From the May 22nd Birmingham (Al) News by Greg Garrison. (Civil War Interactive News)
You might think that not only the veterans who fought in the war are long dead, but their wives and children as well, but not so. There are even a few widows left and a fair number of children.
Tyrus K. Denney, 90, likes to say he doesn't know much about the the Civil War, but does know his father fought in it. His dad was 80 when Tyrus was born!!
He is retired, but keeps busy harvesting honey from ten beehives behind his home.
Tyrus was 13 when his father died and remembers that he never talked about the war.
His father was Thomas Jefferson Denney and was born in 1846 and about 18 when he enlisted in Co. H, 31st Alabama in 1862. Union forces captured him near Marietta, Georgia, June 15, 1864, and he was held prisoner at the infamous Rock Island prison in Illinois, signing his OA June 18, 1865.
T.J. Denney was in his 80s when he married his last wife, Dora, a widow. She was in her40s when Tyrus was born and they had three children together. T.J. died at age 91 in 1934. Tyrus was born May 8, 1921.
According to the SCV, during the depression, a lot of young women married old veterans because of their $13-$20 pensions they received, a lot of money back then.
Tyrus had three children and is a veteran of World War II where he served as a machine gunner. He is one of the last-living "Real Sons" according to the Sons of Confederate Veterans. They believe that there are still eight "Real Sons" in Alabama. Tyrus' sister, Vivial Smith, 88, of Cullman, Alabama, is a "Real Daughter" of the Confederacy.
It's All About the Money, "Ain't It!" --Old B-R'er
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