Description:
Ebenezer Mattoon was one of the most distinguished residents of early Amherst, Massachusetts, and spent most of his adult life in public service to his country, both as a soldier and statesman. An active patriot during the Revolutionary War, he commanded a company of artillery during the Saratoga Campaign of 1777 and left perhaps one of the best extant accounts of Burgoyne’s surrender. During the War of 1812, he served as major general in the Massachusetts militia. Mattoon, in his later years, summarized his extraordinary career in this master-of-fact manner: "….In the Spring of '76, after examination for degrees, with three others of my class, I obtained permission of the faculty to go to Canada, and engage in the revolutionary army, receiving a promise that our degrees should be regularly conferred. Soon after my arrival at Canada, I received a Lieutenant's Commission, and performed the duties of an Adjutant for that year. The next year I was Lieut. in the Artillery in the northern campaign, and was in St. Clair's retreat from Ticonderoga, and in the hard fought battles and capture of Burgoyne. Continuing in the army, I was in the battle fought by Gen. Sullivan on Rhode Island. In 1779 I left the army, returned to Amherst, and was married to Mary Dickinson, of Amherst, where I still reside. I studied no profession except that of arms. In 1780 and '81, I represented the town in General Court. Was made justice of peace in 1782, and held the office till 1796. Was elected Captain in the Militia in 1782, Major in '85, Col. in '89, Brigadier in '92, and in '96 Maj. General of the 4th division Militia in this Commonwealth. In 1816 I resigned my Commission of Maj. Gen. and was appointed Adjutant General, which office. I held until two years after, when I was compelled to resign on account of the entire loss of my sight. I was a member of the Senate of this Commonwealth two years, 1795 and '96. In 1766, I was appointed Sheriff of the (old) County of Hampshire, and continued in office nearly 20 years. I was in the 6th and 7th Congress. In 1820, I was a member of the Convention for amending the Constitution of our Commonwealth. In 1792, '96, 1820, and '28 I was one of the Electoral College for the choice of President and Vice President of the United States." The oil portrait shows Mattoon in a half length pose in an oval porthole with a brown background, as an older man dressed in his military uniform of a blue color with gold epulets, he has thick brown eyebrows, thin lips, and probably wears a light-colored wig, framed in a reproduction gold frame. The attribution to Ethan Allen Greenwood is based on a list of portraits that Greenwood compiled for himself. A portrait of "Gen'l Mattoon (sketch in 65 minutes)" is recorded for" June 11, 1818. Boston" Ethan Allen Greenwood (1779–1856) was an American lawyer, portrait painter, and entrepreneurial museum proprietor in Boston, Massachusetts, in the early 19th century. He established the New England Museum in 1818. Greenwood was born in Hubbardston, Massachusetts, to Moses Greenwood and Betsy Dunlap, May 27, 1779. He attended school at the Academy at New Salem, and the Leicester Academy. In 1806 he graduated from Dartmouth College. He also studied at West Point. Between 1801 and 1825, Greenwood produced many portraits, perhaps as many as 800 works. He utilized the physiognotrace technique. He kept a studio in Boston circa 1813 and associated with other artists, including Gilbert Stuart.
Tags:
portraits; military Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2018.28 |
