Last Men Standing - Last Known Survivors of Famous Battles

[Music] american general douglas macarthur famously said old soldiers never die they just fade away some faded more slowly than others and for every famous battle or campaign there had been a last survivor who outlived all of his contemporaries until passing away in extreme old age providing a living link for the modern generations with campaigns long consigned to the history books one of the most infamous military actions of the 19th century was the charge of the light brigade during the crimean war this was a war fought between 1853 and 1856 in russia between an alliance of the british french sardinians and ottoman turkish forces against czarist russia the reason initially being arguments over religious sites in the middle east but more widely an attempt to limit russian expansion particularly towards the mediterranean the fighting was difficult and marked by extreme weather conditions lots of disease and military incompetence the latter leading to british cavalry of the light brigade charging a battery of russian artillery guns down a long valley flanked on both sides by more russian guns and infantry the charge during the battle of balaclava in 1854 occurred due to poor staff work and communications british commanding general lord raglan intended to send the light brigade a unit formed of five light dragoon and lancer regiments commanded by major general the earl of cardigan to prevent the russians hauling away artillery guns from recently captured turkish due to a miscommunication in the chain of command the light brigade instead made a frontal assault against a different artillery battery well dug in and with strong flank protection the light brigade charged down the valley of death under intense artillery fire suffering horrendous casualties the regiments reached and overran the russian guns but heavily outnumbered by russian lancers were forced to fight their way clear and retreat back up the valley under intense fire the results were terrible of the 670 men who charged 110 were killed and 161 wounded with many taken prisoner the survivors were lauded for their valor in the british press for carrying out the suicidal order ignoring the almost inevitable outcome among those who charged and survived was edwin hughes nicknamed balaclava ned a trooper in the 13th light dragoons his horse was shot from under him during the charge and hughes was pinned underneath it with an injured leg he managed to walk back to british lines with assistance he recovered and saw further action until the end of the war by 1871 he was a troop sergeant major he left the army at colchester my hometown in 1873 after 21 years service at the age of 42. in retirement he continued to serve in the yeomanry the reserve cavalry until retiring again in 1886 due to his age he moved to blackpool in lancashire and by 1923 had become the last survivor the charge of the light brigade he lived in poverty supported by a small grant from the war office due to his light brigade connections until his death in 1927 at the age of 97 73 years after the infamous charge in 1993 a memorial plaque to him was unveiled at his former home in wrexham and in 2005 his medals were sold at auction making sixteen thousand pounds the bloodiest war in american history was of course the civil war of 1861-65 fought to try and prevent the southern states from permanently seceding from the union and to end slavery the casualties on both the union and confederate sides were horrendous there are two contenders for last survivor of the civil war one who was undeniably the last veteran to have served in either army but who saw no action and one who was the last veteran to have seen combat both lived to incredible ages well into the modern world the last civil war veteran to die was albert wilson born in antwerp new york in 1850 he enlisted as a drummer boy in the first minnesota heavy artillery regiment in 1864 serving as a company drummer but the unit never saw action and wilson was discharged in september 1865. he worked as a carpenter for the rest of his life and rose to a very senior position in the grand army of the republic a civil war veterans and political organization wilson passed away in duluth minnesota in 1956 at the age of 106 92 years after his enlistment in the union army however the last veteran who saw combat in the civil war was james hard who fought in the union army at first bull run antietam chancellorsville and fredericksburg hard would be the third to last civil war veteran to pass away also from new york hard had served in the 32nd new york volunteer infantry regiment between 1861 and 1863 and even claimed to have met president abraham lincoln at a white house reception har died in rochester new york in 1953 at the age of 109 many of the men who fought in the civil war later saw action in the indian wars when the americans destroyed native american resistance to u.s settlement in the west chief among the civil war generals was george armstrong custer custer had risen to the rank of major general of volunteers during the