The Cavalcade Of Time

I came across this remarkable collection of interviews done in 1929 with Americans born between the years of 1826 (yes, you are reading that correctly) and 1859.  Take a look.

Highlights:

1:15 - Two Confederate Civil War veterans from Missouri.  One describes enlisting, and then fighting the "Dutchmen" (a reference to the heavily pro-Union German  population in the state) in a battle in which "no prisoners were taken on either side".  He then fought under General Price at the battle of Wilson's Creek in August 1861, and states that he witnessed the death of Union General Nathaniel Lyon, whom he calls "the bravest man I ever saw".

3:30 - Lydia Stewart on her 100th birthday, happily announcing that "the first 100 years is the hardest, but that I am here is some consolation."

6:25 - An interview with 103-year old Galusha Marion Cole.  When asked about his politics he responds, "Republican now", but then explains he voted Whig before that.  The last time Whigs fielded candidates was in 1854.

8:30 - 94 year-old Rebecca Latimer, a self described "North Georgia cracker", on her front porch.  She relates an "indistinct recollection" of witnessing the Indian removal of 1837.  A little further research reveals Ms Latimer had quite a biography.  She was the first woman to serve as a U.S. Senator, having been appointed on a brief interim basis by Georgia's governor in 1922.  Latimer was married to William Felton, a Methodist minister, a three term Congressman, and three term state legislator.  She polished his speeches, served as campaign manager, and wrote hundreds of newspaper articles supporting him.  After his death she had her own political career, advocating for the state university, vocational education for poor white girls, and becoming the South's leading proponent of women's suffrage.  Latimer was also a fervent supporter of Jim Crow laws and lynching.  She died in 1930.

12:30 - 70 year old John M Reilly, on his last day of work as an engineer on the New Haven Railroad.