USA > Connecticut > New London County > Lebanon > Historic Lebanon; highlights of an historic town > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
Nearly twelve hundred sessions of "The Council of Safety" were held in Lebanon. Here were planned the ways and means of sup- plying, not only the needs of the colony during the war, but of securing munitions and supplies for the armies of George Wash- ington. Over the threshold of the little "War Office" passed every important figure of the American Revolution, Washington, Jeffer- son, Franklin, Lafayette, Rochambeau, Count Lauzun, Putnam, Knox, Sullivan, and many others. "The War Office" became the very heart of the American Revolution in more ways than one.
We do not know just when Jonathan Trumbull first met Gen- eral Washington, but it is certain that he was a frequent visitor in Lebanon and a constant consultant of the governor upon whom he came to lean heavily as the one governor of all the thirteen colonies upon whom he could absolutely depend. No wonder he called him "Brother Jonathan"! Scores of letters testify to the mutual con- fidence these two men had in each other. Only once was there a difference of opinion. That occurred when Trumbull felt that the colony needed greater defense against the enemy. His letter was somewhat abrupt. Washington's reply was conciliatory but stated his position clearly, that, were he to heed every call for the defense of the individual colonies, he would not be able to carry forward the larger objectives of the whole war, for his armies would be dis-
(36)
(Courtesy of Connecticut Circle)
From an Old Woodcut
This reproduction shows at the right the Governor Trumbull homestead and at the left the store, or War Office, as it was situated at the time of the Revolutionary War, with the underground tunnel connecting the two buildings.
(From Connecticut Circle)
When Jonathan Trumbull was in- augurated Governor of the Colony of Connecticut in 1769 an escort group was organized which became known as The First Company Governor's Foot Guard. As New Haven shared with Hartford the biennial meetings of the Assembly there was organized at New Haven for a similar purpose in 1771 the Second Company Govern- or's Foot Guard. These Foot Guard companies distinguished themselves in the Revolutionary War and have con- tinued to this time with pomp and ceremony to be the Governor's per- sonal escort.
In the background is the Trumbull War Office with oxen-drawn wagon.
(From Connecticut Circle)
(Courtesy of Connecticut Circle) GOVERNOR'S FOOT GUARD - 1769
persed among the colonies. Trumbull saw the logic of Washington's answer, and never thereafter questioned his judgment. Probably never did two men in commanding positions respect each other's decision, even think more alike, than these two.
In 1766 Trumbull was asked for seven regiments of men. His promptness in meeting the requirements and requests of Washing- ton brought forth an acknowledgment in these words: "The early attention which you and your honourable Council have paid to this important business, has anticipated my requisition and claims, in a particular manner, the thanks of every well-wishing American."
Not alone in men, but in supplies, did Trumbull respond. Half the powder used at Bunker Hill came from Connecticut. Axes were needed for the Champlain campaign for felling trees to build ships and a thousand of them were sent immediately. Blankets, pork, beef, flour, money to meet payrolls, all were on their way soon after the requests were received. It ought to be noted that these requests were sent to Governor Trumbull himself. In the other colonies they had to be sent to the legislatures for the gover- nors were all of them loyalists, if not direct appointees of the Mother Land. At one time Connecticut furnished 78,400 hundredweight of beef, 1011 bushels of salt, 68,558 gallons of rum, and 500 tons of hay. The share of the colony in money called for $1,700,000, monthly in continental money, or at the rate of one dollar in specie to forty dollars in the continental script. Connecticut was asked for one-ninth of the total from the colonies, a large percentage for a small colony, but she met it all!
Connecticut issued its Declaration of Independence several weeks before the Continental Congress sent forth the stirring Declaration of July 4, 1776. By a coincidence, on that very day there appeared before Governor Trumbull and the Council of Safety Governor William Franklin of New Jersey, son of Benjamin Franklin, unlike his illustrious father, a virulent enemy of the cause of the colonies. He was kept in enforced residence in various places in Connecticut for a period of two years when he was at last exchanged. Appar- ently he had learned his lesson for he thereafter ceased to be a fac- tor working against the interests of the new nation.
