MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Alberta Martin, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, died Monday, ending an unlikely ascent from poor sharecropper's daughter to the belle of 21st century Confederate history buffs who paraded her across the South. Alberta Martin passed away aged 97 at a … But the oral history of the war which has been passed down through generations still lives on with descendants of the … Last month, The Associated Press reported the death of another Civil War widow, Alberta Martin, 97, of Enterprise, Alabama. 54 years ago, in December 1959, the last reported surviving veteran of the Civil War, Walter Washington Williams, passed away in Houston, Texas at the reported age of 117. Lists the veteran's name or widow's name, rank, year of enlistment, and year of discharge. The pensioner's name (typically the widow's) is searchable, often giving her maiden name as well. The last widow of a Union veteran from the Civil War, Gertrude Janeway, died in January 2003 at her home in Tennessee. The last Civil War veterans themselves, both Union and Confederate, died in the 1950s. Gertrude Janeway, who was 93, married her veteran husband, John, in 1927 when she was 18 and he was 81, some 60 years after the Civil War ended. John Janeway joined the Union army in 1864 and was briefly a POW at … MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Alberta Martin, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, died on Memorial Day, ending an unlikely ascent from sharecropper's daughter to the belle of 21st century John was 81. The Civil War ended 148 years ago this past month (April 9th, 1865) with the surrender of the Confederate forces at the Appomattox Court House in Northern Virginia. John Janeway joined the Union army in 1864 and was briefly a POW at Andersonville. The publicity surrounding Alberta Martin's death prompted relatives of Maudie Celia Hopkins of Arkansas to reveal that the 89-year-old was in fact the last civil war widow. The last surviving Civil War veteran died in 1956 at the age of 109, according to the VA. She was 97. The American Civil War is today perceived as a hugely important part of the early history of the nation, with its witnesses and participants long gone. Yet although no serving veteran remains, there is one person still alive who comes closest to the painful truth. The files are grouped under the soldier's name. Alberta Martin, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, died yesterday, ending an unlikely ascent from sharecropper's daughter to the belle of 21st-century Confederate history buffs who paraded her across the South. The 'Last Civil War Widow' Has a Successor, It Would Seem For the last several years, Alberta Martin had been celebrated as the last widow of a Confederate veteran of the Civil War. The last-known Union widow, Gertrude Janeway, died in Jan. 2003 in Tennessee. The last Civil War widow died in 2008 at the age of 93. The last Union widow, Gertrude Janeway, died Jan. 17, 2003, also at age 93. She was 93 and had married veteran John Janeway when she was 18. Two children of Civil War veterans, who have chosen to remain anonymous, are still receiving pensions of $876 apiece every year, nearly 150 years after the last gunshot was fired. 54 years ago, in December 1959, the last reported surviving veteran of the Civil War, Walter Washington Williams, passed away in Houston, Texas at the reported age of 117.