Simon Douglas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Simon Douglas (c. 1843 – 8 March 1950) was a former slave who lived to become the last American Civil War soldier in the state of New Jersey.[1][2]
Simon Douglas | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1843 |
| Died | 8 March 1950 (aged c. 107) |
| Burial place | Hackensack, New Jersey, United States |
| Children | 1 son and daughter |
Douglas was born around 1843, as a slave on a plantation in Fairfield County, South Carolina. In 1862, during the American Civil War, he went to the front lines as a body servant for his masters' son in the Confederate Army. Douglas became free by 1864 and moved north as a blacksmith and bummer (a nickname for foragers) of Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army.[3]
In 1866, Douglas settled in what was to become Fairview, Bergen County, New Jersey. He married a local resident, with whom he had a son and daughter. He ran his own blacksmithing business into his 90s. He lived there until he died on March 8, 1950.[4]
He is interred in Hackensack Cemetery (#4738, Sec 16, Row 12).
