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Historical events may seem distant in today’s world, yet it’s vital to remember that real people were present, living through and witnessing these transformative moments. The final individuals to bear witness to some of the world’s most iconic events each have remarkable stories of their own.
10. The Last Survivor of the Bounty Mutiny
The infamous Mutiny on the Bounty has been brought to life through films and literature, but few know the fate of the mutineers after they cast Captain William Bligh and 18 loyal men adrift in a small boat. Under the leadership of Fletcher Christian, the mutineers first returned to Tahiti, where they worked as mercenaries for a local chief. Knowing that the British authorities would eventually pursue them, Christian began to seek a safe haven. While perusing Bligh's books, he stumbled upon a reference to the uninhabited Pitcairn Islands. Although he wasn’t aware of it, those islands would prove to be the ideal sanctuary, as faulty maps made it nearly impossible for European ships to locate them.
In 1790, nine Bounty mutineers, along with six Polynesian men and 12 women, arrived on the Pitcairn Islands. They had fled Tahiti just before a British ship arrived to capture them. Although the mutineers were now out of the British’s reach, they were not free from conflict amongst themselves. The Polynesian men grew resentful of the Europeans, particularly William McCoy and Matthew Quintal, who mistreated them as slaves and monopolized the women. In 1793, a revolt broke out, and five Europeans were killed, including Fletcher, who was shot in his garden at the age of 29.
McCoy and Quintal fled into the hills, creating a tense standoff. They were later joined by a rogue Polynesian, but subsequently killed him as part of a truce. Meanwhile, the other surviving mutineers, Ned Young and John Adams, maintained better relations with the Polynesians and were allowed to remain with them. However, this proved to be a fatal mistake, as Young struck a deal with the women and murdered the remaining Polynesian men in their sleep. McCoy, having discovered how to ferment alcohol from a local root, succumbed to drunken despair and committed suicide by walking off a cliff.
This left only three mutineers, who now harbored deep grudges. Both Ned Young and John Adams felt their lives were in jeopardy after receiving death threats from Quintal. In 1799, they caught him off guard and executed him with an axe. A year later, Young succumbed to illness, leaving Adams as the last surviving mutineer. Adams eventually underwent a religious transformation and created a devout Christian community with the women and children on the islands. He lived out his days in peace, dying in 1829 after several visits from British ships that had long since abandoned any thoughts of punishing him.
9. The Final Person to Witness Lincoln's Face
In 1901, a 13-year-old boy named Fleetwood Lindley had an unusual reason for being excused from school. His father had sent a message to his teacher, requesting early dismissal so that Fleetwood could visit Oak Ridge Cemetery to view Lincoln’s body.
After Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, his body was moved no fewer than 17 times. In 1876, a gang of Chicago counterfeiters even attempted to steal it, hoping to use it as leverage to spring one of their members from prison. Eventually, Robert, Lincoln's frustrated son, decided to put the matter to rest. In 1901, he ordered his father's body to be reburied in a massive steel cage encased in several feet of concrete.
Lindley’s father had personally met Lincoln and later became an unofficial caretaker of his tomb. So when word came that the body would be finally laid to rest for good, he sent his son on a bike ride to the cemetery as fast as he could. Lindley had no idea what he would find, until he arrived to see workers chiseling a window into the lead casket. Remarkably, the body was intact and immediately recognizable, though Lincoln’s “face was chalky white [and] his clothes were mildewed.” Lindley passed away in 1963, making him the last person to ever witness Lincoln’s face.
8. The Final Witness to the Red Baron’s Demise
Australian Edward “Ted” Smout lived an extraordinary life, even without his association with the legendary Red Baron. When he passed away in 2004, Smout was one of only six surviving Australian veterans of World War I and the oldest among them. Nearly 90 years earlier, in 1915, at just 17, he had lied about his age to join the Australian Army Medical Corps. He survived the brutal battles on the Western Front, including the horrific experience at Passchendaele, where he was buried by an explosion. The trauma left him with a nervous condition that lingered for years. In 1998, Smout was honored by the Brisbane government, though he instinctively ducked when the first shot of an artillery salute went off.
Before his death at 106 years old, Smout became the last person to witness the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, being shot down. Leading his renowned Flying Circus in a dogfight, the Baron’s plane was severely damaged, likely by Australian machine gun fire from the ground. As a medic, Smout was one of the first on the scene, reporting that the Baron's final word was “kaputt” (“finished”). Smout recalled: “I admired his fine leather knee boots, but resisted the temptation to take them as a souvenir, or the Iron Cross he wore on a chain around his neck.” However, he did cut off a piece of the cockpit as a keepsake.
One of Smout’s fondest memories was celebrating Armistice Day at Paris’s famous Folies Bergere. Although he was fined 14 days’ pay for leaving his unit, he had just been appointed unit paymaster and decided to quietly exempt himself from the penalty. After the war, he became an accountant and was recognized for his charitable contributions in 1974.
