Sylvester Magee was born a slave, enlisted in the war as a Confederate, defected and fought for the Union, then lived to be 130 years old.
Bettmann / Getty ImagesSylvester Magee , a former slave , on his suppose 124th natal day .
On Oct. 5 , 1971 , an old man named Sylvester Magee died . Although he had no birth certificate or any live on kin group to corroborate his narration , hesaid he was 130 years old . Not only that , he claimed to be the last surviving American slave , the last surviving Union veteran of the Civil War , and also – weirdly – the last surviving Confederate . But how accurate are his claims ?
The Origins Of Sylvester Magee’s Wild Tale
Sylvester Magee say he was born in North Carolina on May 29 , 1841 . His parents Ephriam and Jeanette were slave on the J.J. Shanks plantation , where Sylvester ferment until he was 19 . It was then he was sold to a striver proprietor diagnose Hugh Magee , who possess the Lone Star Plantation in Covington County , Miss.
At the beginning of theCivil Warin 1861 , Sylvester Magee act as an limb - bearer to his master key , which made him ade factoConfederate soldier .
Sometime between 1861 and 1863 , Magee was sold to slaveowner Victory Steen in Florence , Miss. , but in 1863 he bunk to the North and enlisted in the Union army . Supposedly , he took part in the rape on Vicksburg and the Battle of Champion Hill . decade after the war , he recalled his time :
Bettmann/Getty ImagesSylvester Magee, a former slave, on his supposed 124th birthday.
“ I was 22 year old , and all I had ever get laid was plough , dispute and picking cotton , sawing logarithm and doing other things on a farm . But 382 blacks and 500 whites were given retentive - barrel rifle , many of them in the same boat as me . One hapless white boy cried most of the time . I tried to solace him , state him he had n’t done anything to anybody and the good Lord just would n’t let nothing happen to him . But he shout right on . ”
Until the early 1900s , he moved around do odd jobs . lastly , he found work as a sawmill operator for $ 10 a week .
His Later Years
Bettmann / Getty ImagesSylvester Magee , light an old - fashioned oil lamp in the two - way cabin where he lives alone .
It was n’t until Sylvester Magee allegedly turned a whopping 124 years old that his news report became national intelligence .
In 1965 , an amateur historiographer name A.P. Andrews went to Hattiesburg , Miss. to interview Magee . It was then that Magee claimed he was a veteran of the Confederate army , the Union army , and a former slave , which would have made him the last outlast slave .
Bettmann/Getty ImagesSylvester Magee, lights an old-fashioned oil lamp in the two-room cabin where he lives alone.
Andrews ’ interview with Magee received national attending . Stories about old slave were commonplace , but one about the former slave , not to remark his USA record , were of special interest . As more people became fascinated with his story , other reporters , powder store , and newspapers came onward hoping to get in on the military action . By the time Sylvester Magee died in 1971 , there were troves of interview materials file away away .
In 2016 , a account prof at the University of Southern Mississippi named Max Grivno upraise the case . In his enquiry , he name several boxes of folders , scrapbooks and audio recordings of interviews with Magee that had gone unswayed for 40 years .
Unfortunately , nothing in them confirm his age or waste tales about serving both side of the Civil War . Even among the extensive enquiry in the box seat , there was no birth certificate or enlistment record .
What was there , however , was certification from Alfred P. Andrews , the founder of the Jackson Civil War Round Table that Magee had been classified as a Civil War old hand . Andrews claimed that historians say it would have been impossible for Magee to have relay such elaborated accounts of Civil War battles without having live through them , especially considering the fact that he was totally illiterate .
Among the research , there was also proof that he had had a 124th birthday party .
On May 29 , 1965 , Governor Paul Johnson declared the daytime “ Sylvester Magee Day ” in Collins , Miss. , where he host a birthday political party at a country memory in Magee ’s honor . A life indemnity companionship also declared him the oldest living U.S. citizen , and President Lyndon B. Johnsonsent him a natal day card .
Next , break out thestory of Cudjo Lewis , the last slave institute to America . Then , take about the Clotilda , the ship he came here on .
