Virginia Free Press

From the National Gazette.

We had, yesterday, some conversation with Sergeant Andrew Wallace, aged one hundred and four. He is, indeed, a phenomenon, highly curious and interesting in every respect. His mental faculties are in wonderful preservation; and with the exception of strong and constant tremor of the hands and knees, and a stoop, his bodily frame seems to have suffered but little decay. His vision is good, and the expression of his eye energetic or lively, according to his mood; his diet has always been simple and moderate, and as yet he has no complaint to make of his digestion. He walked lately fifty miles (from his residence to Philadelphia) in a few days. In extreme old age, the memory has become, in most cases, weak, faint, capricious, and irregular. But, with Mr. Wallace, this faculty remains exact and retentive as to all periods. He answers questions with promptitude and decision; makes and hears pleasant remarks with a significant glance; and seems to take a lively interest in the leading questions of the day. The whole tone of the veteran is that of a hale-minded man of sixty or seventy. He enlisted in the militia service of this country at the beginning of the Revolution, and continued in it with little interruption for nearly thirty years. It was he who, at the battle of Brandywine, when Lafayette was wounded, after having contributed to rescue the nation's patron, bore him on his back, about two miles, to the house of a friend.