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Folks,
Somehow this incredible story has missed the recent front pages and I thought it warranted a little more publicity. It has always been thought that the last CW veteran died in 1958 or so. However, here is some recent news, or perhaps its old news being refreshed, about a man that served on both the Federal and Confederate sides of the war and can rightfully claim the title of the last CW veteran and, the last American slave. In our little town of Columbia Miss. our Historical Society recently paid for and posted a head stone to the previously unmarked grave for this interesting man...Sylvester Magee, who died in 1971 at the age of 130.
Back in 1971 when I was about 14 years old I remember reading about him and even have an old newspaper clipping of him from the newspaper where I lived in Michigan at the time. Coincidently, he is buried in our own Marion Cty Mississippi and his story has once again come to light.
His story is credible....while he could never read nor write his descriptions of places, military scenes (including pontoon boats at the Big Black near Vicksburg) and his recollections of officers names could not have been possible with his “being there”!
This man can “perhaps” add a couple of even more records to his name. It seems that Mr Magee also fathered a child at age 109 and was granted a divorce at age 124! Incredible!
I cannot rightfully do his story justice so as a teaser I have posted a partial bio from Wikipedia and some other links to Youtube and elsewhere. I urge everyone to read these stories. Pretty cool stuff!!
Ken R Knopp
Sylvester Magee (May 29, 1841 –– October 15, 1971) may have been the last living slave in America, and the oldest person who ever lived. Born in North Carolina, he was the son of slaves named Ephriam and Jeanette Magee, who worked on the J.J. Shanks plantation.
Aged 19, just before the Civil War, Sylvester was purportedly purchased from a slave market at Enterprise, Mississippi by Hugh Magee, whose surname Sylvester eventually adopted. Hugh Magee owned the Lone Star Plantation in Covington County, Mississippi. One source indicated that Magee was in time sold by Magee to Victory Steen, who operated a plantation near Florence, Mississippi. Magee eventually ran away from the Steen plantation and joined the ranks of the Union Army. Concerning the siege at Vicksburg, Mississippi he stated, ““I was 22 years old, and all I had ever known was plowing, scraping and picking cotton, sawing logs and doing other things on a farm. But 382 blacks and 500 whites were given long-barrell rifles, many of them in the same boat as me. One poor white boy cried most of the time. I tried to comfort him, telling him he hadn’’t done nuthin to nobody and the good Lord just wouldn’’t let nothing happen to him. But he cried right on.”” Magee further stated he received wounds at both Vicksburg and Champion's Hill.[citation needed]
After the close of the Civil War, Sylvester returned to Marion County, Mississippi a ““freed man”” and farmed near Columbia with a white farmer named Tom Mix. In coming years, he moved to Hattiesburg and did odd jobs until the early 1900s. He returned to Marion County, Mississippi and worked for Richard Davis, who operated a sawmill in East Columbia. Magee was trusted to the extent that he supervised the mill when Davis was absent, and earned $10.00 per week. Little is known of his life after this period until the 1960s. On his purported 124th birthday, some citizens of Collins, Mississippi threw a party for Magee at a country grocery store, complete with a five layer cake and 124 candles.......................
Somehow this incredible story has missed the recent front pages and I thought it warranted a little more publicity. It has always been thought that the last CW veteran died in 1958 or so. However, here is some recent news, or perhaps its old news being refreshed, about a man that served on both the Federal and Confederate sides of the war and can rightfully claim the title of the last CW veteran and, the last American slave. In our little town of Columbia Miss. our Historical Society recently paid for and posted a head stone to the previously unmarked grave for this interesting man...Sylvester Magee, who died in 1971 at the age of 130.
Back in 1971 when I was about 14 years old I remember reading about him and even have an old newspaper clipping of him from the newspaper where I lived in Michigan at the time. Coincidently, he is buried in our own Marion Cty Mississippi and his story has once again come to light.
His story is credible....while he could never read nor write his descriptions of places, military scenes (including pontoon boats at the Big Black near Vicksburg) and his recollections of officers names could not have been possible with his “being there”!
This man can “perhaps” add a couple of even more records to his name. It seems that Mr Magee also fathered a child at age 109 and was granted a divorce at age 124! Incredible!
I cannot rightfully do his story justice so as a teaser I have posted a partial bio from Wikipedia and some other links to Youtube and elsewhere. I urge everyone to read these stories. Pretty cool stuff!!
Ken R Knopp
Sylvester Magee (May 29, 1841 –– October 15, 1971) may have been the last living slave in America, and the oldest person who ever lived. Born in North Carolina, he was the son of slaves named Ephriam and Jeanette Magee, who worked on the J.J. Shanks plantation.
Aged 19, just before the Civil War, Sylvester was purportedly purchased from a slave market at Enterprise, Mississippi by Hugh Magee, whose surname Sylvester eventually adopted. Hugh Magee owned the Lone Star Plantation in Covington County, Mississippi. One source indicated that Magee was in time sold by Magee to Victory Steen, who operated a plantation near Florence, Mississippi. Magee eventually ran away from the Steen plantation and joined the ranks of the Union Army. Concerning the siege at Vicksburg, Mississippi he stated, ““I was 22 years old, and all I had ever known was plowing, scraping and picking cotton, sawing logs and doing other things on a farm. But 382 blacks and 500 whites were given long-barrell rifles, many of them in the same boat as me. One poor white boy cried most of the time. I tried to comfort him, telling him he hadn’’t done nuthin to nobody and the good Lord just wouldn’’t let nothing happen to him. But he cried right on.”” Magee further stated he received wounds at both Vicksburg and Champion's Hill.[citation needed]
After the close of the Civil War, Sylvester returned to Marion County, Mississippi a ““freed man”” and farmed near Columbia with a white farmer named Tom Mix. In coming years, he moved to Hattiesburg and did odd jobs until the early 1900s. He returned to Marion County, Mississippi and worked for Richard Davis, who operated a sawmill in East Columbia. Magee was trusted to the extent that he supervised the mill when Davis was absent, and earned $10.00 per week. Little is known of his life after this period until the 1960s. On his purported 124th birthday, some citizens of Collins, Mississippi threw a party for Magee at a country grocery store, complete with a five layer cake and 124 candles.......................
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