Strange but True

David Kennison, born in 1736, was the longest-surviving participant in the Boston Tea Party. He served in both the American Revolution and the War of 1812. He served in the latter at the age of seventy-six, and had his hand shot off at Sackett's Harbor. Several years later, his skull was fractured when a tree fell on his head, and several years after that, while training for a militia drill, a premature cannon explosion shattered both his legs. When he recovered from the injury, his legs became covered with sores that never healed, and he was stricken with rheumatism. Some time later, his face was mutilated when he was kicked by a horse. He finally died a quiet death in Illinois in 1851.

At the ripe old age of 115.

--taken from 2201 Fascinating Facts (1983), by David Louis