Last Widow of a Civil War Veteran Dies

All I can say is, WOW! I remember when the last Civil War veteran died, but that was over 60 years ago. There were still a few Spanish War veterans alive then, too. Now, all the WWI veterans are gone, and we're losing WWII vets at an increasing rate.

From The American Catholic

By Donald R. McClarey

The enduring realization that when a great challenge comes, the most ordinary people can show that they value something more than they value their own lives. When the last of the veterans had gone, and the sorrows and bitterness which the war created had at last worn away, this memory remained.

Bruce Catton

 

 

Helen Jackson was 17 when she wed 93 old Union veteran James Bolin:

At the time, Jackson had been providing daily care for Bolin, a widower who served as a private in the 14th Missouri Cavalry through the Civil War.

Because the war veteran “did not believe in accepting charity,” he asked Jackson “for her hand in marriage as a way to provide for her future,” according to the statement.

“I never wanted to share my story with the public,” Jackson reportedly said during an oral history recording in 2018. “I didn’t feel that it was that important and I didn’t want a bunch of gossip about it.”

Go here to read the rest.  When James Bolin was serving in the Civil War there were a handful of veterans of the American Revolution still alive, North and South.  We are still in many ways a very young country.