The Superior Express -

Area residents are invited to join with historians and descendants of Charles Watson, a Civil War veteran, at 2 p.m. Sunday in the eastern portion of Evergreen Cemetery for a special ceremony held in his honor.

Members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War from Nebraska and Kansas will dedicate a marker recognizing Watson as the last Union solider buried in Nuckolls County. At the time of his death in 1936, he was almost 96 years old and the last living member of Superior's Old Abe Post 63 of the veterans' organization known as the Grand Army of the Republic. Representatives of the Nuckolls County Historical Society have been asked to particpate in the ceremony. The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and local re-enactors in authentic uniforms will conduct the sevice, which includes rituals from ceremonies created by the G.A.R.

Charles Watson was born near Lisbon, Ohio. Sept. 7, 1840. At age 21, he enlisted in the 13th Indiana Infantry and served with the Union Army from 1861 until his discharge in 1864. During this four-year enlistment, Private Watson was wounded three times, On May 10, 1861, he received a gun shot wound through his left thigh. On March 23, 1863, he received a scalp wound and was again wounded in action on May 10, 1864.

He survived several notable battles and sieges includinng the battles of Rich Mounain and First Winchester, Virginia, and the sieges of Suffolk, Virginia, and Fort Wagner, South Carolina.

He returned to Ohio after his military service and married in 1868. The Watsons moved to Nebraska in 1874 and that union produced a son, Joseph Raymond Watson in 1878. In 1882, Charles marred Alice Anna David of Edgar. Their daughter was born in 1885. The Watsons lived in the Superior area for much of their married life.

In 1935, Charles moved to the Nebraska Solidiers and Sailors home in Milford, where he died about nine months later.

His estate settlement notice makes mention of real estate transfer of Lots 10, 11 and 12 in Block 23, Original Town of Superior.  A nearby businessman, Grant R. Dodds was appointed administrator of Watson's estate.

In September of 1904, Watson built a home on those three lots. Derek Lipker is now the owner of what was the Watson property.

Similar Last Soldier Markers are being placed in all of Nebraska's 92 counties. Each has a QR code that allows visitors with smartphones to find out more about the organization and veterans such as Private Watson.

There were more than 300 G.A.R. posts in Nebraska and there are more than 20,000 Yankee veterans buried in the state. Nuckolls County posts included Geore R. Thomas post at Nelson. the C. A. Arthur post at Lawrence, the Oak post at Oak, and the Beadle post at Hardy. The Edgar post was at Edgar, and the J. A. Jordan post at Clay Center. In Thayer County the Lew Wallace post was at Hubbell, the Brownlow post at Chester, the E. O. C. Ord post at Carleton and the Elliott post at Davenport. Webster County had the A. E. Burnside post at Bladen, the T. O. Howe post at Guide Rock, and the J. A. Garfield post at Red Cloud.

Jewell County had GAR posts at Burr Oak, Jewell, Webber, Formoso, Mankato, Randall, Esbon, Jewell and Ionia. The White Rock Valley post operated from 1883 to 1885 on the line between Republic and Jewell counties. Republic and Courtland also had their own GAR posts.

A list of Civil War veterans buried in Nuckolls County cemeteries follows.

BOSTWICK CEMETERY

Sephus C. Harris - Civil War

HARDY CITY CEMETERY

John W. Beavers - Civil War

Elijah Spencer Blauvelt - Civil War

John Buss - Civil War)