7. The Final Civil War Widow (Passed Away in 2008)
In 1927, when 18-year-old Gertrude Janeway married 81-year-old John Janeway, a Union Army veteran, the Civil War had been over for 62 years. Their marriage was delayed for three years because Gertrude’s mother refused to sign the necessary papers for a 15-year-old to marry. Though Gertrude continued to receive a $70 monthly pension as a war widow until her death in 2003, she insisted that money was never her motivation, calling John “the love of her life.” The couple built a simple three-bedroom log cabin in Tennessee, where John passed away in 1937. Gertrude lived there for the rest of her life, nearly 150 years after the Civil War ended.
Remarkably, Gertrude wasn’t the last Civil War widow (though she was the last Union widow). In 2004, Confederate widow Alberta Martin passed away at 97, having married an 81-year-old veteran in 1927, just months after the Janeways’ wedding. Unlike Gertrude, Alberta didn’t marry for love, explaining that “I had this little boy and I needed some help to raise him.” Her marriage, however, was not a happy one, with Alberta recalling that her husband became jealous whenever she spoke to younger men.
When Alberta passed away, the media confidently declared her the last Civil War widow. However, they were quickly corrected by Maudie Hopkins, who had wed an 86-year-old Confederate veteran in 1936 after he promised to leave her his farm and pension. Maudie, embarrassed by the marriage, kept quiet about it for years, explaining, “I did what I had to, what I could, to survive. I didn’t want to talk about it for a while because I didn’t want people to gossip about it. I didn’t want people to make it out to be worse than it was.” Maudie passed away in 2008, almost certainly the final Civil War widow.
6. The Final Lincoln Assassination Conspirator
As the nation mourned Lincoln’s death, most of the conspirators were quickly brought to justice. But one man eluded capture: John Surratt Jr. Introduced to John Wilkes Booth in 1864, Surratt soon became part of Booth’s circle of conspirators. However, the extent of his involvement in the assassination remains unclear. Surratt admitted he had been involved in a failed plot to kidnap Lincoln in 1865, but he denied knowledge of Booth’s murderous plan. On the night Lincoln was killed and the other conspirators attempted to assassinate the Secretary of State and Vice President, Surratt’s whereabouts are uncertain and have been widely debated. Surratt claimed to be in Elmira, New York, but others believe he was in Washington.
Regardless, Surratt fled the country shortly afterward, disguised as an English tourist, using skills he had acquired while working as a courier for Confederate spies. After reaching Montreal, where detectives were hot on his trail, Confederate sympathizers hid him before he escaped to England. He eventually made his way to Italy, where he joined the Papal Zouaves as a soldier until a former acquaintance recognized him and informed the American vice-consul in Rome. Always resourceful, Surratt slipped away once more but was captured in Egypt and extradited to the United States in 1866. Meanwhile, his mother was executed for allowing the conspirators to use her boarding house.
Once back in America, convicting Surratt proved more challenging than it had been with the other conspirators. Unlike them, he was tried in a civilian court rather than a military one, and the jury remained deadlocked after hearing testimony from numerous government and defense witnesses. In 1867, the charges were dropped, and Surratt was released the following year. In the years that followed, he attempted to lecture about his role in the assassination, but public outrage forced him to cancel the tour after only three lectures. He married, briefly worked as a teacher, and later found employment with the Baltimore Steam Packet Company before passing away in 1916 at the age of 72.
5. The Last Signatory Of The Declaration Of Independence
Contrary to what is suggested in the film National Treasure, Charles Carroll wasn’t a freemason, nor did he leave behind any hidden treasures (at least none that we know of). However, he was an undeniably interesting and influential figure. Charles Carroll of Carrollton holds the distinction of being the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence, representing Maryland. He was also the longest-living of the signatories, and his passing in 1832 was met with national mourning.
Born into one of Maryland's wealthiest families and a descendant of Charles Carroll the Settler, who fled religious persecution in England, Carroll grew up to become one of the wealthiest men in America when the Revolutionary War broke out. Educated at Jesuit schools in France, he was fluent in French and even ventured to Canada in 1776, attempting to persuade the locals to join the United States (they declined).
A steadfast advocate for armed resistance against British rule, Carroll made history when he was elected to Maryland’s Convention of 1775, helping to overturn the laws that had previously barred Catholics from holding public office. He later represented Maryland in the Continental Congress and served in the Senate. His political career effectively ended after Thomas Jefferson’s election in 1800, and he became the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence when both Jefferson and John Adams passed away on the same day in 1826. His final public appearance occurred in 1828 when he laid the cornerstone for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, signaling the nation’s readiness for industrial growth.
