Which U.S. Supreme Court justice was the last to have served in the American Civil War?

Which U.S. Supreme Court justice was the last to have served in the American Civil War? The answer is Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Holmes served the Union during the Civil War as an officer in the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded at Ball’s Bluff, Antietam, and Chancellorsville, experiences that influenced his later reflections on law, duty, and democratic government.

After the war, Holmes studied law at Harvard and built a distinguished career in Massachusetts. He served on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, including as chief justice, before President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1902. Holmes remained an associate justice until 1932.

He was the last Civil War veteran to serve on the Supreme Court. Holmes is also often confused with the last justice to have served in any declared war: that is a different historical distinction. His 29-year Supreme Court tenure and retirement at age 90 made him famous for both his legal influence and his longevity.