Living Memory

History Archives - Futility Closet · Jul 4, 2026

An item for Independence Day: In 1937 the New York Times reported that the last living son of a Revolutionary War soldier was still in good health and living in North Calais, Vermont. William Constant Wheeler, then 89, was the son of Comfort Wheeler, who had been 81 when William was born. Comfort had enlisted in the Continental Army as a teenager. According to the Boston Post, “Wheeler recollected many things he had been told by his father regarding the war of ’75. Many times Constant said his father spoke of meeting George Washington and he admired General Putnam, whose...