was approved until a few years after he died in the 1959. On August 5, 1939, seven years after the pension was approved, the Robertson County Judge took a sworn deposition of Walter W. Williams, age 92. Walter swore he was born in Adawanda (Itawamba) County Mississippi on November 14, 1846. “I joined Company C of the 5th Texas Regiment of Hood’s Texas Brigade at Blue Mountain Tennessee about 11 months before the war closed. I served about 5 months and then was transferred to General Quantrill’s command and served in Company O of said command as well as I can now remember until the close of the war.
Having read hundreds of pensions, I know the old veterans did not always remember exact dates, exact length of service, and sometimes their unit numbers forty or fifty years later. Keeping this in mind, those who know a little about CW timelines and unit histories will question some of the statements made by Walter.
According to the FAG memorial, Walter’s parents were George W. Williams (1795–1890) and Nancy Marcus Williams (1816–1910). They are listed in the 1850 Federal Census, but there is no Walter living with his parents. He is enumerated on the 1860, 1870, and 1880 Census in his parent’s household and his age is listed as 5, 15, and 24 years respectively. Walter is found in the Federal Census enumerated every 10 years between 1860 and 1940 except 1890. All eight of these census records list Walter, Walter “G.”, or W. “G.” Williams. He is never listed with a middle initial “W.” Walter’s age in each census remained consistent with being born about 1855 until 1920 when his age jumped seven years and shows he was born in 1848. The age listed in the 1930 and 1940 censes indicate Walter was born about 1850 and 1848 respectively.
The oldest Union veteran was Albert Woolson of Duluth, Mn. who died in 1956 at the age of 109. The second oldest Confederate veteran was John B. Salling of Slant, Va. who died on March 16, 1959 at the age of 112.
In May 1956, Walter had been the crowd favorite as he took part in the Armed Forces Day parade in Houston. He rode in an open car wearing his brand new Confederate uniform given him by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. In 1956, President Eisenhower made Walter an Honorary General. In 1957, Walter was awarded a 3-inch medal authorized by the 84th Congress. Walter Williams died on December 19, 1959 at the age of 117 (?) at his daughter’s home in Houston. The nation’s flags were ordered flown at half-mast by executive order in honor of the Civil War’s last survivor. The president said, “No longer are they the blue and the gray. All rest together as Americans in honored glory." Walter’s body lay in state in a special designed casket of solid copper tinged in gray and a velvet lining in the rotunda of the Civil Courts Building in Houston for two days. Once an hour, a smartly dressed changing of the guard was executed. A team of 6 officers and 132 specially picked men from the 4th Army made up the honor guard. Hundreds filed by his casket to pay their last respects. A military procession that included a 25 member SUV drum and bugle from Ohio took Walter’s body through downtown Houston streets to the South Main Baptist Church for his funeral. Immediately after the funeral, Walter was taken to the small town of Franklin, Texas where graveside military rites were performed. Tributes came from many public officials along with messages of sympathy from citizens of all walks of life. The governors of Texas, South Carolina, and a Texas US Senator attended in person. Representatives from the 11 Southern states were sent to attend the funeral.
Walter Williams had a number of detractors who claimed he never served during the war for various reasons. My initial thoughts leaned to a possibility of two men with a fairly common name of Walter Williams became intertwined. Searching online military and census records for Mississippi, Texas, and Tennessee found a considerable number of Williams with a first name Walter or the initials “W” or “W G” or “W W” or no initials.
I have an opinion about Walter Williams based on my research, but I would like to hear what the experts on this forum think. The information for this little essay was gathered from several online sources such as FAG, FOLD3, Ancestry, TV news scripts, and over a hundred digitized newspaper articles.
Walter Williams Texas State Historical Marker
Walter Williams in old age wearing a Confederate Uniform