List of last surviving veterans of military operations

This is a chronological list of the last known surviving veterans of battles, sieges, campaigns, and other military operations throughout history. The listed operations span from the 5th century BC to the end of World War II. Excluded from this list are last living veterans of wars and insurgencies.

Pre-17th century Engagement Starting date Service Name Lifespan NotesBattle of Thermopylae30 August/ 8–10 September, 480 BC Spartan ArmyAristodemus of Sparta?–479 BCKilled in action at Plataea.Battle of Badr13 March 624Muslim ArmyAbu al-Yusr Ka'b ibn Amr599–675Last soldier to serve under Muhammad at the battle.Battle of Hastings14 October 1066 Norman ArmyRobert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicesterc.1050 – 1118Last Norman nobleman to participate.

17th century Engagement Starting date Service Name Lifespan NotesBattle of Edgehill23 October 1642 Royalist ArmyWilliam Hiseland1620–1732Last veteran of the English Civil War.Battle of Killiecrankie27 July 1689 Scottish militiaJohn Dennisc.1668 – 1770

18th century Engagement Starting date Service Name Lifespan NotesBattle of Malplaquet11 September 1709 British ArmyAmbrose Tennantc.1693 – 1800Battle of Sheriffmuir13 November 1715John Hastie1698–1798Battle of Culloden16 April 1746 Jacobite ArmyAuld Dubrach1714?–1824Claimed last Jacobite.Siege of Fort William Henry3 August 1757 British ArmyDavid Thompson Jr.1736–1836Siege of Louisbourg8 June 1758James Thompson1733–1830Served as an engineer.Battle of Quebec13 September 1759Siege of Havana6 June 1762Ezekiel Blackmar1742–1841Battle of Point Pleasant10 October 1774 Virginia militiaSamuel Bonnifield1752–1848Battles of Lexington and Concord19 April 1775 Massachusetts MinutemenJonathan Harrington1758–1854Last Lexington veteran.Amos Baker1756–1850Last Concord veteran.Battle of Kings Mountain7 October 1780 Continental ArmyRobert Henry1767–1863Battle of Dogger Bank5 August 1781 Dutch Royal Navy1764–1856Served on Admiraal Piet Hein.Battle of Groton Heights6 September 1781 Continental ArmyRobert Gallup1760–1858Siege of Yorktown28 September 1781John Gray1764–1868Battle of Turnhout27 October 1789 Brabant Revolutionary ArmyAntoon Coninckx-Bollen1775–1868Battle of Maciejowice10 October 1794 Polish ArmyAntoni Piórecki1764–1870Battle of Cape St Vincent14 February 1797 British Royal NavyHenry King1783–1874Served on .

