Members of the Grand Army of the Republic Old Abe Post 63 were photographed participating in a Memorial Day program in Superior about 1900. The GAR had posts in Superior, Hardy, Oak, Nelson and Lawrence and held frequent reunions. The last Civil War veteran to be buried in Nuckolls County, Charles Watson, will be honored at his gravesite in Superiorʼs East Evergreen Cemetery at 2 p.m. Sunday. He is thought to be among the veterans pictured in this photo but since the names were not recorded, no one knows for sure.
Area residents are invited to join with historians and descendants of Charles Watson, a Civil War veteran, at 2 p.m. Sunday in the eastern portion of Evergreen Cemetery for a special ceremony held in his honor.
Members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War from Nebraska and Kansas will dedicate a marker recognizing Watson as the last Union solider buried in Nuckolls County. At the time of his death in 1936, he was almost 96 years old and the last living member of Superior's Old Abe Post 63 of the veterans' organization known as the Grand Army of the Republic. Representatives of the Nuckolls County Historical Society have been asked to particpate in the ceremony. The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and local re-enactors in authentic uniforms will conduct the sevice, which includes rituals from ceremonies created by the G.A.R.
Charles Watson was born near Lisbon, Ohio. Sept. 7, 1840. At age 21, he enlisted in the 13th Indiana Infantry and served with the Union Army from 1861 until his discharge in 1864. During this four-year enlistment, Private Watson was wounded three times, On May 10, 1861, he received a gun shot wound through his left thigh. On March 23, 1863, he received a scalp wound and was again wounded in action on May 10, 1864.
He survived several notable battles and sieges includinng the battles of Rich Mounain and First Winchester, Virginia, and the sieges of Suffolk, Virginia, and Fort Wagner, South Carolina.
He returned to Ohio after his military service and married in 1868. The Watsons moved to Nebraska in 1874 and that union produced a son, Joseph Raymond Watson in 1878. In 1882, Charles marred Alice Anna David of Edgar. Their daughter was born in 1885. The Watsons lived in the Superior area for much of their married life.
In 1935, Charles moved to the Nebraska Solidiers and Sailors home in Milford, where he died about nine months later.
His estate settlement notice makes mention of real estate transfer of Lots 10, 11 and 12 in Block 23, Original Town of Superior. A nearby businessman, Grant R. Dodds was appointed administrator of Watson's estate.
In September of 1904, Watson built a home on those three lots. Derek Lipker is now the owner of what was the Watson property.
Similar Last Soldier Markers are being placed in all of Nebraska's 92 counties. Each has a QR code that allows visitors with smartphones to find out more about the organization and veterans such as Private Watson.
There were more than 300 G.A.R. posts in Nebraska and there are more than 20,000 Yankee veterans buried in the state. Nuckolls County posts included Geore R. Thomas post at Nelson. the C. A. Arthur post at Lawrence, the Oak post at Oak, and the Beadle post at Hardy. The Edgar post was at Edgar, and the J. A. Jordan post at Clay Center. In Thayer County the Lew Wallace post was at Hubbell, the Brownlow post at Chester, the E. O. C. Ord post at Carleton and the Elliott post at Davenport. Webster County had the A. E. Burnside post at Bladen, the T. O. Howe post at Guide Rock, and the J. A. Garfield post at Red Cloud.
Jewell County had GAR posts at Burr Oak, Jewell, Webber, Formoso, Mankato, Randall, Esbon, Jewell and Ionia. The White Rock Valley post operated from 1883 to 1885 on the line between Republic and Jewell counties. Republic and Courtland also had their own GAR posts.
A list of Civil War veterans buried in Nuckolls County cemeteries follows.
