To show how short:

When I was very young, maybe 5 years old, my family visited relation in Texas. Some Summer celebration was going on, maybe the 4th of July. Someone of note was being greeted by throngs of people. I was put in line, and when it was my turn to shake his hand, he said "Son, I was about your age when at a celebration similar to this, I shook the hand of one of the last survivors of the Revolutionary War." This gentleman was a survivor of the Civil War. So I am only one handshake away from the Revolutionary War. That does no longer seem like a long period of time.
Pete