Pleasant R. Crump Hall Family Cemetery at Refuge Baptist Church Lincoln, Alabama (Talladega County) Submitted by Jerry Smith Inscription reads: COL. P.R."RIGGS" CRUMP Dec. 23, 1847 Dec 31, 1951 Deacon Refuge Baptist Church 71 Yrs. Separate marker at head: LAST LIVING CONFEDERATE SOLDIER IN ALABAMA LAST LIVING SOLDIER THAT WITNESSED THE SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX, VA. Marker at foot: PLEASANT R CRUMP Pvt Co A 10 ALA INF CONFEDERATE STATES ARMY DEC 23 1847 DEC 31 1951

Photos courtesy of Jerry Smith

DRIVING DIXIE: THE GRAVE OF PLEASANT CRUMP, LINCOLN, AL
by Jerry Smith

 In any old Southern cemetery, the inhabitants who died the oldest are often Confederate veterans. Nobody knows why, but these guys seemed to have had a real grip on life. Born in an era when a man of seventy years was considered ancient, a lot of vets often lived on into their eighties, nineties, even past a hundred. My own great grandfather, Marida Sparks, lived to age 89 with a piece of Yankee shrapnel near his heart, and his daughter, my maternal grandmother, reached 98 in spite of very poor health. And now we come to that valiant soldier, Pleasant Riggs Crump, a local boy who made it into the record books by becoming the last Confederate soldier to die. Awe and simple respect demanded I visit his grave.

 He was 104, and died on New Year's Eve of 1951, eight days after his birthday. According to records and legend, the man lead a vigorous, exemplary life. Although hard of hearing and weak of sight, he flatly refused to wear glasses or a hearing aid, and could work in the fields almost to the day of his passing. He also refused help walking up stairs, and always smoked a corncob pipe. It's said he took a few snorts of medicinal liquor occasionally. According to his granddaughter-in-law, Mrs. Oliver Lee, Pleasant loved pies, cakes and meat, and owned a set of false teeth, but declined using those, too.

 Can you imagine what it must be like to live a hundred years? That's a century, folks. Five score years, with a Biblical expectancy of only three-score and ten. It's 1,200 months; 36,500 days; four hundred seasons; ten decades. More than enough time to have great-great-great grandkids. It boggles the mind and, on today's terms, is just plain scary.

 Born December 23, 1847 in Crawford's Cove near Ashville, "Riggs", as he was called, went to Petersburg, VA with a friend to join the Confederate army in 1864, at age 16. His outfit, Company A of the 10th Alabama Infantry Regiment, fought until the end of the war, and he witnessed the surrender of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Courthouse. He then walked back to Alabama and took up the farm life once again. On Confederate Memorial Day, April 26, 1950, Alabama's other surviving veteran, General James W. Moore of Selma, aged 98, visited the Crump farm to reminisce with "Riggs", who said it was one of his finest experiences.

 After the War, Pleasant soon met and married Mary Hall of Lincoln, AL. They had five kids together and were married thirty years before she died in 1902, exactly 49 years to the day before Pleasant's death in 1951. Three years later he married Ella Wallis of Childersburg, and they were man and wife for thirty-six years. The Crumps lived in a farmhouse just north of Lincoln that Pleasant himself had built, and he occupied this home with his family for seventy-eight years. Unfortunately, the house was demolished sometime in the 1960s.

 It's written that Pleasant was a deeply religious man who had read the entire Bible seven times, and could still quote favorite verses just prior to his death. Pleasant Crump helped organize and build Refuge Baptist Church near Lincoln, assisted in burying the congregation's first dead, and was a deacon of that church for more than seventy-one years. It's said his favorite Scripture was John 14:1, "Let not your heart be troubled...." ; he apparently benefited from this verse.

 There are three markers on his grave; the main stone reads: COL. P.R. "RIGGS" CRUMP DEC.23, 1847 DEC.31, 1951 DEACON REFUGE BAPTIST CHURCH 71 YRS. A marble plaque on the ground beside the tombstone reads: Last Living Confederate Soldier In Alabama, Last Living Soldier That Witnessed The Surrender At Appomattox, VA. There's also a bronze military marker at his feet. Although a private during the war, the honorary title of Colonel was vested upon Crump by President Harry Truman.

 He was known as a cheerful, friendly man, and the Crump home was reputed to be a favorite place for local children. It was shared with a grandson's family from the time of Ellla's death in 1942 until his own passage nine years later.

Pleasant saw it all happen; the War of Northern Attitudes, the invention of electrical machinery, the airplane, automobile, indoor plumbing, movies, radio, sliced bread, Spam, zippers, and almost everything else we take for granted today. His life spanned twenty-three presidencies (including Jefferson Davis, of course), six major wars, several stock market crashes, two long marriages, and the coming of television.

 Pleasant Crump's gravesite is easy to find. Take CR007 northward out of Lincoln, and go about three miles until you see Refuge Baptist Church on your right. The Hall Family Cemetery is across the road, and most of the Crumps' graves are located almost dead center. He is flanked by his two wives, Ella (Wallis) and Mary (Hall) Crump. It's interesting to note the differences in these monuments, one being of the style used around the turn of the century and the others of more modern design. Several other Crumps are buried in that row, and elsewhere on the grounds. The cemetery and church buildings are neat and well-kept, as befits an historical site. As you pass through Lincoln, take serious note of the number of vintage homes and other buildings now undergoing restoration. The old business section is next to the railroad tracks; a real ghost town badly in need of salvation.