Last Known Survivor
| From time to time the question of who may have been the last member of the 7th Mississippi infantry to have passed on has come up in our research. While there is the possibilty that we may have missed a soldier's date of death who could have possibly laid claim to this distinction we have settled on what we are calling the last known survivor. Emphasis on known. We have even found a newspaper article with a picture of this veteran taken just a few months before his death by a Memphis newspaper. Thanks to George Purvis for finding the article online and to the owner for his permission to use the photo here. The photo is from the year 1939.
(used with permission from
Owner and webmaster of |
John Franklin Gunter
Last known survivor
| Meet John Franklin Gunter, Company A, Franklin Rifles. This veteran was reffered to in the newspaper as Colonel. We need to find more information about the use of that rank in reference to him as he is not listed as one of the field officers. The rank may have been bestowed on him post war to honor his longevity or for other reasons. He is buried in the Confederate Soldiers Rest at Historic Elmwood Cemetary, in Memphis, Tennessee. Watch this page for updates on him. Also watch for the entire article in both text and JPG format to be posted.
The information on his date of death was tracked down by our great friend Jim Martin who is the webmaster for the History-Sites.com message board portal. It is as follows... |
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GUNTER, JOHN FRANKLIN Age: 100 Y,1D Sex: M Race: W Date of Death: 3/30/1940 Source: Death Certificate Card Index File: 1316 Collection: Memphis/Shelby Death Index |
Honorable Mention
| The men listed below were at one time each considered as possibly being the last survivor. They lived well past the turn of the century and deserve to be mentioned. |
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N.A. Travis Company C - Amite Rifles born 4-24-1841 died 4-24-1936 buried at Travis cemetary Gillsburg, Amite County, Mississippi
Strait, Leonard Sylvester Pvt.
William H. Freeman |