BOSTWICK CEMETERY
Sephus C. Harris - Civil War
HARDY CITY CEMETERY
John W. Beavers - Civil War
Elijah Spencer Blauvelt - Civil War
John Buss - Civil War)
Joseph I. Craig - Civil War
Charles T. Forsha - Civil War
John Richard Glascock - Civil War
Levi Hayes - Civil War
Henry Clay Hutchinson - Civil War
Hiram H. Kimball - Civil War
Arthur L. Skeels - Civil War
John R. Weimer - Civil War
William Wilkinson - Civil War
LAWRENCE EVERGREEN CEMETERY
S. Peter Christenson - Civil War
Dr. R.A. Hawthorn - Civil War
Joshua Smith Helton - Civil War
Thomas C. Laird - Civil War
William Redinger - Civil War
MT. ZION CEMETERY
Francis Marion Baker - Civil War
Oliver Baker - Civil War
William L. Davis - Civil War
Peter Hoffman - Civil War
Albert Aldrich Joy - Civil War
James M. Sims - Civil War
NELSON CEMETERY
John Benjamin Adamson - Civil War
Relzy Mitchell Aikin - Civil War
Francis Marion Archer - Civil War
Isaac Newton Atkisson - Civil War
William Alexander Baker - Civil War
William P. Baker - Civil War
Daniel R. Ball - Civil War
Voltaire Barker - WW I
Byron B. Bathrick - Civil War
Malcolm O. Bennett - Civil War
William G. Bradley - Civil War
Edgar DeWitt Brown - Civil War
Joseph Riley Buffington - Civil War
Daniel W. Burd - Civil War
James A. Campbell - Civil War
Jonas Carter - Civil War
William F. Carter - Civil War
Milburn Chapman - Civil War
Neri Conner - Civil War
Moses DeHart - Civil War
Jacob Franklin Diehl - Civil War
Elbridge L. Downing - Civil War
John Green Dunken - Civil War
William Hardin Elledge - Civil War
Ira George Foster - Civil War
Alvin Galley - Civil War
Jacob Galley - Civil War
John R. Galusha - Civil War
J. W. Gammill - Civil War
Earlis Burr Gardner - Civil War
Michael Cotton Gress - Civil War (Confederate)
Charles Gress - Civil War
Michael Cotton Gress - Civil War
Joshua Cottingham Harritt - Civil War
Francis Johnston - Civil War
Mark R. Jones - Civil War
William Kinney - Civil War
John W. Kinnison - Civil War
Enos H. Kirk - Civil War
John D. Kirkman - Civil War
Pitheous D. McKinney - Civil War
Alexander Morgan - Civil War
James Blackburn Nesbitt - Civil War
William Wesley Norwood - Civil War
Robert W. Nutter - Civil War
Leonard Phillips - Civil War
Joseph H. Pritts - Civil War
John Randell - Civil War
John Henry Rausher - Civil War
Joseph Washington Register - Civil War (Confederate)
Jacob Ritterbush - Civil War
Alfred G. Robinson - Civil War
Joseph Lafayette Rogers - Nebraska National Guard
George Washington Rouse - Civil War
James H. Ruddell - Civil War (Confederate)
William Smith - Civil War
Abraham Stahl -Civil War
Aaron Stanturf - Civil War
Clark Rodger Stone - Civil War
Albert Edgar Thurber - Civil War
Martin L. Unger - Civil War
Horace H. Warren - Civil War
Jesse Watson White - Civil War
NORA CEMETERY
Solomon Cloud - Civil War
Aaron Day - Civil War
William Fink - Civil War
James Hanthorn - Civil War
Emery Wickliff Lynch - Civil War
Preston H. Williamson - Civil War
OAK GROVE CEMETERY
James M. Allen - Civil War
Job Allen - Civil War
Christopher Columbus Fletcher - Civil War
Robert Hollingworth-Civil War (Navy)
Richard "Dick" H. Jones - Civil War
Daniel Webster Lacey - Civil War
David W. Worden - Civil War
Landa R. Young - Civil War
SACRED HEART CEMETERY
Robert Doran - Civil War
Joseph McIntire - Civil War
SAINT STEPHENS CEMETERY
John Dean - Civil War
Leopold Weick - Civil War
SMITH CEMETERY
John Brush Harris - Civil War
David Weiler Smith - Civil War
SPRING CREEK CEMETERY
Isaac N. Keller - Civil War
William A. Majors - Civil War
Byron Moore - Civil War
Carl Victor Rasmussen - Civil War I
John S. Tipton - Civil War
SUPERIOR EVERGREEN CEMETERY
Thomas E. Baker - Civil War
Henry Clay Boden - Civil War
Edward Bosserman - Civil War
Francis Newton Brokaw - Civil War
Ezra P. Camp - Civil War
John C. Carpenter - Civil War
Aaron M. Clark - Civil War
William Crone - Civil War
John W. Cuff - Civil War
James W. Edenburn - Civil War
William Dysart - Civil War
William Oliver Edersole - Civil War
Thomas Wilsonn Egbert - Civil War
William Foster - Civil War
John Hearne - Civil War
Henry F. Heltman - Civil War
William L. Hilyard - Civil War
William W. Hopper - Civil War
Robert B. Irwin - Civil War
Lorenzo R. King - Civil War
William H. Lamb - Civil War
John A. Larmon - Civil War
George W. Lozier-Civil War (Confererate)
Albert Marshall Lunt - Civil War
Isaac N.W. Mahaffey - Civil War
Benjamin J. McConnell - Civil War
John William Mitchell - Civil War
Frederick "Fred" Moeder - Civil War
William A. Phillips - Civil War
Stephen A. Signor - Civil War
Mathew W. Speer - Civil War
John D. Stine - Civil War
Kellis Madison Tarter - Civil War
Benjamin Thompson - Civil War
David Mann Warren - Civil War
James H. Warren - Civil War
Charles Watson - Civil War
O.C. Williams - Civil War
William A. Wright - Civil War
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