Video of a man talking about how he witnessed Abraham Lincoln's assassination

The fact that a guy born in 1860 has video footage of himself talking about something like this is pretty surreal

I think there are children of Civil War vets still around.

Kastrada posted...

I think there are children of Civil War vets still around.

There's one IIRC, or there was recently. Someone who was in the war extremely young and had a kid when he was extremely old.

Oddly fascinating

OctilIery posted...

There's one IIRC, or there was recently. Someone who was in the war extremely young and had a kid when he was extremely old.

Yeah something like that. It was a bunch of super old dudes at the turn of the century having kids.
I remember like three-ish years ago there was some kind of report about how there were less than 10 people still alive that could still claim to be children of Civil War vets.

What is Matt Damon doing there?

Kastrada posted...

OctilIery posted...

There's one IIRC, or there was recently. Someone who was in the war extremely young and had a kid when he was extremely old.

Yeah something like that. It was a bunch of super old dudes at the turn of the century having kids.
I remember like three-ish years ago there was some kind of report about how there were less than 10 people still alive that could still claim to be children of Civil War vets.

Two were, last I heard. They're brothers. My data's a couple years old, though, so one or both might have passed away since then.

As I understand things, it works like this: Confederate veterans were not allowed to claim veterans' benefits, but their wives and children were allowed to claim the benefits due to the families of veterans. I think the reasoning behind this rule was that although the soldiers themselves were committing treason, punishing other family membersfor this would technically count as corruption of blood or something like that, so it would be unconstitutional. Not sure I agree, but however it happened, the rule stuck.

Because of this, it became popular for ex-Confederate soldiers to keep marrying younger and younger as they aged, for financial reasons, so that they could keep drawing benefits through more and more children. The end result is although the Confederate veterans themselves didn't live any longer than Union veterans did, you've had whole age cohorts of Confederate spouses and children drawing veteran-family benefits for far, far longer.

It's kind of ****ed up.

He was 5 tears old in 1865, how could he remember? I remember very little anything that happened when i was 5

EvenSpoonier posted...

Kastrada posted...

OctilIery posted...

There's one IIRC, or there was recently. Someone who was in the war extremely young and had a kid when he was extremely old.

Yeah something like that. It was a bunch of super old dudes at the turn of the century having kids.
I remember like three-ish years ago there was some kind of report about how there were less than 10 people still alive that could still claim to be children of Civil War vets.

Two were, last I heard. They're brothers. My data's a couple years old, though, so one or both might have passed away since then.

As I understand things, it works like this: Confederate veterans were not allowed to claim veterans' benefits, but their wives and children were allowed to claim the benefits due to the families of veterans. I think the reasoning behind this rule was that although the soldiers themselves were committing treason, punishing other family membersfor this would technically count as corruption of blood or something like that, so it would be unconstitutional. Not sure I agree, but however it happened, the rule stuck.

Because of this, it became popular for ex-Confederate soldiers to keep marrying younger and younger as they aged, for financial reasons, so that they could keep drawing benefits through more and more children. The end result is although the Confederate veterans themselves didn't live any longer than Union veterans did, you've had whole age cohorts of Confederate spouses and children drawing veteran-family benefits for far, far longer.

It's kind of ****ed up.

I wonder if that could be related to why we have so many confederate supporters in the south, they planted tons of seeds.

OctilIery posted...

I wonder if that could be related to why we have so many confederate supporters in the south, they planted tons of seeds.

Wouldn't surprise me.

skermac posted...

He was 5 tears old in 1865, how could he remember? I remember very little anything that happened when i was 5

That's unusual. Memory starts around 3 1/2 years. Perhaps inquire with your family about this?

Total_Lost2 posted...

What is Matt Damon doing there?

Hoping the guy doesn't recognize him as Booth.

skermac posted...

He was 5 tears old in 1865, how could he remember? I remember very little anything that happened when i was 5

I remember a trip to Epcot when I was 4. They had a ride based on Honey I Shrunk the Kids and one with dinosaurs. I rode it four times before falling asleep. I also got backhanded by Winnie the Pooh as he stretched his arms out to give a little girl a hug. I never forgave him for that.

skermac posted...

He was 5 tears old in 1865, how could he remember? I remember very little anything that happened when i was 5

I think you'd remember seeing the president get shot.

skermac posted...

He was 5 tears old in 1865, how could he remember? I remember very little anything that happened when i was 5

I don't have a huge amount of memories intact from that age, but I do remember a couple major things. I expect seeing the president getting shot would be one of those.

Accolon posted...

skermac posted...

He was 5 tears old in 1865, how could he remember? I remember very little anything that happened when i was 5

I think you'd remember seeing the president get shot.

It's mentioned at the end of the video that, funnily enough, his only memory of it is seeing Booth jump out of the box and onto the stage. He was worried that the man had hurt his leg - which according to the host, Booth broke it - so that's probably why he remembers it.

OctilIery posted...

Kastrada posted...

I think there are children of Civil War vets still around.

There's one IIRC, or there was recently. Someone who was in the war extremely young and had a kid when he was extremely old.

Do you think he planned it?

Man, this some historic shit.