19th century Engagement Starting date Service Name Lifespan NotesBattle of Trafalgar21 October 1805 Spanish NavyGaspar Costela Vasquez1787–1892Served on Santa Ana. French NavyEmmanuel Louis Cartigny1790–1892Served on Redoutable. British Royal NavyJoseph Sutherland1789–1890Served on .Battle of Austerlitz2 December 1805 French ArmyPhilippe C. Drummel1797–1892Battle of Corunna16 January 1809 British ArmyThomas Palmer1789–1889French invasion of Russia24 June 1812 French ArmyNicolas Savin1792?–1894 Russian Army1785–1892Battle of Smolensk16 August 1812 French ArmyHector Nizole1793–1893USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere19 August 1812 United States NavyJoseph Burrows TifftzWilliam H. Garland, 1804–1903, was the last veteran mentioned in newspaper articles but the USS Constitution Museum mentions no muster rolls with his name on it. Instead, Joseph B. Tifftz (or Tift) is the last sailor listed on the museum's site to be present during the battle.1782–1878Served on .Battle of Borodino7 September 1812 Russian Army1785–1892Capture of USS Chesapeake1 June 1813 British Royal NavyProvo Wallis1791–1892Served on . United States NavyBenjamin Trefethen1790–1886Served on .Battle of the Thames5 October 1813 United States ArmyDavid McCoy1790–1895Battle of Leipzig16 October 1813 Austrian ArmyAnton Lipp1793?–1895 Russian Army1785–1892Battle of Paris30 March 1814 French ArmyÉmile Mellinet1798–1894 Russian Army1785–1892Battle of Baltimore12 September 1814 United States ArmyElijah Bouldin Glenn1796–1898Battle of North PointWilliam Welsh1800–1894Battle of New Orleans8 January 1815Joseph Coffman1804–1897Battle of Ligny16 June 1815 French ArmyConstantin Benoit Joseph Denis1793–1893Battle of Waterloo1793–1898 British ArmyFerdinand Scharnhorst1799–1893King's German Legion.Battle of Quatre Bras18 June 1815 French Army1793–1898Siege of Salvador2 July 1823Imperial Brazilian NavyMarquis of Tamandaré1807–1897Served on frigate NiteróiBattle of Juncal9 February 1827 Argentine NavyEnrique Sinclair1805–1904Battle of Navarino20 October 1827 British Royal NavyJohn W. Stainer1808–1907Served on . French NavyLouis Pèlabon1814–1906Served on Sirène.Ten Days' Campaign2 August 1831 Dutch Royal ArmyCorstiaan Hagers1811–1915Last holder of the . Belgian Revolutionary ArmyJean-Philippe Lavallé1809–1913Fought at Leuven.Battle of the Alamo23 February 1836 Texan ArmyBenjamin Franklin Highsmith1817–1905Left as a courier during the siege.Battle of San Jacinto21 April 1836William Physick Zuber1820–1913Battle of Sidi Brahim22 September 1845 French ArmyGuillaume Rolland1821–1915Siege of Fort Texas3 May 1846 United States ArmyJosiah Turner1826–1916Battle of Monterey7 July 1846Anson A. Pike1820–1916Siege of Veracruz9 March 1847 United States NavyOwen Thomas Edgar1831–1929Served on .Battle of Churubusco20 August 1847 Mexican ArmyAntonio Rincón Gallardo1833–1928 United States ArmyAmasa Gleason Clark1825–1927Battle for Mexico City8 September 1847 United States NavyOwen Thomas Edgar1831–1929Served on .Battle of Chapultepec12 September 1847 United States ArmyCalvin E. Myers1830–1928Battle of Isaszeg6 April 1849 Hungarian Revolutionary ArmyJózsef Fischl1827–1929Battle of Segesvár31 July 1849Battle of Bomarsund21 June 1854 British Royal NavyFrancis John Peake Shapcote1837–1937Served on .Charge of the Light Brigade25 October 1854 British ArmyEdwin Hughes1830–1927Thin Red LineCharles Ellingworth1833–1927Battle of Inkerman5 November 1854Joseph Pritchard Wellspring1839–1933Battle of the Eureka Stockade3 December 1854 Stockade rebelsWilliam Edward Atherdon1838–1936The Defence of the Magazine at Delhi11 May 1857 British East India CompanyJohn Buckley1813–1876Battle of Magenta4 June 1859 Sardinian ArmySimone Piffaretti1843–1940Battle of Solferino24 June 1859 Austrian ArmyAnton Neubauer1836–1941 Sardinian ArmySimone Piffaretti1843–1940Battle of Fort Sumter12 April 1861 Union ArmyWilliam Henry Hamner1838–1925Battle of Philippi3 June 1861James Wesley Bodley1842–1935Battle of Boonville17 June 1861Charles John Walden1844–1932First Battle of Bull Run21 July 1861James Hard1841–1951Battle of Hampton Roads8 March 1862 Confederate NavyJohn Patrick Kevill1844–1941Served on CSS Virginia. Union NavyJohn Ambrose Driscoll1839–1921Served on .Battle of Shiloh6 April 1862 Union ArmyDaniel A. Wedge1841–1947Andrews' Raid12 April 1862John Reed Porter1838–1923 Confederate ArmyHenry P. Haney1846–1923Battle of Puebla5 May 1862 Mexican ArmyFrancisco Arellano Zenteno1842–1935Seven Days Battles25 June 1862 Union ArmyJames Hard1841–1951Battle of Gaines's Mill27 June 1862Battle of Malvern Hill1 July 1862Battle of Fort Ridgely20 September 1862Charles Marian Culver1849–1943Battle of Antietam17 September 1862James Hard1841–1951Battle of Fredericksburg11 December 1862Charles Douglass1847–1950Battle of Stones River31 December 1862 Confederate ArmySamuel Merrill Raney1847–1950 Union ArmyGeorge Washington Grizzle1845–1949Battle of Chancellorsville30 April 1863James Hard1841–1951 Battle of Camerone 30 April 1863 French Army(French Foreign Legion) 1843–1904 Served in the 3rd company of the 1st Foreign Regiment.Siege of Vicksburg18 May 1863 Union ArmyDerritt Higgins Chapman1845–1948 Confederate ArmySolomon Bedford Strickland1839?