Who was Wilcox County, Alabama's last surviving Confederate veteran?

Benjamin Darius Portis

I always enjoy hearing from readers of the newspaper, and during the past week I received a nice e-mail from a gentleman named Wayne Roney. Roney is conducting some historical research and was hoping that the newspaper might be of some assistance.

Roney’s research indicated that the last Confederate veteran living in Wilcox County was Winston Hunter Boykin, who served as a private in Co. D of the 3^rd Alabama Cavalry. Boykin died in Camden on June 10, 1937 and he was buried in the Camden Cemetery. Roney wondered if the newspaper’s archives might have any additional information on Boykin.

With this in mind, I delved into the old papers and found that a lengthy obituary for Boykin was published in the June 17, 1937 edition of The Wilcox Progressive Era. The newspaper said that the “passing of the old regime with its beautiful memories and historic associations was brought to us with much force last Thursday morning, June 10, 1937, by the death of Mr. Winston H. Boykin at his home here after a lingering illness. He held ever to the tenets of the Old South, for whose independence he served in the Confederate Army.”

However, Boykin was not Wilcox County’s last surviving Confederate veteran. According to old editions of The Wilcox Progressive Era, Wilcox County’s last surviving Confederate veteran was Benjamin Darius Portis, who passed away at the age of 94 on June 21, 1937 at Lower Peach Tree, 11 days after the death of Boykin. Portis was born at Lower Peach Tree on Feb. 22, 1843 to Solomon Wilder Portis and Julia Jones Portis, who moved to Alabama from North Carolina in 1819.

Portis, with the permission of his parents, volunteered for the Confederate Army and became a member of the Sixth Alabama Infantry. He went on to fight in the battles at Cold Harbor, Malvern Hill, Spotsylvania Court House and the siege at Petersburg. He was severely wounded at Boonsboro Gap in Maryland in September 1862, three days before the Battle of Antietam.

Portis was sent home to recuperate from his wounds and returned to his regiment in August 1863. Newspaper accounts say that at the end of the war, Portis was one of General Robert E. Lee’s “tattered and hungry soldiers who laid down their arms at Appomattox. He believed in all his soul in the cause of the Confederacy, but after that cause was lost, he adapted himself to changed conditions, did his part during the dark days of Reconstruction and was a loyal citizen of the United States.”

Except for his time in the army, Portis lived almost his entire life in Lower Peach Tree and served as a Justice of the Peace for 50 years. He also joined the Methodist Episcopal Church South at a young age and served as a church steward for all of his adult life. A staunch Democrat, it was said that he voted for Jefferson Davis for President of the Confederacy and after the war, he voted in every national, state and local election that was held during his lifetime.

When Portis died, he was buried in the Portis Cemetery at Lower Peach Tree “where for more than a hundred years past, members of his family have been sleeping. In compliance with his wish, only the simple, beautiful burial service of his church was read.” His simple headstone reads, “Benjamin D. Portis – Feb. 22, 1843 – June 21, 1937 – Co. I, 6^th Alabama Infantry, C.S.A.”