SOUTH WAYNE — The last Civil War veteran buried in Lafayette County will be honored in a ceremony Aug. 31 that includes a musket salute and the placing of a Last Soldier Marker on the veteran’s grave.

The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, a national veterans organization made up of the descendants of the Union soldiers who fought the Civil War, is conducting the ceremony with help from the Lafayette County Historical Society.

James Riley Perrigo, the last union veteran buried in Lafayette County, died on Oct. 18, 1935 at the age of 87 and is buried in Blaisdell Cemetery in South Wayne. Perrigo was born on Aug. 8, 1848 and during the Civil War, served in Co. M, 4th Wisconsin Cavalry. 

The Last Soldier honor ceremony begins at noon Saturday, Aug. 31 at Perrigo’s grave. Any of Perrigo’s descendants living in Lafayette County are most cordially invited to the ceremony.

Camp #15 of the Sons of Union Veterans, based in Wind Lake, will be firing a three-volley salute over Perrigo’s grave with Civil War muskets and reading the funeral ritual of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.). This Last Soldier Marker is a fitting tribute to one of the soldiers who fought 150 years ago to preserve the liberties we enjoy as a nation today, according to Robert F. Koenecke of Camp #15. Koenecke, past Commander of Camp #15, designed the marker used to honor Perrigo and is helping lead the drive to place a Last Soldier Marker on the graves of the last Union veteran buried in each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.

The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War has more than 6,000 members across the country and is the successor to the G.A.R., whose last member died in 1956. For more information contact: Dave Daley, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 414-418-5112.