civil war a daring cavalry commander but in the post-war army he had lost his brevit rank and resumed his actual rank of just captain determined to get his general stars back he took to campaigning against the indians with alacrity and was commissioned lieutenant colonel in the seventh cavalry in 1876 the regiment was sent forward to try and locate a huge indian encampment of sioux and northern cheyenne peoples and found it on the little bighorn river in montana territory ignoring his orders kuster set to attacking the camp which he had severely underestimated regarding its size caster had about 700 soldiers and civilians with him plus attached indian scouts and faced twelve thousand or so indians including up to two and a half thousand well-armed warriors dividing his forces one battalion under major marcus reno was routed and forced into a defensive position atop a hill under siege custer's battalion unsupported was attacked by a huge force of indians and progressively destroyed caster and about 70 men making a final stand atop a hill before being overwhelmed and killed to a man the last american survivor the battle of the little bighorn was lieutenant charles varnum who was in charge of the indian scouts that accompanied the seventh cavalry an experienced indian fighter varnam ended up under siege with major reno atop his famous hill and survived the battle he served on throughout several more infamous actions most notably the 1890 wounded knee massacre when u.s 7th cavalry troopers massacred surrendered sue on the 29th of december on the pine ridge indian reservation in south dakota the following day varnam fought in the last action of the indian wars the drexel mission fight earning the medal of honor for his gallantry in this action varnam retired in 1907 and became a professor of military science at the university of maine he served in world war one leaving the army in 1919 with the rank of colonel varnam died in the presidio of san francisco in 1936 aged 86 59 years after custer's last stand and is buried in the san francisco national cemetery he was not however the last person to have fought at the little bighorn and survived that record was held by mini kongju sioux warrior iron hail known to history as dewey beard he fought at custer's last stand as a teenager and followed sitting bull into exile in canada in the late 1870s and early 1880s at the wounded knee massacre in 1890 dewey beard was shot three times by american troops and his mother father wife and young child were all killed in later life julie beard became a roman catholic and was a member of buffalo bill's wild west show for 15 years he lived on the pine ridge reservation raising horses but during world war ii lost all his land to the u.s government for use as a bombing range he and his family ended up in extreme poverty in rapid city jewish beer died in 1955 at the age of 96 79 years after custer's last stand and nine years after charles varnum the expansion of the british empire in africa during the 19th century provided plenty of tough campaigns but perhaps the most famous was the zulu war of 1879 in today's south africa the conflict was engineered to try and annex zulu land a vast wave of territory adjacent to british colonies in south africa the british high commissioner in south africa henry bartle freya sent the zulu king quechua an unreasonable ultimatum and when the king rejected it the british under the command of lieutenant general lord chelmsford invaded zululand the british underestimated the well-organized and very aggressive zulu standing army and suffered a massive defeat at the battle of his son luana on the 22nd of january 1879. some 20 000 zulu warriors overran a column of eighteen hundred british colonial and native troops plus four hundred civilians killing over thirteen hundred one section of the zulu army next moved to dealing with the british supply base at rorke's drift defended by only 140 british regular soldiers a handful of colonial troops and four civilians three to four thousand zulus attacked the mission station at rorke's drift but the two british officers in command lieutenants charred and bromhead organized a brilliant defense of the place defending it for two days and killing over 350 zulus and wounding 500 more while suffering only 17 killed and 15 wounded themselves this action was immortalized in the film zulu starring michael kane a record 11 men received the victoria cross the highest number ever awarded for a single action the last survivor of rorke's drift was one of its more important participants frank bourne was a colour sergeant in the 24th foot south wales borders and the senior nco present during the battle born in balcomb sussex in 1855 he had enlisted in 1872. he was the youngest soldier in the british army to be promoted to colour sergeant and his nickname inevitably was the kid for his bravery at rorke's drift born received the distinguished conduct medal second only at that time to the victoria cross offered a commission as an officer he declined he served on in india and burma and accepted a commission in 1890. he