76 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



When Captain Leslie was found among the fallen, Dr. 



Hush, on ascertaining his name from his servant, begged 



;i of General Washington, to devote himself to the 



dviiiLj youth, who was already past consciousness ; * for," 



1 was, when a student in Edinburgh, received 



alino-t ;is a son in the family of his father, Lord Leven and 



Mi hille, and I have often, when he was a child, dandled 



that young man on my knee." This admirable 



painting fully entitles the artist to a distinguished place 

 among historical painters, and is alone sufficient to establish 

 his fame with posterity. It is as full of life as a scene of 

 death can be. In one of our interviews in the Gallery, 

 where the artist often discoursed to me and answered my 

 inquiries, I put this question to him, as we happened to be 

 standing near the Jinislted picture of the Battle of Prince- 

 ton, "Suppose, sir, that your paintings in this gallery 

 doomed to destruction, and you were allowed to save 

 only out,', which should it be?" He promptly replied, "I 

 would save this painting of the Battle of Princeton." 



While Colonel TrumbuH's application for a pension was 

 pending at Washington, he was at a loss for a proper docu- 

 ment to prove: that he had ever served in the army during 

 the Involution. For, strange as it may appear, there were 

 no proper records to be found. Having heard that General 

 K. Mattooii of AmluTst, Mass., was in the campaign on 

 BIK-k Island, against the British army that occupied New- 

 and Colonel Trumbull, having himself served on that 

 ion. as aid to General Sullivan, the American Com- 

 spondence ensued between them and Gen- 

 I'nlly confirmed the fact of Colonel Trumbuirs 

 i'nlly narrated in his autobiography. This 

 i" 1 ' !< idence brought these two veterans together 



IJ house in the summer of 1838. Colonel Trumbull 

 tl"'" l< nt portrait of General Mattoon, 



wllil : :y acceptable to his children and friends, 



