Alfred "Teen" Blackburn (April 26, 1842 – March 8, 1951) was one of the last surviving American slaves with a clear recollection of slavery as an adult.
In 1929, state officials granted him a Class B pension in North Carolina, leading some to mistakenly describe him as a Confederate veteran.
"[4] However, his 1929 pension application does not describe him engaging in any battle, instead saying he spent most of his "service" on the Blackburn plantation, working with seven other slaves in its blacksmith's forge, making iron rims for Confederate wagons.
[2] At the close of the war, Blackburn described seeing Gen. George Stoneman's men in Hamptonville "riding three abreast and burning everything along the way.
He worked for 60 years, carrying the mail on foot and later by horse from Jonesville to Hamptonville, a distance of more than 10 miles (16 km) every other day.
He is buried in the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church cemetery in Carsontown, a community in Iredell County south of Hamptonville.