Yes, you read that right. THE CIVIL WAR. 1861-85.
Or, as the Brick reminds me, 'The Woah of the Southern Rebellion' or 'The Woah of Nawthawn Aggression.' (You can take the boy out of North Carolina -- but you can't take North Carolina out of the boy.)
Irene Triplett was born in 1930, to an 80-year-old father, Moses Triplett and his 29-year-old wife.
Moses actually fought on both sides -- he began as a Confederate soldier, but switched over to the Union side before the war ended. His part of the Civil War was 1864-65. His first wife died in the early 1920s.
"He never would talk about it," Irene said later.
As the mentally disabled daughter of a Civil War veteran, Irene received a pension since the 1950s: a lavish $73.13 monthly. It's gone to help pay for her stay in nursing homes for the past half-century.
She was 90.
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| Irene Triplett -- see the Daily Mail link above |
the last proven Civil War veteran, Albert Woolson, died in 1956. He was 109. (There may have been a few others, but his experience was undisputed -- he served as a drummer boy.)
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| Albert Woolson (Wikipedia) |
The last spouse of a Civil War veteran, Gertrude Janeway, died in 2003. She was 93, and had been dating John Janeway, when she was 16. (She met him at age 13.)
She married him at age 18. He was 81.
(In case you're wondering, her pension check was $70 monthly.)
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| Gertrude Janeway (Findagrave.com) |
It seems amazing that a war from two centuries ago just saw its last living connection cease.
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