MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 03831cam a2200409 i 4500
001 2013028772
003 DLC
005 20140509121154.0
008 130718s2013 dcua 000 0ceng
010 $a 2013028772
020 $a9781588343956 (hardback)
040 $aDLC$beng$cDLC$erda$dDLC
042 $apcc
043 $an-us---
050 00 $aE467$b.S43 2013
082 00 $a973.70922$aB$223
084 $aHIS036050$aHIS027110$aHIS036040$2bisacsh
100 1 $aSerrano, Richard A.
245 10 $aLast of the blue and gray :$bold men, stolen glory, and the mystery that outlived the Civil War /$cRichard A. Serrano.
264 1 $aWashington DC :$bSmithsonian Books,$c[2013]
300 $a222 pages :$billustrations ;$c24 cm
336 $atext$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$2rdacarrier
520 $a"In the late 1950s, as America prepared for the Civil War centennial, two very old men lay dying. Albert Woolson, 109 years old, slipped in and out of a coma at a Duluth, Minnesota, hospital, his memories as a Yankee drummer boy slowly dimming. Walter Williams, at 117 blind and deaf and bedridden in his daughter's home in Houston, Texas, no longer could tell of his time as a Confederate forage master. The last of the Blue and the Gray were drifting away; an era was ending. Unknown to the public, centennial officials, and the White House too, one of these men was indeed a veteran of that horrible conflict and one according to the best evidence nothing but a fraud. One was a soldier. The other had been living a great, big lie"--$cProvided by publisher.
520 $a"Richard Serrano, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the Los Angeles Times, pens a story of two veterans in the late 1950s gearing up for the Civil War centennial--one claiming to be the last Confederate soldier and one claiming to be the last Union soldier--and one of them a fraud. Last of the Blue and Gray sets the stage for the centennial anniversary of our nation's most difficult period, with notions of ethics and honor and also dishonesty and disgrace. In the late 1950s, as America prepared for the Civil War centennial, two very old men lay dying. Albert Woolson, 109 years old, slipped in and out of a coma at a Duluth, Minnesota, hospital, his memories as a Yankee drummer boy slowly dimming. Walter Williams, at 117 blind and deaf and bedridden in his daughter's home in Houston, Texas, no longer could tell of his time as a Confederate forage master. The last of the Blue and the Gray were drifting away; an era was ending. Unknown to the public, centennial officials, and the White House too, one of these men was indeed a veteran of that horrible conflict and one according to the best evidence nothing but a fraud. One was a soldier. The other had been living a great, big lie"--$cProvided by publisher.
505 8 $aMachine generated contents note: 1 Two Old Soldiers -- 2 Reunion -- 3 Old Age and Stolen Valor -- 4 Albert Woolson -- 5 Walter Williams -- 6 Old Men in Blue -- 7 Old Men in Gray -- 8 Centennial -- 9 Last in Blue -- 10 Debunked? -- 11 In His Memory-Clouded Mind -- 12 Last in Gray -- 13 Of the Dead, Speak No Evil -- Postscript -- Sources -- Index.
600 10 $aWoolson, Albert,$d1847-1956.
600 10 $aWilliams, Walter Washington,$d-1959.
651 0 $aUnited States$xHistory$yCivil War, 1861-1865$xVeterans.
650 0 $aImpostors and imposture$zUnited States$vBiography.
650 0 $aVeterans$zUnited States$vBiography.
651 0 $aUnited States$xHistory$yCivil War, 1861-1865$xCentennial celebrations, etc.
650 7 $aHISTORY / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877).$2bisacsh
650 7 $aHISTORY / Military / United States.$2bisacsh
650 7 $aHISTORY / United States / 19th Century.$2bisacsh
856 42 $3Cover image$u9781588343956.jpg