Newspaper article by Kay: 5/29/1946
Full size image is below.
An Associated Press article by Will's younger daughter in The Corbin (Kentucky) Times-Tribune. It's almost Memorial Day, and the Civil War veterans have just about died out.
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1946-05-29: tour stops---images---audio---~TRANSCRIPT~---notes---links---site navigation
Not Many Civil War Soldiers Still Survive
By KAY STOKEY
AP Special Washington Service
WASHINGTON, MAY 29 (AP) --- The ranks of the Blue and the Gray are nearly empty. A mere 155 of the soldiers who fought under the Union flag during the Civil War are alive to celebrate Memorial Day tomorrow.
Of their former Confederate enemy, probably only about 135 still survive.
Since that April day 81 years ago when General Lee surrendered at Appomattox they have watched a united America fight and win three major wars. They have seen the advance of the machine-gun, the submarine, the airplane, the jeep, and the atom bomb.
The Veterans Administration listed today by state the 155 survivors --- 85 less than a year ago --- of the more than 1,000,000 men who comprised the Grand Army of the Republic in 1865. Their average age is about 100 years.
The federal government keeps no record of Confederate veterans, but a year ago 206 survivors were recorded on Confederate pension rolls. Death probably has whittled the number down to about 135 by now.
Not Forgotten
The government has not forgotten the soldiers in blue. They are paid a monthly pension --- $75 for those suffering general disability and $100 for those so disabled that they require an attendant.
Under the fourteenth amendment no federal pension is paid to the men in gray who fought against the Union flag. But the southern states individually provide monthly allotments for their Confederate veterans.
Of the 155 GAR survivors listed by the Veterans Administration, one-fourth --- 38 --- live in states which once belonged to the Confederate States of America.
California and Missouri each have 13 living veterans, while Ohio ranks third with 12.
The administration declined to name its Civil War pensioners, but listed these survivors in other states:
Illinois 9, Indiana 7, Kentucky 8, Tennessee 2, and West Virginia 1.
By KAY STOKEY
AP Special Washington Service
WASHINGTON, MAY 29 (AP) --- The ranks of the Blue and the Gray are nearly empty. A mere 155 of the soldiers who fought under the Union flag during the Civil War are alive to celebrate Memorial Day tomorrow.
Of their former Confederate enemy, probably only about 135 still survive.
Since that April day 81 years ago when General Lee surrendered at Appomattox they have watched a united America fight and win three major wars. They have seen the advance of the machine-gun, the submarine, the airplane, the jeep, and the atom bomb.
The Veterans Administration listed today by state the 155 survivors --- 85 less than a year ago --- of the more than 1,000,000 men who comprised the Grand Army of the Republic in 1865. Their average age is about 100 years.
The federal government keeps no record of Confederate veterans, but a year ago 206 survivors were recorded on Confederate pension rolls. Death probably has whittled the number down to about 135 by now.
Not Forgotten
The government has not forgotten the soldiers in blue. They are paid a monthly pension --- $75 for those suffering general disability and $100 for those so disabled that they require an attendant.
Under the fourteenth amendment no federal pension is paid to the men in gray who fought against the Union flag. But the southern states individually provide monthly allotments for their Confederate veterans.
Of the 155 GAR survivors listed by the Veterans Administration, one-fourth --- 38 --- live in states which once belonged to the Confederate States of America.
California and Missouri each have 13 living veterans, while Ohio ranks third with 12.
The administration declined to name its Civil War pensioners, but listed these survivors in other states:
Illinois 9, Indiana 7, Kentucky 8, Tennessee 2, and West Virginia 1.
1946-05-29: tour stops---images---audio---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
1.
Since that April day 81 years ago when General Lee surrendered at Appomattox they have watched a united America fight and win three major wars.
The Civil War did not end with the surrender at Appomattox Court House, but never mind, it might as well have.
As for the three major wars, I assume that Kay meant the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II. I'm not sure that the Spanish-American War ranks as a major war, though its consequences were major.
2.
They have seen the advance of the machine-gun, the submarine, the airplane, the jeep, and the atom bomb.
Hey! There was a submarine in the Civil War! Here's the beginning of the Wikipedia article about the Hunley:
H. L. Hunley, also known as the Hunley, CSS H. L. Hunley, or CSS Hunley, was a submarine of the Confederate States of America that fought in the American Civil War. Hunley demonstrated the advantages and dangers of undersea warfare. She was the first combat submarine to sink a warship (USS Housatonic), although Hunley was not completely submerged, and following her attack was lost along with her crew before she could return to base.
Not that I would expect Kay to know about it.
Aside from that, I like Kay's mention of the Jeep.
3.
The government has not forgotten the soldiers in blue.
This was where my voice broke when I was doing the audio reading. It took me a couple of starts after that before I could get through the article. I remember when they started calling the generation who fought in World War II "The Greatest Generation", and I thought, "What about the Union soldiers in the Civil War?"
4.
They are paid a monthly pension --- $75 for those suffering general disability and $100 for those so disabled that they require an attendant.
$75 in 1946 is worth about $1,280 today.
Papa Charles's disability pension in 1899 was $8, which is $320 today - see: ...but he wasn't getting a full disability pension.
Since that April day 81 years ago when General Lee surrendered at Appomattox they have watched a united America fight and win three major wars.
The Civil War did not end with the surrender at Appomattox Court House, but never mind, it might as well have.
As for the three major wars, I assume that Kay meant the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II. I'm not sure that the Spanish-American War ranks as a major war, though its consequences were major.
2.
They have seen the advance of the machine-gun, the submarine, the airplane, the jeep, and the atom bomb.
Hey! There was a submarine in the Civil War! Here's the beginning of the Wikipedia article about the Hunley:
H. L. Hunley, also known as the Hunley, CSS H. L. Hunley, or CSS Hunley, was a submarine of the Confederate States of America that fought in the American Civil War. Hunley demonstrated the advantages and dangers of undersea warfare. She was the first combat submarine to sink a warship (USS Housatonic), although Hunley was not completely submerged, and following her attack was lost along with her crew before she could return to base.
Not that I would expect Kay to know about it.
Aside from that, I like Kay's mention of the Jeep.
3.
The government has not forgotten the soldiers in blue.
This was where my voice broke when I was doing the audio reading. It took me a couple of starts after that before I could get through the article. I remember when they started calling the generation who fought in World War II "The Greatest Generation", and I thought, "What about the Union soldiers in the Civil War?"
4.
They are paid a monthly pension --- $75 for those suffering general disability and $100 for those so disabled that they require an attendant.
$75 in 1946 is worth about $1,280 today.
Papa Charles's disability pension in 1899 was $8, which is $320 today - see: ...but he wasn't getting a full disability pension.
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