Tuscaloosa County resident Bob Hart, of Brookwood, a Civil War historian, says he has uncovered information that a 9-year-old Athens boy is the youngest person to serve with the Confederate Army in the Civil War.

Hart, who was in Limestone earlier this month to attend a Confederate Civil War Camp, said he found where the youth was buried in the old Athens City Cemetery.

“He is Richard “Little Berry” Binford and he was born in 1852 and died in 1889,” Hart said. “He is buried in the Richardson family plot, Lot 9, in the Southwest corner of the old cemetery.”

Hart, who is a lifelong Confederate scholar and Civil War buff, said young Binford was actually in combat as a member of the 9th Alabama Infantry.

“He was the youngest Confederate soldier to serve in the Civil War, and I think history proves that,” Hart said. “I was in Memphis the other day and some of the historians there were talking about a kid who was 13 as being the youngest to serve and I broke the news that this child from Athens, who was 9, was the youngest and they all looked stunned. But I’ve researched it and Richard Binford was only 9 at the time and he fought with the Confederates.”

Hart says Binford’s death was published on Sept. 12, 1889 in the old Athens Courier.

“This kid has been the topic of discussion of late among Civil War historians and I think it’s pretty much settled that he was the youngest Confederate. History dictates that,” Hart said.