Joseph I. Craig - Civil War

Charles T. Forsha - Civil War

John Richard Glascock - Civil War

Levi Hayes - Civil War

Henry Clay Hutchinson - Civil War

Hiram H. Kimball - Civil War

Arthur L. Skeels - Civil War

John R. Weimer - Civil War

William Wilkinson - Civil War

LAWRENCE EVERGREEN CEMETERY

S. Peter Christenson - Civil War

Dr. R.A. Hawthorn - Civil War

Joshua Smith Helton - Civil War

Thomas C. Laird - Civil War

William Redinger - Civil War

MT. ZION CEMETERY

Francis Marion Baker - Civil War

Oliver Baker - Civil War

William L. Davis - Civil War

Peter Hoffman - Civil War

Albert Aldrich Joy - Civil War

James M. Sims - Civil War

NELSON CEMETERY

John Benjamin Adamson - Civil War

Relzy Mitchell Aikin - Civil War

Francis Marion Archer - Civil War

Isaac Newton Atkisson - Civil War

William Alexander Baker - Civil War

William P. Baker - Civil War

Daniel R. Ball - Civil War

Voltaire Barker - WW I

Byron B. Bathrick - Civil War

Malcolm O. Bennett - Civil War

William G. Bradley - Civil War

Edgar DeWitt Brown - Civil War

Joseph Riley Buffington - Civil War

Daniel W. Burd - Civil War

James A. Campbell - Civil War

Jonas Carter - Civil War

William F. Carter - Civil War

Milburn Chapman - Civil War

Neri Conner - Civil War

Moses DeHart - Civil War

Jacob Franklin Diehl - Civil War

Elbridge L. Downing - Civil War

John Green Dunken - Civil War

William Hardin Elledge - Civil War

Ira George Foster - Civil War

Alvin Galley - Civil War

Jacob Galley - Civil War

John R. Galusha - Civil War

J. W. Gammill - Civil War

Earlis Burr Gardner - Civil War

Michael Cotton Gress - Civil War (Confederate)

Charles Gress - Civil War

Michael Cotton Gress - Civil War

Joshua Cottingham Harritt - Civil War

Francis Johnston - Civil War

Mark R. Jones - Civil War

William Kinney - Civil War

John W. Kinnison - Civil War

Enos H. Kirk - Civil War

John D. Kirkman - Civil War

Pitheous D. McKinney - Civil War

Alexander Morgan - Civil War

James Blackburn Nesbitt - Civil War

William Wesley Norwood - Civil War

Robert W. Nutter - Civil War

Leonard Phillips - Civil War

Joseph H. Pritts - Civil War

John Randell - Civil War

John Henry Rausher - Civil War

Joseph Washington Register - Civil War (Confederate)

Jacob Ritterbush - Civil War

Alfred G. Robinson - Civil War

Joseph Lafayette Rogers - Nebraska National Guard

George Washington Rouse - Civil War

James H. Ruddell - Civil War (Confederate)

William Smith - Civil War

Abraham Stahl -Civil War

Aaron Stanturf - Civil War

Clark Rodger Stone - Civil War

Albert Edgar Thurber - Civil War

Martin L. Unger - Civil War

Horace H. Warren - Civil War

Jesse Watson White - Civil War

NORA CEMETERY

Solomon Cloud - Civil War

Aaron Day - Civil War

William Fink - Civil War

James Hanthorn - Civil War

Emery Wickliff Lynch - Civil War

Preston H. Williamson - Civil War

OAK GROVE CEMETERY

James M. Allen - Civil War

Job Allen - Civil War

Christopher Columbus Fletcher - Civil War

Robert Hollingworth-Civil War (Navy)

Richard "Dick" H. Jones - Civil War

Daniel Webster Lacey - Civil War

David W. Worden - Civil War

Landa R. Young - Civil War

SACRED HEART CEMETERY

Robert Doran - Civil War

Joseph McIntire - Civil War

SAINT STEPHENS CEMETERY

John Dean - Civil War

Leopold Weick - Civil War

SMITH CEMETERY

John Brush Harris - Civil War

David Weiler Smith - Civil War

SPRING CREEK CEMETERY

Isaac N. Keller - Civil War

William A. Majors - Civil War

Byron Moore - Civil War

Carl Victor Rasmussen - Civil War I

John S. Tipton - Civil War

SUPERIOR EVERGREEN CEMETERY

Thomas E. Baker - Civil War

Henry Clay Boden - Civil War

Edward Bosserman - Civil War

Francis Newton Brokaw - Civil War

Ezra P. Camp - Civil War

John C. Carpenter - Civil War

Aaron M. Clark - Civil War

William Crone - Civil War

John W. Cuff - Civil War

James W. Edenburn - Civil War

William Dysart - Civil War

William Oliver Edersole - Civil War

Thomas Wilsonn Egbert - Civil War

William Foster - Civil War

John Hearne - Civil War

Henry F. Heltman - Civil War

William L. Hilyard - Civil War

William W. Hopper - Civil War

Robert B. Irwin - Civil War

Lorenzo R. King - Civil War

William H. Lamb - Civil War

John A. Larmon - Civil War

George W. Lozier-Civil War (Confererate)

Albert Marshall Lunt - Civil War

Isaac N.W. Mahaffey - Civil War

Benjamin J. McConnell - Civil War

John William Mitchell - Civil War

Frederick "Fred" Moeder - Civil War

William A. Phillips - Civil War

Stephen A. Signor - Civil War

Mathew W. Speer - Civil War

John D. Stine - Civil War

Kellis Madison Tarter - Civil War

Benjamin Thompson - Civil War

David Mann Warren - Civil War

James H. Warren - Civil War

Charles Watson - Civil War

O.C. Williams - Civil War

William A. Wright - Civil War