Soldiers and Sailors of the Confederacy

The Soldiers and Sailors monument is south of Gettysburg on South Confederate Avenue. (see map)

From the monument:

A
memorial
to soldiers
and
sailors
of the
Confederacy

South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi

Heroic defenders of their country. Their fame shall be an echo and a light unto eternity.

Walter Washington Williams, who was recognized by the government of the United States as the last surviving Confederate veteran, died 1959 at the age of 117 years.

Dedicated on August 25, 1965, the monument honors all members of the Confederate armed forces. It depicts a charging color bearer calling for his comrades to follow. Listing the names of each state that contributed men to the Confederacy (including the border states of Missouri, Maryland and Kentucky) it was sculpted by Donald DeLue, who is also responsible for the Mississippi and Louisiana monuments at Gettysburg. The architect was Henry Dacy.

The monument also bears the name of Walter Washington Williams. A member of a Texas regiment who died in 1959 at the age of 117, he was thought to be the last member of the armed forces of the Confederate States of America. Park officials, however, now feel that honor should belong to John B. Salling of the 25th Virginia, who died at the age of 112 in the same year.

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