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Source: Philadelphia Inquirer - Pennsylvania
Dated: Nov. 4, 1862
AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF LONGEVITY.
AN OHIO CITIZEN NINETY-TWO YEARS OLD IN THE BATTLE OF PERRYVILLE -
INTERESTING REMINISCENCE, ETC.
From MICAJAH BAILEY, Ohio State Agent for
transportation of United States troops, we have learned a few
interesting particulars of an old gentleman, named THOMAS STEWART,
who presented himself at MR. BAILEY's office on Saturday
last, and obtained a pass to his home, near East Newton. When
the proclamation was made for "squirrel hunters," in September, to
defend the city of Cincinnati, MR. STEWART was one of the
many thousands who responded to the call of the Governor, by
providing himself with a uniform, blanket, and two days' cooked
rations, and, armed with his gun, he marched to this city.
While the gallant band of "Minute Men" were bivouacked on the hills
over the river, Mr. STEWART stood his regular guard duties,
and, when the column was drown up in line of the battle, he was
always foremost to respond.
When the services of the hunters were dispensed with by
General WALLACE, the subject of this notice asked and
obtained permission to remain as a volunteer private in the One
Hundred-and-first Ohio Regiment. He stood regular picket,
guard and sentinel duty, went through all the drillls, parades,
reviews, &c., and, when the regiment was ordered to Louisville, he
accompanied it, and again was at the front in defence of that city.
When the army moved into the interior of the State, STEWART
was one of the number; and in the battle of Perryville he was in the
thickest of the fight, and afterward complimented by his commander
for his bravery, coolness and soldierly bearing. After the
battle, and the appearances indicated no further engagements,
STEWART concluded to return home and look after his personal
affairs, which he, as a farmer, had left man unsended condition.
He arrived here on Saturday, and, after obtaining the necessary
passes returned home. STEWART was born March 16th,
1770, in Litchfield, Conn., where his father now reside, aged 122
years, and is at present the oldest man in the United States.
THOMAS is the father of seventeen children
(fifteen living and two dead) and twenty-four grand-children.
He has four sons, two grandsons, and three sons-in-law at present in
the army. STEWART was in the war of 1812, when he was
pressed into the British service, on a man-of-war. He has been
in four wars, and although ninety-two years of age, writes plainly
and is very intelligent, never was sick but two days of his life,
and has been a member of the Methodist Church forty-three years.
The father of THOMAS was born in 1740, in the reign of
GEORGE II; has seen four monarchs in England, one of whom
reigned sixty years. He was old enough to beat the taking of
Quebec, by Gen. WOLFE, when Canada passed into the hands of
the British, and LOUIS XV, was on the throne of France.
Although Kentucky is the oldest of the Western States, not a white
man's foot had pressed her soil for settlement thirty years after
his birth, and he was considered an elderly man when the first
settler arrived in Cincinnati. He was twenty-nine years of age
when the Great NAPOLEON was born, whose career excited the
wonder of the world, and closed forty years ago on St. Helena.
In General WASHINGTON was living he would only
be eighty years older than this veteran, who is now three years
older than THOMAS JEFFERSON, would be if he were living.
We have had fifteen Presidents of the United States, all of whom,
except two, were born within Mr. STEWART's recollection, and
he has lived under all their administrations, although the first did
not commence until he was fifty years of age. THOMAS
STEWART would be as old as General JACKSON, if he were
now living. One other such life before the father of THOMAS,
would more than carry us back to the days when the Pilgrims landed
on Plymouth Rock, and there is every reason to believe that the
veteran STEWART was old enough to have talked with people who might
have known the early Puritans. Both of these cases are
extraordinary instances of longevity, and we doubt if they are
surpassed in the world - Cin. Gazette. |
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Source: Milwaukee Sentinel - Wisconsin
Dated: Nov. 6, 1862
THOMAS STEWART, aged ninety-two
years, of East Newton, Ohio, was a private in the Hundred and First
Ohio regiment, and took part in the battle of Perryville, where he
was complimented for his bravery and soldierly bearing. He has
four sons, two grandsons and three sons-in-law at present in the
army. He was born at Litchfield, Conn., where his father now
resides, aged one hundred and twenty-two years. |
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