The sincerity and humility of Governor Trumbull found ex- pression in his dislike of ostentation in any way. In 1777 the Gen- eral Assembly adopted the title "His Excellency" as the term of address for the chief executive. Trumbull was disturbed by it.
(37)
After a year he addressed the Assembly: "An act of this Assembly made and passed this twelve months ordered the title HIS EXCEL- LENCY to be given the Governor of this State. This savouring too much of High Titles, and not beneficial, may it not honourably be repealed? It passed without previous knowledge, expectation or desire. Asking pardon from you and my successors, I do sin- cerely request its repeal. It is Honor and Happiness enough to meet the Approbation of Heaven, of my conscience, and of my Brethren." Then he adds: "High sounding Titles intoxicate the mind, ingenerate envy, breed disorders in a commonwealth, and ought to be avoided. The true grandeur and solid glory do not consist in high Titles, splendour, pomp, and magnificence, nor in reverence and exterior honor paid to their Governors, and Rulers, but in the real and solid advantages derived therefrom."
Connecticut's exposed shore with its numerous towns offered an open invitation to British ships to raid and plunder. Trum- bull met the challenge with as motley a collection of ships of all kinds as ever made up a navy. Some of them were little more than fishing smacks armed with small guns, but they rendered an excel- lent account for themselves taking many valued prizes and causing consternation to the British navy. These little boats would slip alongside a British vessel, under cover of darkness, cause immense damage and be gone before the British were aware of them. The prizes won helped very materially to support the war effort and to compensate Governor Trumbull, who, only twice, received his small stipend from the State. Probably he was dependent upon that prize money to sustain himself.
The quiet little town of Lebanon became the scene of much color and animation when the French troops under Count Lauzun camped upon the Common. That individual wrote home, "Siberia alone can be compared to Lebanon, which is only composed of cabins scattered through immense forests." It must have been a decided contrast to the ways of Paris, of the Trianon, of kissing the hand of the Pompadour, of the French aristocracy. It is said that the Count upon his return to France was wont to mimic the long prayer of grace with which the governor prefaced each meal. But the Count lost his head in the French Revolution while Trum- bull lived to a ripe old age. Perhaps his loathing of titles was deep- ened by his experiences with French nobility.
(38)
Space does not permit a detailed account of the intense activity of Trumbull during these years of war. He must have been a man of superb strength, but he was also sustained by an indominable conviction of the rightness of the cause and the fact that God was sustaining him. In every letter to Washington he would refer to the power of the Almighty to help in every emergency. An ordinary man would have broken under the stupendous load he carried.
At the age of seventy-three he sent a long address to the Gen- eral Assembly expressing his desire to retire from further public service. He longed to return to the quiet life of Lebanon, there to seek to rebuild his ruined business, to pursue his studies in theol- ogy, an interest he had never given up, and to enjoy a well earned rest. He was a careful student of Hebrew. After his retirement he did write many sermons which he sent to President Stiles of Yale for his criticism. He was by nature a scholar. Both the University of Edinburgh and Yale honored themselves as well as Governor Trumbull by granting him honorary degrees.
Governor Trumbull died on August 17, 1785. His death brought letters of condolence from many famous leaders of the new nation who had worked with him. President Washington wrote in part: "A long and well-spent life in the service of his country places Governor Trumbull among the first of patriots. In the social studies he yielded to no one; and his lamp, from the common course of nature, being nearly extinguished, worn down with age and cares, yet retaining his mental faculties in perfection, are blessings which rarely attend advanced life. All these com- bined have secured to his memory unusual respect and love here, and, no doubt, unmeasurable happiness hereafter."
(39)
Chapter 5 JOHN TRUMBULL: PATRIOT, ARTIST, ARCHITECT
Of all the members of the famed family of Jonathan Trumbull, the youngest of them, John, born June 6, 1756, is, in many respects, the most interesting, not because of his fame as a patriot, an artist and an architect, but because of his personality, so different from his rather staid, Puritanical father.
