Georgia’s likely last ‘real son’ of a Confederate veteran dies

H.V. Booth, likely the last surviving “real son” of a Georgia Confederate veteran, has died at age 96 in Elberton, according to a local funeral home.

Mr. Booth was the son of Isham Johnson Booth, a guard at Camp Sumter, also known as Andersonville, the nightmarish Civil War prison compound where nearly 13,000 Yankee prisoners died.

“While there are thousands of men in Georgia and across the South who proudly wear the name “Sons of Confederate Veterans,” the number of literal sons of the war veterans, themselves, has dwindled down to fewer than half a dozen across the South,” said the Georgia Sons of Confederate Veterans.

PHOTOS: Georgia’s likely last ‘real son’ of a Confederate veteran dies

Berry Funeral Home & Crematory in Elberton confirmed Mr. Booth’s death. He died June 7.

Henry Victor Booth took his bit of celebrity with humility and humor.

When, in 2012, another real son of a Georgia Confederate veteran was buried, John McDonald, word circulated that there were no more.

Some called it “the end of an era.” Turned out it wasn’t. Mr. Booth remained.