6/19/2023 0 Comments Last man sitting unityWe had true men then 'twasn't as it is now. They didn't treat him right: he ought to have had Burgoyne's sword. He was a stern looking man, but kind to his soldiers. He was dark-skinned, with black hair, of middling height. It was 'Come on, boys!' 'twasn't 'Go boys!' He was as brave a man as ever lived. He didn't care for nothing he'd ride right in. Arnold was our fighting general, and a bloody fellow he was. Served in the Battle of Saratoga in which British General Burgoyne was defeated.ĭiscussing his service in the Continental Army."we were stationed in the Mohawk Valley. Enlisted in July of 1780 in Hailstown, New Hampshire. Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts in November, 1764. Selections from "The Last Men of the Revolution," Courtesy of Barre Publishers.ġ02 Years Old. They were the last generation that was a living link with the time when the Americans achieved national independence. These six are the Argonauts of a bygone age. Mild and yet endowed with an indomitable will. The dimly remembered reminiscences of the six veterans form a portrait of a bygone generation. "Our own are the last eyes that will look on men who looked on Washington our ears the last that will hear the living voices of those who heard his words." Though the camera was newly invented some three decades before and still a marvel, it was able to provide Hillard with the actual photos of each of the six survivors.Īs Hillard said at the time, "History lives in the persons who created it." Hillard with missionary zeal pursued his plan to track down the survivors of the Revolution, interview them, have them photographed, and record their oral history for his book. In July of 1864 - even as another war, the Civil War was in its third year - Rev. Hillard's historical quest took on great urgency. Since all six surviving soldiers were over 100 years old, Rev. Hillard's efforts, photos of the six veterans are available in the historical record, the only photos of any of the War's soldiers. Even more incredible is that, because of Rev. ![]() Incredible though it may seem, six veterans who served in the Revolution were alive eighty-three years after British General Cornwallis surrendered to the Americans at Yorktown ending the War of Independence. It was the last chance history would have to record by word or photos the last surviving soldiers of the American Revolutionary War. Elias Hillard, a Congregational Minister and erstwhile historian, embarked on a “do-or-die” mission.
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