The Last Witness to Appomattox

In a quiet cemetery near Lincoln, Alabama, lies Pleasant Riggs Crump, believed to be the last living witness to one of the most defining moments in American history: the surrender of Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9 and 10, 1865.

Born in 1847 in St Clair County, Alabama, Crump—known simply as “Riggs” to those who knew him—traveled to Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864 to enlist in Company A of the 10th Alabama Infantry Regiment of the Confederate States Army. Many of the men in the 10th hailed from Crump’s home region, and by the time he joined, the unit had already witnessed the death and misery of the Civil War in the Eastern Theater. Crump arrived just in time to participate in the Battle of Hatcher's Run, Virginia, and the siege of Petersburg.

When General Lee decided to end the bloodshed, Crump and the 10th Alabama were with the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox. Reflecting on that moment years later, Crump wrote that he stood “just across the road from the McLean House … and took his little part in the stacking of the arms."

More than just a witness, Crump has also been recognized by some historians in recent years as the last documented surviving Confederate soldier. He passed away in 1951 at the remarkable age of 104.