Quote

The Last Person to Receive a Civil War Pension Dies at Age 90

Irene Triplett, who died last month at the age of 90, received a check for $73.13 every month. Her father, Mose Triplett, served as a private in the Confederate Army before deserting and shifting his allegiances to the Union, according to Ian Shapira of the Washington Post.

...

The fact that Triplett was receiving a Civil War pension in 2020 owed much to the advanced age of her father, who was 83 when his second wife, 34-year-old Elida Hall, gave birth to their daughter in 1930. Such pairings were fairly common during the Great Depression, as Civil War veterans’ pensions offered financial security to younger women willing to take care of aging husbands, according to the Journal. Mose died in 1938 at age 92, reported Curt Mills for U.S. News & World Report in 2016. Elida died in 1967.

...

After her mother died in 1967, Triplett lived in a series of nursing homes. She made friends, chewed tobacco, and became known for her laughter and buoyant demeanor, reports the Post.

The last two veterans of the Civil War died in the 1950s at more than 100 years old, according to U.S. News. The last Confederate widow, Maudie Hopkins, died in 2008 at age 93, while the last Union widow, Gertrude Janeway, died in 2003 at age 93.