Baldwin County (Georgia) Cemeteries

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Benjamin Curtwright Ward

Dec 12, 1847 - Feb 29, 1940

Cemetery: Memory Hill
East Side, Section H, Lot 48, Grave 6
-- See section's Lot Layout map on Memory Hill website. (Map will open in a new window.)

Inscription and Notes:


Last surviving Baldwin County Civil War veteran. Georgia Military Institute cadet.
Military Service: Confederate States of America
Co. H., 1st KY Cav.

Benjamin Curtwright Ward (1847-1940) was the last surviving Confederate veteran in Baldwin County. He had been a cadet at the Georgia Military Institute in Marietta at the outbreak of the war. Even though he was only 15 he enlisted in the Confederate army.

Little hope held for Judge Ward's recovery (Union Recorder, Feb 29, 1940)

Judge B. C. Ward, Milledgeville and Baldwin County's last surviving Confederate veteran is desperately ill at the Baldwin Memorial Hospital, and no hope for his recovery is held by his loved ones, physicians and nurses.

Judge Ward was seriously injured Saturday evening, Feb 17th, when he fell from the back porch of his home, injuring his head. A physician was hastily summoned, and it was realized that he was painfully hurt, and had received a severe nervous shock.

His condition did not improve after a few days and he was carried to the Baldwin Memorial Hospital, where his constitution, on account of his old age, gradually yielded and he grew worse, passing into unconsciousness Tuesday. As this paper goes to press Wednesday night, it is realized that the end may come at any moment.

Judge Ward passed his ninety-second birthday last December, but up to the time of his accident was active, coming from his home twice daily to his office at the court house, in connection with his duties as Justice of the Peace, and looked after other business interests, and circulated among his friends in the business section of the city. Judge Ward was a youth when the War Between the States came on. He was a cadet at a military college at Marietta and left that institution and enlisted in the Confederate army. He saw service in Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina, and laid down his arms when it became known that General Lee had surrendered. He has always been true and loyal to the Lost Cause and the South and has taken interest in the Confederate organizations.

Baldwin's last Confederate veteran buried (Union Recorder, March 7, 1940)

[Some of the article omitted]

Judge Ward is survived by his wife who before her marriage, Feb 29th, 1876, was Miss Matilda Cochran of Jasper county; one son, Dr. J. B. Ward of Macon; two daughters, Mrs. W. M. Blackwell, of Milledgeville; and Miss Sarah Ward, Dean of Women at West Georgia College at Carrollton; and three grandchildren, Ernest W. Lowe, of Birmingham, Alabama; Mrs. Remer Kent, of Jacksonville, Florida; and Kenan Ward, of Gainesville, Georgia.

Benjamin Cutright Ward was born in Butts county Dec. 13th, 1847, which made him 92 years of age at the time of his death. He was taught in his home by William Seward, who afterwards became Secretary of State in President Lincoln's Cabinet.

It is a matter of history that his father, Major B. F. Ward, who was a prominent Legislator, suggested to Secretary Seward, after he had become Secretary of State, that he purchase Alaska for the United States.

[Summary of next paragraph:] He enlisted in Company H. First Regiment Kentucky Calvary at the beginning of the war.

At the close of hostilities, he went to Texas, where he spent a few years, later returning to his former home in Butts county, where he lived until about 20 years ago when he came to Milledgeville.

[Summary of next paragraph:] He served there as a Justice of the Peace. After he came to Milledgeville, he served as a watchman at the Georgia State College for Women for 8 years.

For 12 years prior to his death, he held the office of the Justice of the Peace of the city district. Judge Ward was a member of George Doles Camp, No. 730, U. C. V. [United Confederate Veterans, which is the organization that preceeded the SCV] , and served as treasurer and then as Commander for a number of years. Later he was made an honorary member of Camp Dan Sanford, Sons of Confederate Veterans.

After he became the only surviving veteran in the county, he was made an honor guest on several occasions by the members of the R. E. Lee Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy. He was commissioned as a Brigadier General of the United Confederate Veterans as Commander of the East Georgia Division.

[Summary of next paragraph:] A member of the Baptist Church.

He will always be honored by our people, as they year after year pay tribute to the heroes of the Gray who sleep in Milledgeville's cemetery.


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