Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 7:36am

Johnny Reb?

Something for the weekend.  The things you find on the internet!  Johnny Horton in 1958 singing his hit song Johnny Reb to Walter G. Williams, the supposed last surviving veteran of the Civil War.

Shaun Mather at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame describes the incident:

The first night in July saw them back at Bradley’s Barn where they worked up a  follow up, Johnny Reb. Penned by Merle Kilgore, it was another saga song, even  having the marching drum beat. Horton’s own, Words was a nice ballad and  Driftwood’s, Sal’s Got A Sugarlip was a mid tempo novelty item with a semi  Slow Diddley beat, which he recut on the 6th. Johnny Reb and the later take  of Sal were issued before the end of the month. In a glorious publicity stunt,  Horton visited the last survivor from the Civil War, 116 year old General  Walter Williams. His daughter cranked up his hearing aid too high and as  soon as Horton started singing, Williams grabbed for his ears, a grimes  across his face. Horton thought the old timer didn’t like his song, but  once the problem had been sorted out, they tried again. This time the  veteran tapped his foot and was moved to tears. Slightly disappointedly,  Johnny Reb only reached fifty-four on the pop charts but rose to number  nine on the country charts.

Mr. Williams died in 1959.  Alas, researchers after his death concluded that he was probably a fake Confederate veteran.  Williams claimed to have been a foragemaster in Hood’s Texas brigade and to have ridden with Quantrill’s raiders.  Williams said he had been born in 1842.  The 1860 census listed him as five years old.  The National Archives listed no Walter G. Williams as having served from either his birth state of Mississippi or the state of Texas where Williams’ family settled and where Williams resided.

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