Was there ever a picture taken of an American Revolutionary War veteran while they were alive?

by xCosmicChaosx

I'm aware that pictures were taken as early as the 1830's, which means theoretically would mean a revolutionary war veteran could have possibly had their picture taken. If there isn't one, is there at least a picture of someone who was born before the revolution?

dundermifflin-sabre

The fact is that some men DID live long enough to have their photographs taken. The average age of the Revolutionary War soldier was 25.^1 This places them at the ripe old age of 70 something in the time of photograph's early days. The most surprising fact might be that some of these images found their way to us today. There are several links on the web for these images, and I will include them below along with some articles, it's a fairly easy subject to research.

Sources:

  1. Age Survey

TIME Magazine special on this topic

Petapixel article on this topic

Daily Mail on this subject

AntiGravityTurtle

If you want to consider Andrew Jackson a veteran then he's a good example. He fought informally with the "American Irregulars" though was never a formal soldier due to his young age (source). He had his photograph taken shortly before his death in 1845 (source).