Simon Douglas (c. 1843–1950) was a former slave who lived to become the last

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

soldier in the state of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Douglas was born in about 1843, as a slave on a plantation in

Fairfield County, South Carolina Fairfield County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 20,948. Its county seat is Winnsboro. Fairfield County is part of the Columbia, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area. History 18t ...

. In 1862, during the US Civil War, he went to the front lines as a body servant for his masters' son, in the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

. Douglas became free by 1864 and moved north as a blacksmith and bummer (a nickname for

foragers A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

) of

Maj. Gen. Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his com ...

of the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

. In 1866, Douglas settled in what was to become

Fairview, Bergen County, New Jersey Fairview is a borough located in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough had a total population of 13,835,Hackensack Cemetery Hackensack Cemetery is a cemetery located in Hackensack, New Jersey, United States, founded by Baptists, Dutch Reformed, and Congregational benefactors in the 1890s, as a result of overcrowding in local churchyards and availability of open space. ...

(#4738, Sec 16, Row 12).

References

External links

* 1840s births 1950 deaths People from Fairfield County, South Carolina People from Fairview, New Jersey People of New Jersey in the American Civil War People of South Carolina in the American Civil War 19th-century American slaves African-American centenarians American men centenarians Burials in New Jersey 20th-century African-American people African-American history of New Jersey {{US-army-bio-stub