--- description: The last living child of a Civil War veteran, Irene Triplett still receives a monthly pension from the federal government title: This Is the Last Civil War Pensioner Alive image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Veterans](/tag/veterans/) ## Veterans Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Woman Is the Last Civil War Pensioner Alive ## Video: Reliving Gettysburg: My Weekend As a Civil War Reenactor [Watch (HLS stream): Reliving Gettysburg: My Weekend As a Civil War Reenactor](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nUpzTDB5.m3u8) (5:34)  _Published 2013-07-22. TIME reporter Nate Rawlings joins a group of devout reenactors at Gettysburg, in a season of reenactments honoring Civil War anniversaries._ by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 10, 2014 7:41 PM CUT by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 10, 2014 7:41 PM CUT Irene Triplett, 84, receives a $73.13 monthly [pension payment](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303603904579493830954152394?mod=WSJ%5Fhpp%5FMIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop&mg=reno64-wsj "undefined") from the Department of Veteran Affairs every month. It’s for her father’s military service—in the American Civil War. Triplett is the last child of any Civil War veteran to still receive benefits for the conflict that ended a century-and-a-half ago, the Wall Street _Journal_ reports. Triplett’s father, Mose Triplett, was born in 1846 and joined the Confederate forces in 1862 before deserting and signing up with the Union. In the 1920s, he married a women 50 years his junior, who later gave birth to Irene. 16 widows and children of veterans from the 1898 Spanish-American War still receive benefits from the VA. While the last World War I veteran died in 2011, 4,038 widows and children still get monthly payments for their family members’ service in that conflict. \[[_WSJ_](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303603904579493830954152394?mod=WSJ%5Fhpp%5FMIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop&mg=reno64-wsj "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/95195/civil-war-pensioner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/95195/civil-war-pensioner/"},"headline":"This Woman Is the Last Civil War Pensioner Alive","datePublished":"2014-05-10T19:41:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:46:10.619Z","description":"The last living child of a Civil War veteran, Irene Triplett still receives a monthly pension from the federal government","url":"https://time.com/95195/civil-war-pensioner/","keywords":["Veterans"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/veterans/","name":"Veterans"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/95195/civil-war-pensioner/","name":"This Woman Is the Last Civil War Pensioner Alive"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Reliving Gettysburg: My Weekend As a Civil War Reenactor","description":"TIME reporter Nate Rawlings joins a group of devout reenactors at Gettysburg, in a season of reenactments honoring Civil War anniversaries.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/nUpzTDB5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-07-22T16:57:46.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nUpzTDB5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/95195/civil-war-pensioner/","duration":"PT5M34S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/95195/civil-war-pensioner/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```