[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 128 (Tuesday, September 17, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1625]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      TRIBUTE TO ALBERTA MARTIN, AMERICA'S LAST CONFEDERATE WIDOW

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                           HON. TERRY EVERETT

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 17, 1996

  Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, I would like to pay homage to a very 
special lady who is a unique bridge to our Nation's past, Mrs. Alberta 
Martin. Mrs. Martin is America's only surviving Confederate widow.
  A resident of the city of Elba in my home county of Coffee in 
Alabama, Mrs. Martin is the widow of the late William Jasper Martin, 
who served in the 4th Alabama Infantry from May 1864 to April 1865 
defending the Confederate States of America.
  Private Martin, then just 18, served in the 4th Alabama in the final 
days of the Civil War. He and his comrades marched to meet the forces 
of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia, and he was 1 of only 202 members 
of his 1,400-man infantry to return home.
  In 1927, Alberta Martin at the age of 20 married her Confederate 
veteran husband. They were married 5 years until he passed away in 
1932.
  In recognition of Alberta Martin's unique status as America's only 
remaining Civil War widow, the city of Elba is hosting a day in her 
honor on September 24. Mrs. Martin is a living tribute to the memory of 
America's and Alabama's history.
  I salute Mrs. Alberta Martin and wish her many happy years of life at 
home in historic Coffee County, AL.

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