Journal of the American Revolution
Ages of Revolution: How old were they on July 4, 1776?
By Todd Andrlik August 8, 2013
This is a list of ages, from youngest to oldest, of key American Revolution participants, providing the precise age as of July 4, 1776. As it turns out, many Founding Fathers were less than 40 years old in 1776 with several qualifying as Founding Teenagers and Twentysomethings. And though the average age of the signers of the Declaration of Independence was 44, more than a dozen of them were 35 or younger! From the youngest to the oldest...
Andrew Jackson, 9
(Major) Thomas Young, 12
Deborah Sampson, 15
James Armistead, 15
Sybil Ludington, 15
Joseph Plumb Martin, 15
Peter Salem, 16*
Peggy Shippen, 16
Marquis de Lafayette, 18
James Monroe, 18
Charles Pinckney, 18
Henry Lee III, 20
Gilbert Stuart, 20
John Trumbull, 20
Aaron Burr, 20
John Marshall, 20
Nathan Hale, 21
Banastre Tarleton, 21
Alexander Hamilton, 21*
John Laurens, 21
Benjamin Tallmadge, 22
Robert Townsend, 22
George Rogers Clark, 23
David Humphreys, 23
Gouveneur Morris, 24
Betsy Ross, 24
William Washington, 24
James Madison, 25
Henry Knox, 25
John Andre, 26
Thomas Lynch, Jr., 26^
Edward Rutledge, 26^
Abraham Woodhull, 26
Isaiah Thomas, 27
George Walton, 27*^
John Paul Jones, 28
Bernardo de Galvez, 29
Thomas Heyward, Jr., 29^
Robert R. Livingston, 29
John Jay, 30
Tadeusz Kosciuszko, 30
Benjamin Rush, 30^
Abigail Adams, 31
John Barry, 31
Elbridge Gerry, 31^
Casimir Pulaski, 31
Anthony Wayne, 31
Joseph Brant, 33
Nathanael Greene, 33
Thomas Jefferson, 33^
Thomas Stone, 33*^
William Hooper, 34^
Arthur Middleton, 34^
James Wilson, 34*^
Benedict Arnold, 35
Samuel Chase, 35^
Thomas Knowlton, 35
William Paca, 35^
John Penn, 35^
Hercules Mulligan, 36
Andrew Pickens, 36
Haym Salomon, 36
John Sullivan, 36
George Clymer, 37^
Charles Cornwallis, 37
Thomas Nelson, Jr., 37^
Ethan Allen, 38
Charles Carroll, 38^
King George III, 38
Francis Hopkinson, 38^
Carter Braxton, 39^
George Clinton, 39
John Hancock, 39^
Daniel Morgan, 39
Thomas Paine, 39
Patrick Henry, 40
Enoch Poor, 40
John Adams, 40^
Daniel Boone, 41
William Floyd, 41^
Button Gwinnett, 41*^
John Lamb, 41*
Francis Lightfoot Lee, 41^
Paul Revere, 41
Thomas Sumter, 41
Robert Morris, 42^
Thomas McKean, 42^
George Read, 42^
John Dickinson, 43
John Glover, 43
Benjamin Edes, 43
Samuel Huntington, 44^
Richard Henry Lee, 44^
Charles Lee, 44
Francis Marion, 44
Lord North, 44
George Washington, 44
Joseph Galloway, 45
Robert Treat Paine, 45^
Friedrich von Steuben, 45
Richard Stockton, 45^
Martha Washington, 45
William Williams, 45^
(Dr.) Thomas Young, 45*
Josiah Bartlett, 46^
Henry Clinton, 46
Joseph Hewes, 46^
William Howe, 46
George Ross, 46^
William Whipple, 46^
Caesar Rodney, 47^
John Stark, 47
Mercy Otis Warren, 47
William Ellery, 48^
Horatio Gates, 48
Artemas Ward, 48
Oliver Wolcott, 49^
Abraham Clark, 50^
Benjamin Harrison, 50^
George Mason, 50
Lewis Morris, 50^
Lord Stirling, 50
George Wythe, 50*^
Guy Carleton, 51
John Morton, 51*^
Comte de Rochambeau, 51
Lyman Hall, 52^
James Rivington, 52*
Samuel Adams, 53^
Comte de Grasse, 53
John Witherspoon, 53^
John Burgoyne, 54
Johann de Kalb, 55
Roger Sherman, 55^
Thomas Gage, 56
James Smith, 56^
Israel Putnam, 58
Comte de Vergennes, 58
Lewis Nicola, 59*
George Germain, 60
Philip Livingston, 60^
George Taylor, 60*^
Matthew Thornton, 62^
Francis Lewis, 63^
John Hart, 65*^
Stephen Hopkins, 69^
Benjamin Franklin, 70^
Samuel Whittemore, 81
*Evidence exists that this age is not precise, or only a birth year is known
^Signers of the Declaration of Independence (average signer age was 44)
Todd Andrlik, founder and editor of Journal of the American Revolution (allthingsliberty.com), is curator, author and editor of Reporting the Revolutionary War: Before It Was History, It Was News (Sourcebooks, 2012), named Best American Revolution Book of the Year by the New York American Revolution Round Table. Featuring hundreds of high-definition color newspaper images and analysis from three dozen historians, the one-of-a-kind single volume lets readers experience the Revolution the way the colonists did—as it unfolded in their very own town newspapers. "This is 'you are there' history at its best," wrote American History magazine in its review. A full-time marketing and media professional, Andrlik has written or ghost-written thousands of published articles on various business topics. His history-related work has appeared in Patriots of the American Revolution, Huffington Post and Boston Globe as well as NPR, C-SPAN, CNN, Mount Vernon, American Revolution Center, Old State House and Fraunces Tavern Museum. Follow Todd on Twitter @RagLinen, and for more information, please visit beforehistory.com.