Corporal James Blunt Dunn, the last Civil War veteran buried in Rock County, who died at age 93 in 1938, will be honored in a ceremony at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 1, at Maplewood Cemetery in Luverne.
The ceremony is open to veterans, those with an interest in Civil War history and the general public. Corporal Dunn’s descendants are most cordially invited to attend as special guests.
The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) will conduct the ceremony with the assistance of the Rock County Historical Society and the local chapter of the American Legion.
The SUVCW, with great assistance by the Rock County Historical Society, did extensive research to locate this last American Civil War veteran in Rock County.
In addition to the online research, Walk and Search Specialist Chuck Lursen from Fulda worked to find Civil War veterans in Rock County.
The original list provided to Chuck and his team had five veterans listed; they found 110.
SUVCW William Colvill Camp #56, Department of Wisconsin, will preside over the ceremony. The ceremony will feature the Last Soldier dedication ritual of the SUVCW and includes the placing of a Last Soldier Marker on the veteran’s grave.
The Department of Wisconsin, whose territory is the entire states of Wisconsin and Minnesota, supports the national goal of identifying and placing a marker on the grave of the last Union veteran buried in each of Minnesota’s 87 counties.
The members of Camp #56 consider the Last Soldier ceremony an honor and a fitting tribute for a Union soldier whose service helped preserve the liberties Americans enjoy as a nation today.
About James Dunn
James Blunt Dunn enlisted on March 2, 1865, as a private and he mustered into Company A of the Wisconsin 52nd Infantry. His regiment was assigned to duty in western Missouri and Kansas to protect the men building railways and restrain the depredations of lawless men. His pension record states that he suffered a broken left arm and fractured wrist during his four months of service.
He was mustered out on July 28, 1865, at Leavenworth, Kansas, as a corporal.
About the SUVCW
The SUVCW is a national veterans organization made up of the descendants of Union soldiers who fought in the Civil War.
The SUVCW has more than 6,000 members across the country and is the successor to the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R), the veterans organization formed after the Civil War by soldiers who served in the Union Army. The last member of the G.A.R., Albert Woolson of Duluth, Minnesota, died in 1956.