4. The Last Mayflower Passenger
When four-year-old Mary Allerton boarded the Mayflower in 1620, she could hardly have foreseen that she would become the last surviving pilgrim nearly eight decades later. Mary was born in Leiden, Netherlands, where her family had fled from religious persecution in England. In 1620, they embarked on their journey to the New World.
Life in America was fraught with challenges. Tragically, Mary’s mother passed away during the first harsh winter, as did many others. Despite these hardships, Mary survived and remained in the Plymouth area for the rest of her days. In 1636, she married Thomas Cushman and together they raised eight children, seven of whom lived to adulthood. The couple established a prosperous life, eventually overseeing a large family of around 50 grandchildren.
While much of Mary's life beyond her role as a wife, mother, and matriarch remains shrouded in mystery, her long life of 83 years spanned some of the most pivotal moments in colonial history. She witnessed the turmoil of King Philip’s War in 1676 and saw Plymouth merge with Massachusetts in 1691.
3. The Last Of Lewis And Clark’s Companions
In 1807, Sergeant Patrick Gass became the first member of the Lewis and Clark expedition to publish an account of their remarkable journey across the continent. He lived to the age of 99 and passed away in 1870, making him the last surviving member of the famous expedition. A soldier by trade, Gass contributed as a carpenter, constructing forts, canoes, and wagons. During the return trip from the Pacific, when the expedition was split into three groups, Gass was assigned to lead one of them. His group bypassed dangerous waterfalls along the Missouri River before reuniting with Lewis and Clark at the Yellowstone River.
Although Gass kept a journal of the expedition, it was difficult to decipher since he had only learned to read and write as an adult. So, he made an arrangement with a Pittsburgh bookseller, David McKeehan, who ghostwrote Gass's 1807 account. The book became the first to refer to the journey as “the Corps of Discovery” and went through multiple printings, including translations into French and German. Since Lewis never completed his own memoirs before his death, Gass’s publication played a crucial role in bringing the expedition’s story to a wider audience.
Sadly, McKeehan received most of the profits, leaving Gass to struggle for the remainder of his life. Always a patriot, he reenlisted in the War of 1812 and lost an eye at the Battle of Lundy’s Lane. He went on to hold various jobs, surviving on a meager military pension while sharing tales of his adventures with his neighbors. When the Civil War erupted, Gass, at the age of 87, attempted to enlist once more, but was turned away. He also spearheaded an effort to secure better pensions for War of 1812 veterans, but the army declined to consider his proposals.
2. The Last Suffragette
As a young girl, Ruth Dyk marched through the streets of Boston in protest, demanding voting rights for women. Her introduction to the suffrage movement came from her mother, Annie Belcher, one of the first women in America to attend medical school—only to be forced to leave when she chose marriage over her studies. Ruth, inspired by her mother’s perseverance, carried that sense of purpose into her own life. She became a respected psychologist and authored three books. Ruth joined the fight for voting rights at just 11 years old and was overjoyed when the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, though ironically, she was still too young to cast her own vote that year.
Ruth’s mother had once stirred controversy by offering shelter to local prostitutes whose house had been destroyed in a fire, and Ruth carried on this legacy of social activism. In the 1950s, she worked as a social worker helping delinquent girls. She also raised three children and completed her anthropologist husband’s pivotal work on the Navajo after he was struck down by cancer and Parkinson’s disease at a young age.
Ruth’s passion for politics never faded, and in 2000, her family had to step in to prevent her from canvassing door to door for Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign in New York. She remained dedicated to advancing women’s rights, often lamenting that the suffragists had not seen as much change as they had hoped. Ruth passed away in 2000, at the age of 99. The year before her death, she was featured in a Ken Burns documentary, where she proudly declared, “My mother was a suffragette.”
1. The Last Continental Congress Delegate
The Continental Congress typically attracted prominent elder statesmen, and as a result, only one delegate managed to survive into the 1840s—John Armstrong Jr.. The son of John Armstrong Sr., a delegate himself, John Jr. had a notable, though somewhat blemished, career. His first major blunder occurred at the end of the Revolutionary War when he authored the Newburgh Addresses, urging the army to resist disbanding unless Congress approved higher pensions. George Washington had to confront the conspiracy personally, with the officers eventually yielding emotionally after Washington famously put on his glasses, declaring, “Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray, but almost blind, in the service of my country.”
Armstrong later served as a senator and as ambassador to Paris, where he clashed with Napoleon and resigned at the earliest opportunity. During the War of 1812, President James Madison appointed him Minister of War to manage the military turmoil. He largely failed in this role, notably neglecting to support Oliver Perry and William Henry Harrison, instead pursuing a disastrous attempt to capture Montreal. His most infamous failure came in 1814 when he chose not to fortify Washington, dismissing the likelihood of a British attack. After the British burned the White House, Armstrong was quickly replaced by James Monroe. He retired to a quieter life and passed away in 1843, the last living member of the Continental Congress.
