216 Trumbull Gallery of Paintings in Yale College 
designation be forgotten; and if the spirits of the departed are 
permitted to hover around our busy walks of life, or to flit, un- 
seen, into our most sacred retirements, may we not presume that 
those who have left rich blessings to mankind, will be among the 
number of our celestial visitants. 
CATALOGUE OF PAINTINGS, BY COLONEL TRUMBULL; INCLUDING EIGHT SUBJECTS 
OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, WITH NEAR TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY POR- 
TRAITS OF PERSONS DISTINGUISHED IN THAT IMPORTANT PERIOD. PAINTED 
HIM FROM THE LIFE. 
INTRODUCTION. 
In submitting to the view of the public the Series of Paintings, 
commemorating important events of the American Revolution, 
the consideration, than an entire generation of men have passed 
away since the enterprise was commenced, and that very few are 
now living who were actors in the scenes represented, renders it 
r to give some historical account of their origin, in order to 
establish their claim to authenticity in the view of posterity. 
The artist, by whom they have been painted, was one of the 
aids-du-camp of General Washington, in the first year of the Re- 
volution, (1775,) and in the succeeding year, (1776,) was the 
deputy-adjutant-general of the Northern Department, under the 
command of Major-General Gates. He retired from the servi 
in the spring of 1777. 
. 7%, 
-Ardently anticipating the vast consequences of the — , 
and the future greatness of his country; and having a natural 
taste for drawing, in which he had already made some progress, 
(see No. 27,) Colonel Trumbull resolved to cultivate that talent, 
with the hope of binding his name to the great events of the 
time, by becoming the graphic historiographer of them, and of 
his early comrades. 
With this view, he Jerssee himself to the study of the ae - 
painting, first in America, and afterwards in Europe ; and in 
year 1786, he produced in London, his first considerable a 
cal work, the Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's 
Hill. (No. 3 of this collection. ) 
John Adams, afterwards President of the United States, Was 
at that time their minister in London ; and Thomas Jefferson 
_ held the same high rank in Paris. The artist was well known 
\ these distinguished men, and this his first patriotic work 