retired in 1907 but rejoined the army in 1914 when world war one broke out ending the war a lieutenant colonel and being made an officer of the order of the british empire an obe born died on the 9th of may 1945 the day after ve day aged 90 and was buried in beckenham in london 66 years after rorke's drift in american military history one of the most famous actions was the charge up sun one hill in cuba during the spanish-american war in 1898. this war came about largely because of the accidental destruction of the battleship uss maine in havana harbor cuba which was blamed on spain and with the massive influence of william randolph hearst's newspaper empire the u.s president declared war on spain and set about snatching her colonies at the philippines puerto rico and cuba an independence movement in cuba was supported by u.s ground troops which landed and became involved in a series of battles the troops suffering badly with the heat and tropical diseases san juan hill was an important spanish position and a difficult target studded with block houses the most famous unit to assault it was the rough riders more properly the u.s first volunteer cavalry led by colonel theodore roosevelt which made an uphill assault again under artillery rifle and machine gun fire not many people realized that the rough riders were supported by a couple of black units including the 10th cavalry known as buffalo soldiers some african-american members of these regiments also directly supported the rough riders one of them jones morgan will be the last survivor of the battle of sun one hill a trooper in the black ninth cavalry another buffalo soldier unit present at the battle he tended roughrider horses before during and after the action and also worked as an army cook morgan claimed his military papers were destroyed in a fire in 1912 which meant that his claims have been controversial but nonetheless he has been generally acknowledged as the last survivor of san juan hill and the last buffalo soldier he lived such a long life that he even met u.s president george h.w bush and general colin powell jones morgan died in 1993 at the age of 110 an extraordinary 95 years after the battle of sun one hill and was buried in richmond virginia our final campaign is of course world war one and three contenders for last veteran exist the acknowledged and unchallenged last surviving veteran of world war one was a woman florence beatrice greene born in 1901 who joined the royal air force in september 1918 serving as an officer's mess steward in norfolk england she also served in world war ii she died in february 2012 aged 110 years 350 days the last combat veteran of world war one died the year before green claude choles joined the royal navy in 1915 age 14 and served right through the campaign and was the last surviving witness to the scuttling of the german high seas fleet at scapa flow in scotland in 1919. he later joined the royal australian navy and served throughout world war ii retiring as a chief petty officer in 1956. he shunned any involvement in world war one commemorations being as he said against the glorification of war jules died in 2011 in perth western australia aged 110 years 63 days however the last man to have seen trench warfare was harry patch born in somerset in 1898 patch served on the western front in the royal warwickshire regiment and the duke of cornwall's light infantry as a lewis machine gunner he fought at the third battle of eep better known as passchendaele in 1917 and was wounded by a shell fragment after world war one patch was a plumber and during world war ii a part-time fireman in bath drink heavy german air raids on the city he died in 2009 at the age of 111 years 38 days his funeral being attended by two members of the royal family an honorable mention must go to a non-human war veteran who lived the longest of anyone timothy the tortoise was mascot on the british warship hms queen from the crimean war in 1854-56 and was aboard the ship when it bombarded the russian naval base at sevastopol and later served aboard hms princess charlotte and hms nan king the latter during the second opium war in china after leaving the royal navy timothy lived with the earl of devon in the rose garden at powdram castle it was only discovered in 1924 that timothy was not a he but a she and all efforts to mate this tortoise failed timothy lived until 2004. dying at the astounding age of about 160 years old timothy of the tortoise had earned several service medals for the crimea and china but it was noted that she was too modest to ever wear them thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook channel war stories with mark felton you can also help to support both of my channels at paypal and patreon details in the description box below [Music]

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 507,717

Keywords: Mark Felton, WW1, Albert Woolson, Charge of the Light Brigade, Zulu, Rorkes Drift, San Juan Hill, Cuba, Waterloo, American Civil War

Id: Hv97OFjsngo

Length: 18min 5sec (1085 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 07 2021