Last surviving United States war veterans

The last surviving veteran of any particular war, upon his or her death, marks the end of a historic era. Exactly who is the last surviving veteran is often an issue of contention, especially with records from long-ago wars. The "last man standing" was often very young at the time of enlistment, and in many cases had lied about his age to gain entry into the service, which confuses matters further.

To complicate matters even further, there were sometimes incentives for men to lie about their ages after their military service ended. In addition, there were some impostors who claimed to have served but did not (such as Walter Williams, claimed to be 117 in 1959). For example, many Southern states gave pensions to Confederate veterans of the Civil War. Several men falsified their ages in order to qualify for these pensions, especially during the Depression; this makes the question of the identity of the last Confederate veteran especially problematic. The status of the officially recognized "last Confederate veteran" is in dispute.

Last Surviving American Veteran of American Revolutionary War (Candidates)

Lemuel Cook (1759-1866)
John Gray (1764-1868)
Daniel F. Bakeman (1759-1869)
George Fruits (1762? or 1779-1876)

According to data from the Daughters of the American Revolution, George Fruits died in 1876 at the age of 114. However, Fruits was never on a pension roll. Fruits' birthdate was more likely 1779 than 1762, as indicated in recent studies. The last surviving veteran may have been Daniel F. Bakeman, who was placed on the pension rolls by an act of U.S. Congress and is listed as the last survivor of the conflict by the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs.

Last Surviving US Veteran of War of 1812

Hiram Cronk (1800-1905)

Last Surviving US Veteran of Mexican-American War

Owen Thomas Edgar (1831-1929)

The American Civil War

The last surviving Union veteran is considered Albert Woolson (1847-1956)

Last Surviving Confederate Veteran (Candidates)

John Thomas Graves (1842-1950)
Pleasant Crump (1847-1951)
William J. Bush (1845-1952)
William Lundy (1848-1957)
John B. Salling (1846?-1959)

Salling's status is disputed. In 1991, William Marvel examined the claims of Salling and several other "last Civil War veterans" for a piece in the Civil War history magazine Blue & Gray. Marvel found census data that indicated Salling was born in 1858, not 1846. In the same piece, Marvel confirmed Woolson's claim to be the last surviving Union veteran, and asserted that Woolson was the last genuine Civil War veteran on either side. However, Marvel did not present his research on several other Confederate claims from the 1950's, some of which appear to be genuine.

Although in 1900 Salling supplied a birthdate of March, 1858, he appears to have been born around 1856, still too late to have served in the Confederate army. The 1860 census lists him as four, and the 1870 census as fourteen.

William Lundy is listed as one year old on the 1860 census, and from 1870 until 1930 he gave census marshals ages that reflected birthdates as early as 1853 and as late as 1860. He did not push his birthdate back to the 1840s until he applied for a Confederate pension from the state of Florida.

Last Surviving US Veteran of Spanish-American War (Candidates)

Nathan E. Cook (1885-1992)
Jones Morgan (1882-1993)