Last of the Blue and Gray: Old Men, Stolen Glory, and the Mystery That Outlived the Civil War
In the late 1950s, as the centennial of the start of the Civil War loomed, historians and pundits actively sought out the few surviving veterans of the conflict. Unfortunately, any true survivors would be well past 100 years old; their memories, to be charitable, would be foggy, and the value of their recollections questionable. Eventually, attention was riveted upon two men, Union veteran Albert Woolson and Confederate veteran Walter Williams. When each man passed, national reaction was a combination of mourning, celebration of their service, and acknowledgment of the closing of a historical chapter. It was a nice, neat story, but it wasn’t true. One man had indeed served honorably, but the other man had not served at all. Serrano only reveals the poseur at the end; along the way, he examines the claims of other supposed survivors, and he also reveals much about the lives of ordinary soldiers as well as the attitude of their countrymen a century after they fought. This is a fine addition to Civil War collections. --Jay Freeman