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Living Memorials: Civil War veteran poses with a fighter jet, 1955

“Uncle Bill” Lundy claimed to be the last living Confederate Civil War veteran in Florida,
and spent his 107th birthday at Eglin AFB, Florida in January 1955.

It should be noted that Lundy’s actual age and military service have been heavily disputed over the years. William Lundy was allegedly born near Troy, in Pike County, Alabama, on January 18, 1848 (also reported at Coffee Springs, Coffee County). He is said to have enlisted in the last days of March 1864, at age 16; Company D (Brown’s), 4th Alabama Cavalry Regiment (Home Guard) at Elba; and to have been honorably discharged at Elba in May 1865, on account of the close of the war. He moved his family to Laurel Hill in 1890, where he and his wife, Mary Jane Lassiter, raised ten children. He was granted a Confederate soldier’s pension in Florida, no. 8948, of $600 per annum to be paid effective from June 12, 1941. — Rare Historical Photos

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Terry May 26, 2019, 4:57 PM

    In my opinion Mr. Lundy was on the right side of the Civil war. From the picture, he was also a student in the appreciation of beauty.

  • Casey Klahn May 26, 2019, 5:23 PM

    Hey! Me Too!

  • Walter Sobchak May 26, 2019, 9:27 PM

    “Alabama Cavalry Regiment (Home Guard) at Elba; and to have been honorably discharged at Elba”

    Able was i ere I saw Elba.

  • JiminAlaska May 27, 2019, 8:57 AM

    There was no ‘right side’ in the civil war.

  • downeasthillbilly May 27, 2019, 9:17 AM

    Time marches on, tourism fades, but we remember, and this is why. This old soldier lived almost until my birth in 1958. My granny was born in 1890. She was raised by and among survivors of Chickamauga. She kept me as a child while my parents worked, and told me stories. I am 61. When I am gone, the connection will be lost. Ozymandias will out.

  • Skorpion May 27, 2019, 3:35 PM

    Mr. Lundy lived long enough to witness the Jet Age, and this gentleman of the same era — who saw “the last killing of the Civil War” — got thrust into the era of TV game-shows and celebrity-culture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RPoymt3Jx4

  • ghostsniper May 27, 2019, 6:06 PM

    @skorp, thanks, that was great!