–1947Morgan's Raid11 June 1863 Union ArmyThomas F. Ambrose1849–1949Battle of Gettysburg1 July 1863James Marion Lurvey1847–1950 Confederate ArmyJames D. DickersonIn his book The South's Last Boys in Gray, Vol. III, (2010) Dr. Jay S. Hoar names Jeremiah William Patrick O'Brien (1844–1950) as the last Confederate participant of the battle. Though O'Brien claimed four years of service, more recent research included in Damian Shiel's book Irish in the American Civil War (2013) puts his known enlistment date as 15 May 1864, almost a full year after the battle. For this reason, the penultimate veteran mentioned by Dr. Hoar is included in this article.1844–1948Second Battle of Fort Wagner18 July 1863 Union ArmyEli G. Biddle1846–1940Last member of the 54th Massachusetts.Defence of Pukekohe East13 September 1863 British ArmyJoseph Corbett Scott1838–1940Battle of Chickamauga18 September 1863 Union ArmyWilliam Evan Whittinghill1848–1949Battle of Missionary Ridge25 November 1863Battle of Dybbøl7 April 1864 Danish ArmyOve Henning Jacobsen1841–1941Battle of the Wilderness5 May 1864 Union ArmyJohn Henry Grate1845–1949Battle of Spotsylvania Court House8 May 1864Charles H. Duckworth1846–1949Battle of Heligoland9 May 1864 Danish Royal NavyHans Hansen1842–1939Served on Jylland.Battle of New Market15 May 1864 Union ArmyCharles H. Duckworth1846–1949Siege of Petersburg15 June 1864 Confederate ArmyPleasant Crump1847–1951 Union ArmyCharles Lysander Chappel1847–1949Battle of Cherbourg19 June 1864 Union NavyWilliam Alsdorf1843–1933Served on . Confederate NavyArthur Sinclair1837–1925Served on CSS Alabama.Battle of the Crater30 July 1864 Confederate ArmyTheodore Norman Mayo1845–1948 Union ArmyAlvin Smith1843–1948Battle of Mobile Bay2 August 1864 Union NavyHenry Doll1848–1947Served on .Sherman's March to the Sea15 November 1864 Union ArmyJohn Simon Dumser1847–1949Battle of Franklin30 November 1864Michael Joseph Thralls1843–1950Battle of Nashville15 December 1864Second Battle of Fort Fisher13 January 1865 Confederate ArmyGeorge Washington Benson1846–1948 Union NavyHenry Doll1848–1947Served on .Battle of Bentonville19 March 1865 Confederate ArmyRuffin Van Buren Collie1844–1951 Union ArmyJohn Simon Dumser1847–1949Wilson's Raid22 March 1865Charles H. Duckworth1846–1949Battle of Palmito Ranch12 May 1865 Confederate ArmyHenry Spangler1845–1938Battle of Lissa20 July 1866 Italian Royal NavyGiovanni Simoncini1840?–1940Served on Gaeta.Paris Commune18 March 1870 Communard revolutionariesAdrien Lejeune1847–1942 French ArmyEugène François Louis Liné1850–1940Battle of Bazeilles1 September 1870Alexandre Rioland1847–1935Siege of Paris19 September 18701850–1941Second Battle of Adobe Walls27 June 1874Comanche warriorsYellowfish1856–1943 Adobe Walls bison huntersWesley Kavanaugh Myers1854–1939Battle of the Little Bighorn25 June 1876Lakota warriorsDewey "Iron Hail" Beard1858–1955Miniconjou Lakota. United States ArmyCharles Windolph1851–1950Battle of Rorke's Drift22 January 1879 British ArmyFrank Bourne1854–1945Battle of Iquique21 May 1879 Chilean Navy1861–1958Served on Esmeralda.Battle of Angamos8 October 1879 Peruvian NavyManuel Elías Bonnemaison1862–1961Served on Huáscar.Battle of Majuba Hill27 February 1881 Boer ArmyJacob Coetzer1866–1969Battle of Fish Creek24 April 1885 Canadian ArmyWilliam Dickie Mills1866–1971Battle of Batoche9 May 1885Battle of Dogali26 January 1887 Italian Royal ArmyLuigi Zoli1865–1956Battle of Adwa1 March 1896Luigi Naccarato1870–1975Battle of Manila Bay1 May 1898 United States NavyArchibald M. Forbis1878–1981Served on .Battle of San Juan Hill1 July 1898 United States ArmyRalph Waldo Taylor1882–1987Siege of Baler Spanish ArmyEmilio Fabregat Fabregat1878–1960Battle of Omdurman2 September 1898 British ArmyJames Richard Miles1879–1977Battle of Sugar Point5 October 1898 United States ArmyHubert V. Eva1869–1971Battle of Spion Kop23 January 1900 Boer ArmyPieter Arnoldus Krueler1885–1986Siege of Catubig15 April 1900 United States ArmyWilliam John Otjen1879–1973

20th century