On Sunday afternoon, September 24, 2023 at 2:00 pm a ceremony will be held at the Evergreen Cemetery just north of Superior, Nebraska to honor Charles Watson, the last Civil War Veteran to be buried in Nuckolls County, Nebraska. Representatives from The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War will be at the cemetery to conduct a short service and presentation honoring the memory of Mr. Watson. I am hoping to have cookies and Tea or Coffee after the service for the everyone but especially for the participants who will be travelling a far distance for this ceremony in Superior. Everyone is welcome to attend. Hopefully some of the members of the Sons of Union Veteran of the Civil War will be available to answer questions about their organization and what other projects in which they are involved.
Even though Mr. Watson died on July 28, 1936 an the organization known as The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War has begun a project to locate and honor the last Union Civil War Veteran to be buried in each county in Nebraska. They plan to place a medallion on each honored soldiers marker.
The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War contacted the Nuckolls County Historical Society and Museum and asked us to help in providing additional information for the ceremony.
Using resources and help from the Superior Public Library we were able to locate and transcribe a copy of Mr. Watson's obituary and his picture. These were printed in the Superior Express on August 6, 1936 and the newspaper is available on microfilm. The complete obituary will be available soon, but the highlights include: Charles Watson was born September 7, 1840 near Lisbon, Ohio. He grew up in Indiana and on June 19, 1861 shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War he joined the 13th Indiana Volunteer Regiment and served throughout the entire war- 4 years. He was wounded three times. After the War Mr. Watson moved to Thomas County, Kansas, but by 1890 he was farming near Superior, Nebraska and joined the local Post of the Grand Army of the Republic- the Civil War version of the American Legion. When he died in 1936 he was the last member of the local Post.
Mr. Watson was married to Alice Davis from the Edgar, Nebraska area and they had a daughter. His daughter never married so there are no descendants of Mr. Watson living in the Nuckolls County, Nebraska area.
In looking for history and photos of Mr. Watson I came across a couple of other photos that he may be in but my eyes are not sharp enough to pick out faces and details on the two pictures I am adding on.
Above is a picture taken in the 1920's in Superior, Nebraska purporting to be five Civil War Veterans from Superior.
The photo above was taken c 1900 at Evergreen Cemetery in Superior. It shows members of the G.A.R. Post #63 (The Old Abe Post) taken at a Memorial Day Service.