January 22, 2015
In 1772 at the age of 42, Andrew Wallace shipped off for North America from Scotland – and just a few years later he was fighting in the American Revolutionary War for his new country.
According to this old soldier’s obituary, Andrew “was engaged in some of the most memorable battles of the Revolutionary War,” and fought honorably. To the end of his life, he was honored by all for his military service. His most heroic moment on the battlefield came when General Marquis de Lafayette “was wounded at the battle of Brandywine [and] Wallace assisted in rescuing him from his perilous situation, and carried him off the field of battle to a friend’s house nearly two miles distant.” By the war’s close, Wallace was a decorated and honored sergeant.
Wallace lived to be 105. A few weeks before his death, the Peale Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, hosted Andrew as a living exhibit meant to be the “connecting link between the olden and modern age.”
Wait – this is interesting.
The article states that Andrew “fought at the battle of Culloden…”
Battle of Culloden? That was in Scotland in 1746 when the British were putting down Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites.
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Thousands attended Wallace’s funeral at the old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, where he was buried. The Evening Post reported that even though he “lived and died in the Catholic faith…on his death-bed he asked to be buried with the honors of a mason and a soldier.” His request was honored and although “the weather was wet and stormy…there was an exceedingly brilliant display of military, the masonic fraternity, citizens and others.” The Church extended the extraordinary honor of having him buried in the same tomb as the revered Bishop John Connolly (1750-1825), the Second Bishop of New York. Andrew Wallace was beloved by many and had a great love for the country that took him in so many years prior.
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Genealogy Tip: Quite often, a person’s death is reported by many different newspapers in multiple states. Be sure to make a wide search for the obituaries of your ancestors. Do not limit your search to just the newspapers published in their home town.
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- Tracing Your Colonial & Revolutionary Ancestry in Newspapers
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I would like to correct some mistakes to this article. I have done a great deal of research on Sgt. Andrew Wallace. He was born on March 14, 1730 in Inverness, Inverness Shire, Scotland. He claimed to have been in the Battle of Culloden with the Scottish forces under Charles Edward Stuart. Later in his life, (at age 103), he met John Quincy Adams in Washington, DC, and according to Adams account, which was printed in his biography, Wallace is reported to have said that he was also at the Battle of Preston Pans in Northern Scotland. He would have been 15 years old at that time. According to my research, Andrew Wallace arrived in America in the year 1752. He is recorded to have joined Gen. Forbes Regiment that was to assist Gen. Braddock at Fort Duqesne, later named Fort Pitt, and subsequently Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Gen Forbes’ Regiment did not get there in time and of course Gen. Braddock was killed in Western Pennsylvania, or Ohio. I believe that this incident took place in 1754. Wallace joined the 4th Pennsylvania Regiment under Anthony Wayne at the Turks Head Tavern in Chester county Pa. He was at the Battles of Three Rivers, The Iron Hills, Brandywine, Paoli, Germantown, Monmouth, and most other battles of the Revolution, He was the Sergeant of “The Forlorn Hope” at the battle of Stony Point, N.Y. He fought all the way through to Yorktown and was at the surrender of the British there. Sgt. Wallace then continued with the Army and served a total of 29 years and 8 months, which ended with his having a stroke in New Orleans at age 83 where he was mustered out of service by Gen. Wade Hampton. During the Revolution while assisting Washington’s troops to cross the Delaware River at Trenton, Sgt. Wallace received severe frostbite on both hands and was forced to wear gloves for the rest of his life to protect his hands. In 1791 he was at St. Clair’s Defeat near Fort Pitt. He was wounded in his right arm by a rifle ball, and his arm healed in a bent fashion that required him to keep it in front of his chest. Even with these disabilities he continued on with the U.S. Army for another 20 years. When he was 103 years old, he was the subject of two oil paintings, one by John Neagle, the other by John Carlin. He also sat for the lithographer John Caspar Wild who produced several lithographic prints over the last three years of Wallace’s life. These prints were produced as cards similar to post cards that Sgt. Wallace would sell to anyone who would listen to his stories of the travails of his long life. There are at least three different such prints that have been found. Sgt. Wallace sold these cards to supplement his Revolutionary War Pension, which was reportedly .26 cents per day. The last such print that was produced shows Sgt. Wallace wearing the sash of a Master or Past Master Freemason, and that print was used on a piece of sheet music that was devoted to Wallace. It is titled “We’ll Sing Of Patriots Gone.” At the time of his funeral three lodges of the Freemasons in New York City collected donations for his funeral. Those lodges along with several regiments of local military units and all of the city council and the mayor formed up and followed Wallace’s horse drawn hearse to Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Prince St. where he was interred. An unusual part of the ceremony was that the Masons were allowed to perform their personal ceremony at the church, which is unheard of. Even today, church officials will not admit that this took place and even claim that they have no record that he is buried there.
Paul, I am doing research on my wife’s family. In family papers they state that Andrew Wallace was the grandfather of Harriet Miller who is my wife’s ggg grandmother. They lived in Chester Co , Pa so it could be possible. In the Mooney/French family tress I see children to Fanny but Virginia based. Do you have any record of Pennsylvania families
May 22, 2020; 4:16 PM.
Dear Roger McGuinness, if perchance you ever come back to this page, I apologize for not getting back to you about your question in a more timely fashion. After I left that COMMENT back in April 2015, I didn’t make another visit to this page. Sorry! One of my nephews has found the page and told me about your question. I would be glad to tell you what I have found over the past ten or more years though this page does not allow communication to be easily passed along.
I have infrequent contact with some few families in the area of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. One of my direct cousins is currently living in Idaho, and he has written an “Ancestry” page for our portion of the the family. I believe that he is still keeping it up. Though it doesn’t carry over to other descendant families of Andrew Wallace. He had six Wives and 34 Children all total, you know. Some years ago I had found a couple of family names in some research that I did with the Chester County, Pa. Historical Society. At that time I got friendly with a woman who worked there and was given access to a folder of newspaper articles going back to about 1922 and up to sometime in the 1970s. Unfortunately, because family names often peter-out and new ones marry into them, I wasn’t able to trace down the people referenced. It is through sites like this that we have some chance to meet and pass information.
I hope that you are still interested on the family history and are able to contact me.
Paul Mooney
C/O Cedarville Post Office
Cedarville, New Jersey 08311
The Post Master at the Cedarville, N.J. Post Office knows me and will pass any communication along to me.
If anyone is a descendant of Sergeant Andrew Wallace –1730 to 1835, I will try to help you with info if I can. One little tidbit of info: Andrew met and spoke to John Quincy Adams in 1833. He evidently told Adams that he was the descendant of a brother of William Wallace, “The BraveHeart.” William Wallace died by being hung, drawn and quartered at about age 34. It is not known if he had any children or extended family. He also told Adams that he had been in the Battle of Preston Pans in Northern Scotland as well as the Battle of Culloden. John Quincy Adams recorded this information in his journals which were eventually published.
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Hey Uncle Paul!
What a surprise it is to come to this site and see your past comments! I hope you have the chance to connect with some of those people through here.
Hello, my name is Mary Wallace Giffin. Andrew Wallace is my great, great, great, great grandfather. I’m trying to find family, so if anyone sees this please get ahold of me, I would love to speak to you. thank you