Who was the last Civil War veteran?

The last surviving Civil War veteran was Albert Woolson, who died in 1956. Woolson was born sometime between 1847 and 1850 and served as a drummer boy in the Union Army. The last veteran who saw combat was James Hard, a Union soldier who died in 1953.

Three people who died after Albert Woolson claimed to be Confederate veterans, but in all three cases, the claims were not substantiated. Walter Washington Williams, who died in 1959, claimed to be the last surviving veteran, but surviving census records suggest he was 8 years old at the close of the war, making it unlikely that he ever served.