William J. Bush's CMSR's at fold 3 tell a little different story. He did enlist in July of 1861 at Gordon, Georgia but was also discharged in October 1861 at Richmond, Virginia. He was with Company B of the 14th Georgia Infantry. He was a Confederate soldier by pure definition in my opinion. Both Lillian Henderson and Civil War Database have him enlisted in the Georgia Militia in 1864 also.

Although that is no way of confirming his date of birth I do believe he died on November 11, 1952 as the newspapers reported. In my opinion he was one of the last Confederate soldiers living by defining his service for at least a couple of months at the minimum. He may not have been the oldest Confederate soldier to die but partially because he was a Mason and from all accounts had good character and because of his CMSR's I do believe him.

The task of trying to find out who the last Confederate veteran might have been is impossible in my opinion. While some authors and professional genealogist have stated their opinions the very definition of a Confederate comes into debate. Do we consider Home Guards and Militia etc as being Confederate soldiers? And what length of time insofar as service do we go by, a day, a month, a year or the full course of the war? Because of these issues and lost or destroyed records no one will be able of say who the last living Confederate was.