Posted
6/11/2004 05:53:00 PM
by Douglas
Why would a 21 year old widow marry an 81 year old Civil War Veteran? For the
state funeral, of course.
Three days of tributes to Alberta Martin, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, began Thursday with her body lying in repose at the First White House of the Confederacy as re-enactors in gray uniforms stood guard.
Gov. Bob Riley, first in the line of mourners, placed a wreath of magnolias beside her wooden casket. A Confederate battle flag covered the casket, as Martin had requested.
That really is an incredible story. Two words I hope don't appear in my obituary:
re-enactors and
musket.