Last living recipient of a Civil War pension. Her father, Mose Triplett, enlisted in the 53rd North Carolina Infantry Regiment in May 1862, then transferred to the 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment early the following year. He fell ill as his regiment marched north toward Gettysburg and remained behind in a Virginia military hospital. Records show he ran away from the hospital, made his way to Tennessee and, in 1864, enlisted in a Union regiment, the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry which carried out a campaign of sabotage against Confederate targets in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. That decision earned his daughter, the product of a late-in-life marriage to a woman almost 50 years his junior, a pension of $73.13 a month from the Department of Veterans Affairs, qualifying for federal financial support as a helpless adult child of a veteran. Both mother and daughter suffered from mental disabilities and lived for years in the Wilkes County poorhouse. Irene later moved through a number of care homes, her costs covered by Medicaid and her tiny VA pension. Irene died from complications following surgery for injuries from a fall, according to the Wilkesboro, NC, nursing home where she lived.

Last living recipient of a Civil War pension. Her father, Mose Triplett, enlisted in the 53rd North Carolina Infantry Regiment in May 1862, then transferred to the 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment early the following year. He fell ill as his regiment marched north toward Gettysburg and remained behind in a Virginia military hospital. Records show he ran away from the hospital, made his way to Tennessee and, in 1864, enlisted in a Union regiment, the 3rd North Carolina Mounted Infantry which carried out a campaign of sabotage against Confederate targets in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. That decision earned his daughter, the product of a late-in-life marriage to a woman almost 50 years his junior, a pension of $73.13 a month from the Department of Veterans Affairs, qualifying for federal financial support as a helpless adult child of a veteran. Both mother and daughter suffered from mental disabilities and lived for years in the Wilkes County poorhouse. Irene later moved through a number of care homes, her costs covered by Medicaid and her tiny VA pension. Irene died from complications following surgery for injuries from a fall, according to the Wilkesboro, NC, nursing home where she lived.

Bio by: Eireannach