A man's reminiscences of his own life may prove to be more self-revealing than he thinks. He either over-rates himself or under- rates himself. Can a man be a fair judge of his own abilities and achievements? John Trumbull's autobiography, written very late in life, is at least interesting as a portrayal of his estimate of himself.
Soon after his birth John was the victim of increasingly violent convulsions, the cause of which could not be determined by the local doctors. A physician friend from another town declared that the convulsions were due to the overlapping of the bones of the skull causing pressure upon the brain. The only possible cure was a patient attempt to draw apart the bones by gentle pressure until they fitted into their proper places. This John's mother did with untiring care and with ultimate success, a success which John, eighty-five years later, attributed to Divine providence in making known the cause of the disease, and to the affectionate and patient care of his mother.
The boy was more or less pampered by his parents and his brothers and sisters. He was not robust, could not participate in the normal sports of the youth of that day, due mostly to an accident at the age of nine when he had a serious fall which, it was found later, had cost him the use of one eye. A modern psychologist might deduce from these experiences some of the reasons for the eccentricities of the man.
(40)
Courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery
PORTRAIT OF JOHN TRUMBULL by Waldo and Jewell
Photo by James Sherman Pitkin
THE HIGH PULPIT AND PALLADIAN WINDOW
The impressions made upon a child's mind are well illustrated by an experience of this young boy. He had heard a Jews-harp for the first time. Ever after, even after having heard the best music in London and Paris, there was a magic charm about a Jews- harp which he could never forget.
John's schooling followed the usual course of his day. He was enrolled in the school of Master Nathan Tisdale, for whom he had a high regard and in which, later, he was to teach for a short time. There at the age of six he excelled in Greek. At the age of twelve he was ready for college having read Eutropious, Virgil, Cicero, Horace, and Juvenal, among the Latin authors; the Greek New Testament, Homer's Iliad, and other Greek writers, in addition to the other studies required such as geography, history, and arith- metic. He evidently inherited his father's proficiency in the lan- guages. At length, at the age of fifteen, Master Tisdale said he could teach him little more. He entered Harvard with advance credits placing him in the middle of the Junior year.
John's artistic sense was awakened early by his attempt to imitate some drawings and paintings of his eldest sister, Faith, upon the white sand which served in the place of carpets on the floors of the parental home. He did not claim for himself a natural genius, saying only that his taste for an artist's life clearly came from mere imitation. For some years his major efforts were in copy- ing the works of other artists rather than doing creative things for himself.
John tried to persuade his father to let him study art under Mr. Copley, then in Boston, instead of entering Harvard, but his practical minded father could see no future in such a course. Later John tried to point out to him the fame of Athens. His father's laconic remark was, "but Connecticut is not Athens."
His proficiency in his earlier studies, however, made the work at college extremely easy. He found time to study French on the side with a French family living in Boston. He searched the library for whatever works there might be on art or relating to art. There he found Hogarth's "Analysis of Beauty", a book which gave him much of value. When he came to paint a self-portrait, he pictured himself with his arm resting on this volume. He also found many engravings and some paintings. Some of these he copied even add- ing oils to the engravings.
(41)
In due time he graduated from Harvard and returned home where he continued copying and coloring engravings. Then, as stated, Master Tisdale having suffered a stroke of paralysis, John took over the school for the winter. The storm clouds of war were gathering. The young man was in the very midst of an intensely patriotic town and family. He sought for himself all the military information he could find, formed a small company of young men, and practiced marching, musketry, and military movements. Some of these youthful soldiers became distinguished military leaders later.
John's father was not satisfied with his son's ambition in life. He wanted him to study for the ministry or at least for the law. Neither appealed to the young man. His father, thinking perhaps to divert his mind and turn him into other channels, suggested that he sketch a map of the Susquehannah lands which supposedly belonged to Connecticut and in which his father had a lively in- terest. This task of cartographer gave John a chance to do more than make a map; he embellished it with all sorts of fanciful de- signs, and he evidently enjoyed the task. It led him later to make some maps of the British lines around Boston. These were brought to the attention of General Washington who was impressed enough to make him an aide on his staff with the rank of brigade major. Later John became adjutant to General Gates. Here again his skill in map making produced an excellent drawing of the Lake George and Lake Champlain areas of conflict.
