WSFA 12 News Montgomery, AL |Last Confederate Widow Laid to Rest

Last Confederate Widow Laid to Rest

She was the country's last Confederate widow. Now, Alberta Martin is gone. She was laid to rest Saturday, after passing away at a nursing home in Enterprise on Memorial Day. Martin died of complications from a heart attack. She was 97 years old.

Confederate history buffs around the country had the highest respect for Martin. The commander of a Montgomery camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans met her on several occasions.

George Gayle says Martin loved to talk about her husband. She was married to William Jasper Martin, a former Private in the 4th Alabama Infantry. She talked about him to WSFA 12 News several years ago from her nursing home.

"He had a stocky build," she recalled of her husband. "He had a high temper. He wore a mustache."

Martin doesn't have any personal memories of the Civil War. She hadn't been born then. She married well after the fighting ended in 1927. At the time, her husband was 81 years old and she was only 21.

Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans embraced Martin in her later years. They took her to several confederate rallies and demonstrations across the country. The organization also helped look out for her.

After all, Gayle says the organization was originally founded for that reason--"to take care of Confederate veterans, their widows, and their children."

Martin received financial assistance from the state of Alabama. The Confederate Widow's Pension Fund paid her $2,500 per month. The payments were sometimes seen as controversial and were even suspended for a short period of time.

The Alabama legislature established the fund, which is taken from state property tax revenues, in 1899. As the number of Confederate widows began to dwindle, the money was redirected to various state agencies, including the Department of Human Resources, the Alabama Historical Commission, and the Veteran's Assistance Fund.

Now, with Martin's death, comes the end of an era. "She was an icon," exclaimed Gayle. "The last link to the confederate veteran is lost now."

He and other Confederate history buffs from across the country attended her funeral on June 12th in authentic Confederate clothing. They marched behind a horse-drawn casket in a ceremony similar to those for fallen Confederate soldiers. Martin asked that the event be held in her hometown of Elba, so she could be buried next to her husband at Ebenezer Baptist Church cemetery.

Reporter: Mark Bullock