James Hard

James Albert Hard (July 15, 1843 – March 12, 1953) was an American Union Army soldier and the last verified surviving Union combat veteran of the American Civil War. He served with the 32nd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment and participated in the First Battle of Bull Run, Battle of Antietam, Battle of Fredericksburg, and Battle of Chancellorsville. Hard died in Rochester, New York, in 1953. He claimed to have been born in 1841 and to have been 111 years old at his death, but later census research indicated that he was probably born in 1842 or 1843. He enlisted in the Union Army in 1861, giving his age as 19, although census evidence suggests that he was younger. The 32nd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment's term of service expired before the Gettysburg campaign.