Who was the last Civil War widow to die? Her name was Maudie Hopkins. Would it surprise you to know that she died in 2008? How could it be that someone married a man who served in the war at a time between 1861-65 and die almost 150 years afterward? Actually, it's a simple manner.
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| Cantrell and Hopkins |
You see, back in the early 1900's, young women would marry these older Civil War veterans in order to obtain his pension once he died. In Arkansas (where Maudie was from) made a state law in 1937 saying that women who married these veterans were not eligible for the pensions. The law was changed in 1939 to say that women who married the men after 1870 were not eligible.
Maudie married William M. Cantrell in 1934. He supported her with his pension, and after he died, she obtained his house in 1937. The pensions were cut off in 1937 because of the state law. She went on to remarry that same year and two times afterward.
In case you're curious, William M. Cantrell had enlisted in the Confederate army and served in the Virginia Infantry. He had been captured in 1863 and was released in a prisoner exchange.
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| William Cantrell's gravestone |
By now, you're probably curious of how their ages matched up and how this all is possible. Cantrell joined the Confederate army at age 16. Maudie was born in 1914. Cantrell's wife died in 1929. Maudie married Cantrell in 1934: he was 86, she was 19. Maudie went onto live to the age of 93 when she passed away in 2008.
Maudie has the distinction of being the last known Civil War widow, but there are rumored to be two more: one in Tennessee and one in North Carolina. If these two are still alive, they apparently want to remain anonymous. Maudie didn't like to talk about her first marriage for fear of a tarnished reputation and gossip in the community.
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