America's Last Civil War Pension going to Wilkes native

Irene Triplett's father served for both the North and the South

By JERRY LANKFORD

Record Editor

As a child, Irene Triplett knew her father had served during the Civil War. But, "He never would talk about it," she said.

Irene, 84, a resident of Avante at Wilkesboro, is the last person in America, or anywhere else, receiving a pension from the Civil War.

"There is just one survivor of a Civil War veteran on or rolls," said Josephine Schuda,a spokesperson for the Veterans Administration in Washington, D.C., when contacted by phone on Tuesday. She said privacy laws prevented her from releasing any names.

Irene Triplett was interviewed by The Record on Friday in the cafeteria of the nursing facility and verified she was receiving the pension.

Her father, Moses Triplett, who died in July 1938, served in both the Confederate Army and the Union Army. Irene, who has been disabled since her birth on Jan. 9, 1930, has memories of her father. "He was always good to my momma," she said. Along with her brother, Everett, and their mother, Elida - nearly 50 years younger than Moses – Irene lived hard on the steep slopes of Cougar Mountain near Ferguson. There they raised cows, horses and other livestock. I remember milking cows before I went to school," she said. It appears that Elida was Moses’ second wife. All Irene recalls is that her “mother married him after he got back from that old Civil War.”

According to records a Private Moses Triplett served the Confederacy in Company C of the 26th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry. Members of that unit were recruited in the counties of Ashe, Union, Wilkes, Chatham, Wake, Caldwell, Moore, Alamance, Randolph, and Anson. The regiment served at Fort Macon, on Bogue Island, North Carolina, then fought at New Bern. It saw action in the Seven Days’ Battles and later the conflicts at Rawls’ Mills and Goldsboro. The 26th went on to fight with the Army of Northern Virginia from Gettysburg to Cold Harbor, took its place in the entrenchments south of the James River, and was involved in the final campaign at Appomattox.

Records also show that Moses served in the Union Army in B Company for the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry from Oct. 20, 1864 to Aug. 8, 1865. Moses attended a reunion of Civil War Veterans at Gettysburg, Penn., during the summer of 1938 for the 75th anniversary of the battle which took place there. He went to Gettysburg, Irene said, “But when they brought him back he was nearly gone.” In a few days he would be dead.

Moses’ obituary, which appeared in the July 18, 1938 edition of the Journal-Patriot states:
“Uncle” Moses Triplett, who “fooled them all” at the reunion of the men who wore the blue and gray at Gettysburg, passed away last night at his home at Denny, only a few days after attending the joint reunion. “Uncle Mose” as he was known to many people, was one of the most remarkable characters of his community. He was 92 years of age. He was a member of the Union Army during the War Between the States, but at the Gettysburg reunion this month was placed in the gray tents of the Confederate veterans. Even the attendant who accompanied the aged man to Gettysburg did not know that he had a Union soldier until Triplett was replying to questions by a reporter in Hickory on the return trip.

He had been feeble since his return from the reunion. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Elida Triplett, and two children, Irene, 10 (she was actually 8 years old), and Everett, only 5. Funeral service will be held at eh home at the home on Tuesday at 11 a. m. to be conducted by Rev. A.J. Foster. Burial will be in the family cemetery. He was member of the Darby Baptist Church. Moses’ death shook the family. At 13, Irene said. “I left that mountain and never went back.” Her brother eventually did the same.

Irene worked on chicken farms and later at a bakery. She grimaced as she described the work on the farms, holding the birds as they were beheaded and then placing them in scalding water. For the past six decades, however, she has been a resident of nursing facilities due to her disabilities.

Living ties to the War Between the States have all but faded. Albert Woolson, the last veteran of the Civil War died in 1956 at 109. Gertrude Janeway, the last widow of a Civil War veteran died in 2003 at 93.

Last March the Associated Press reported on pension paid by the U.S. Government in connection to various wars. The A.P. reported then that payments were going to two children of Civil War veterans – one in North Carolina and one in Tennessee - each for $876 per year. Since then, it has been reported, that the man in Tennessee had died. That leaves Irene Triplett being the last person receiving a pension from the Civil War. She’s been getting the benefit since the mid-1950s.
“I’ve been getting it for a long time,” Irene said. “I feel pretty good about it.”

Source: The Record, http://www.therecordofwilkes.com/newsa.asp?edition_number=751&pg=F