Battle of Palmetto Ranch: American Civil War's Final Battle

On May 13, 1865, at the Battle of Palmito Ranch, near Brownsville, Texas, the final engagement of the American Civil War took place. Private John Jefferson Williams of B Company, 34th Regiment Indiana Infantry had the dubious distinction of being the last man killed. The article gives a full account of the battle.

"When all the reports had come in, Colonel Barrett discovered that he had lost only one man killed, Private John Jefferson Williams, of Jay County, Ind. Nine men had been wounded and 103 officers and men captured, most of them from the 34th Indiana. Colonel Ford summarized his losses as ‘five or six, wounded.’ The prisoners from the 34th Indiana carried their comrade’s body to the outskirts of Brownsville, where they buried him."