On the 22nd of February, 1777, John terminated his regular military career over what seems to have been a trivial matter. He was then at Providence. He had been appointed deputy adjutant general in the northern department by General Gates, an appoint- ment which Gates evidently had the power to make but which had to be ratified later by Congress. It was ratified under the date of the receipt of the dispatch from General Gates, September 12, whereas the original appointment had been made on June 28. John felt insulted that the formal commission from Congress did not bear the latter date, and therefore returned it. He did some valued volunteer service later but never under formal appointment or commission. There can be no question as to the courage of the young man. He risked his life carrying dispatches through the thick of battle in such a way as to win the acclaim that he led a charmed life. Was it the tempermental nature of the artist or
(42)
the supersensitiveness of a man accustomed in his childhood to be- ing pampered that caused him to resent so bitterly a matter of such trivial consequence?
Having resigned his commission John finally went to Boston where he persued his work as an artist copying some celebrated pictures which he found in the old studio of Mr. Smibert, an artist of an earlier day. He interrupted this work long enough to volun- teer for participation in an expected battle at Newport, where it was that he distinguished himself by his courage as a dispatch rider.
Then came the decision to go to London to study under Mr. West. Influential friends paved the way for him. Lord George Germaine, the British secretary of state, granted him permission, but warned him that he would be under the constant eye of the government and that he must use every discretion.
Arriving in London John took up his studies as planned. He assiduously refrained from compromising his position in any way. The treason of Benedict Arnold and the death of the British spy, Major Andre, soon stirred up considerable feeling against the son of the governor of Connecticut, upon whose head the British had placed a price. The loyalists in London were looking for revenge and thought they could find it in John Trumbull. They soon had him in jail, and had it not been for the intervention of Mr. Burke, he might have suffered the extreme penalty. His imprisonment was not unbearable. He was provided with materials to carry on his work as an artist and thus while away the time. One suggestion, however, which bore fruit of particular interest to the people of Lebanon, was that he take up the study of architecture, for the new country would be much in need of architects. Just how much he did in the way of such a study is uncertain but, whether then or later, he did enough to qualify him for some respect in that field, enough so that it is evident today that had he followed that pro- fession he would have attained fame in it.
While still in London, and while visiting the Continent, he pro- jected the idea of a series of great paintings depicting outstanding events of the American Revolution. He had outlined his picture of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence. He took every opportunity to paint the portraits of the signers as he had oppor- tunity. He found Jefferson in Paris in 1787 and secured his por- trait there. Later he was to travel much through the states hunting
(43)
out other signers. Thus the portraits in the finished picture were taken from original sittings for the most part.
John Trumbull's purpose in painting these great scenes was not wholly mercenary, if we can take his word for it. He says in his "Reminiscences": "I am fully sensible that the profession, as ยท it is generally practiced, is frivolous, little useful to society, and unworthy of a man who has talents for more serious pursuits. (Was this a throwback from his father?) But, to preserve and diffuse the memory of the noblest series of actions which have ever pre- sented themselves in the history of man; to give to the present and the future sons of oppression and misfortune, such glorious les- sons of their rights, and of the spirit with which they should assert and support them, and even to transmit to their descendants, the personal resemblance of those who have been the great actors in those glorious scenes, were objects which gave dignity to the pro- fession, peculiar to my situation. And some superiority also arose from my having born personally a humble part in the great events which I was to describe. No one lives with me possessing this ad- vantage, and no one can come after me to divide the honor of truth and authenticity, however easily I may hereafter be exceeded in elegance. Vanity was thus on the side of duty, and I flatter myself that by devoting a few years of life to this object, I did not make an absolute waste of time, or squander uselessly, talents from which my country might justly demand more valuable services; and I feel some honest pride in the prospect of accomplishing a work, such as had never been done before, and in which it was not easy that I should have a rival."
