Civil War widow dies
The week's news at a glance.
Enterprise, Ala.
The last widow of a Civil War veteran died this week at an Alabama nursing home. Alberta Martin, 97, married the aging former rebel soldier William Jasper Martin in 1927. He was 81 and died four years later. Martin said her husband talked little about the war, except the conditions on a Petersburg, Va., battlefield. “He’d say it was rough,” she said, “how the trenches were full of water. They were so hungry.” Martin, a sharecropper’s daughter, lived in obscurity until Confederate history buffs embraced her in her old age. In 1996, the state of Alabama began sending her $50 a month in widow’s benefits. “She became a symbol,” said historian Wayne Flynt, “like the Confederate battle flag.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
7 recipes for every kind of fall cooking occasion
The Week Recommends Marinated feta; go-to chocolate cake; a fresh way with Brussels: Autumn is not going to know what hit it
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
Why is a government shutdown possible before the election?
Today's Big Question A fight over immigration, spending and the future of House Speaker Mike Johnson
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
DOJ charges 2 in white nationalist 'Terrorgram' plot
Feds say Dallas Humber and Matthew Allison were plotting assassinations through a terrorist network on Telegram
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published