A century and a half ago, a Minnesota farm boy named John O. Dolson took a bullet at Gettysburg and died slowly in a military hospital, the sound of bone-saws and screams surrounding him.
As a last indignity, officials there recorded his death with a string of errors, misspelling his name, mistaking his unit and sending him to Raleigh as John O. Dobson – a Yankee buried in a Confederate cemetery.
Posted in Deaths
Tagged North Carolina
The news spread fast on Friday, July 6, that Maine had lost a dedicated Civil War historian and re-enactor. Gordon McRae, 63, of Eddington had died suddenly of an apparent heart attack on that sunny Friday. His loss has been felt immensely by his wife, Amy, and his daughters, Andrea McRae and Wendy Lynds, and other relatives.
The Civil War, which ended almost 150 years ago, never seemed like ancient history to Stella Mae Case. Her father fought in it.
Yes, her father.
Before she died last Sunday at age 94, Case was among the few people in the entire country who were one generation removed from that epic conflict — one generation removed from Lincoln at Gettysburg, from Sherman marching to the sea, from Lee and Grant at Appomattox.
Posted in Deaths
Tagged California
Alabama’s last known real daughter of Confederacy, Norma Vivian Smith, was buried today in Cullman.
Smith, 89, who died Jan. 7, was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson Denney, a soldier who fought in the Civil War as part of Company H in the 31st Alabama Infantry regiment. Smith’s brother, Tyus, lives in Tarrant and is in his 90s.
Monica McIlvain never wanted to keep her promise to John L. “Jack” Wible Jr.
Years ago, Wible, who had played his cornet at numerous military funerals over the years, made McIlvain promise that if there were no bugler at his funeral, she would play taps for him.
So on Friday morning, on the hilltop of Youngwood Cemetery, McIlvain closed her eyes and slowly and steadily began to play the haunting melody.
Posted in Deaths
Tagged Pennsylvania
Celebrated Civil War historian, Adrian College graduate and Farmington area high school teacher Jerry Hollis Maxwell passed away Oct. 29, 2011, at the age of 69.
Jerry spent 32 years teaching history, receiving various awards, most notably the DAR National Teacher of the Year in 1995. A historical lecturer and member of the Michigan Regimental Civil War Round Table since 1972, Jerry’s passion for the Civil War culminated in “The Perfect Lion,” his definitive book on Artillerist John Pelham.
John E. “Jack” Fisher, 85, a management analyst who wrote two books on the Civil War era, died May 19 at Manor Care, a rehabilitation facility in Arlington, of congestive heart failure. He was a Falls Church resident.
Mr. Fisher worked for the Social Security Administration from the early 1960s until he retired in 1980. Earlier in his career, he worked for the Navy Department.
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