Congress commissioned him to execute four paintings at eight thousand dollars each. Trumbull's desire was to paint eight in order to cover what he considered the major events, but four was the limit. Trumbull took his task most seriously. He debated long with Bulfinch as to the gallery in which the pictures were to be hung, the lighting, the stairs, the ventilation. He made sugges- tions to Bulfinch which saved for the Capitol its noble dome which at one time was threatened. No detail escaped him. He showed some true genius as an architect as well as an artist as he debated the plans for the Capitol.
Probably, however, the best work that Trumbull did was not in his massive paintings, but in the delightful miniatures, many of which are in the Trumbull Room of the Yale University Art Gal-
(44)
(Courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery)
"THE SIGNING of the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE" Painting by John Trumbull
lery. The delicate detail of these little gems avoids the faults of the broader scope of his larger works. Perhaps, as Theodore Sizer suggests, the lack of the use of one eye accounts for a part of the difficulties involved in the perspective of the broad canvass.
Of Trumbull's architectural work little remains. Theodore Sizer has made an important contribution towards an understand- ing of this side of the many-sided Trumbull in an article entitled, "John Trumbull, Amateur Architect", printed in the "Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians". He relates that while Trumbull was in Philadelphia in 1792, he was approached by James Hillhouse, Treasurer of Yale, about a new plan for the college buildings. This plan met with the favor of Mr. Hillhouse, who forwarded it to President Ezra Stiles with a commendatory letter. On the margin of the plans Trumbull wrote: "On the whole I trust that the Corporation will meditate a time - not, far distant - when New Haven shall become another Oxford, & will make their pres- ent decisions with a View to future Embellishment: - anticipating that happy Period, when the Arts of Peace shall succeed in the Es- teem of the World, to those of Devastation, which have so long engrossed the Applause of . . " (balance torn off). Is there a touch of humor in the otherwise serious man when he adds another note? "The Temples of Cloacina - which it is too much the cus- tom of New England to place conspicuously - I would wish to have concealed as much as possible, by planting a variety of Shrubs, such as Laburnums, Liliacs, Roses, Snowballs, Laurels, &. & - a gravel walk should lead thro the Shrubbery to these buildings . . . "
Aside from his interest in the Capitol in Washington for which he made some very practical suggestions, he designed the original New York Academy of Fine Arts, and the Art Museum at Yale. This latter building was erected in 1831. In 1868 a new and larger building was erected, the old one being converted into an office for the treasurer of the college. Finally it was torn down in 1901 to make room for other buildings.
The old Meeting House in Lebanon, Trumbull's native town, is the sole surviving specimen of his work and genius as an architect. He started the building in 1804. It was dedicated in 1807. The Meeting House shows the influence of John Trumbull's study of the churches in London, especially that of St. Martin-in-the-Field, the work of Gibbs. An unusual feature in the Lebanon Meeting House is to be seen in the four Doric columns of moulded brick
(45)
on the facade. These are painted white in contrast to the red of the brick structure. As related elsewhere, the Meeting House has been restored to the original plans of John Trumbull, all except the splendid steeple which still awaits the funds for that project.
Financial difficulties in the latter years of Trumbull's life caused him to conceive the idea of turning over to Yale all his work still in his possession, in return for which he was to receive an annuity of a thousand dollars a year during his life-time. His nephew-in- law, Professor Benjamin Silliman, helped to put the idea across. Involved in the contract was the construction of what Trumbull called his "Pinacotheca", or art gallery, in the basement of which was to be housed the mineral collection of Professor Silliman. Yale was to find out, as many other institutions have, that a man's life expectancy may run far beyond all ordinary calculations. It did in Trumbull's case. Nevertheless Yale can take pride in the fact of having one of the oldest art museums in the English-speaking world.
Trumbull made another condition. He and his wife were to be buried beneath his Gallery directly below his portrait of Gen- eral Washington. When the original building was outgrown and a larger one built, the remains of the couple were transferred to the new building. Thus this man, of all the Trumbulls, has a monument over his crypt worthy of his fame, certainly far more stately than the earth-covered vault in which rest the remains of Jonathan Trumbull, William Williams, and so many others of fame.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.