Before the Glorious Cause Faded from Memory: The Story of the Last Living Veterans of the American Revolution
This grainy black and white photo with stacked rifles off to the side showing a man dressed in militaristic homespun garb not unlike a Confederate soldier from the American Civil War was taken in early 1862. That year was one of the peak years of the War Between the States--a year that saw some of that war’s deadliest and most bloody battles; when the fate of the United States of America itself as a nation hung in the balance with every passing day. And this photo does depict an American soldier--albeit a one-hundred year old American soldier--but what makes this Victorian Era photograph so remarkable is that it isn’t a photograph of a soldier serving in the Union or Confederate armies, but rather, it depicts a man who served under George Washington during America’s War for Independence. That man’s name was Nicholas Gerrit Veeder and just below you can see a colorized version that shows that Mr. Veeder proudly posed in his old blue Continental Army uniform. Ni...