Exploring the Legacy of Julian Scott in Johnson, Vermont
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Exploring the Legacy of Julian Scott in Johnson, Vermont Johnson State College Start your tour on the campus of Johnson State College in the Julian Scott Memorial Gallery, which is housed in Dibden Center for the Arts. Examine the artifacts in the display case. Among the items chronicling Julian Scott’s remarkable life are copies of the Lamoille County Grammar School catalog, Scott’s enlistment and honorable discharge papers, family photographs and issues of the Civil War Times. In September 1989 these materials were assembled for a month-long exhibit, “Julian Scott: A Return to Johnson,” which included paintings and sketches on loan from collectors and museums around the country. Regular hours for the Julian Scott Memorial Gallery are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gallery also is open during performances at Dibden Center for the Arts. Admission is free. Information: 802-635-1469 or www.jsc.edu. Civil War Monument Leaving the college, return to Johnson’s main thoroughfare: Route 15, a section of the Grand Army of the Republic Highway (called Main Street in the village of Johnson). Turn right, heading west, and park at the Johnson Municipal Building on the left. The Civil War monument is inscribed with the names of Johnson’s GOOGLE.COM IMAGES: BENNETT. SHAYNA MAP BY veterans of that conflict and includes those of Julian with the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) marker and Scott and his brothers, Lucian and Charles. flag, is located to the right of the north entrance. Thank you for visiting one of Lamoille Julian Scott Birthplace Marker Chesamore Hall County’s historic towns and discovering the Walk a short distance west, cross the highway and Leave the cemetery and return to Main Street; turn right connection between Julian Scott and both the observe the Julian Scott Birthplace Marker dedicated in to head east. You will pass Chesamore Hall, the original town of Johnson and Johnson State College. 1998. The Scott homestead was identified using sketches site of Johnson State College and the Lamoille County that Julian had drawn of his childhood home. Grammar School, where Julian Scott was enrolled as a boy. Farther afield, you may want to travel to the Vermont State House in Montpelier, the Vermont Lamoille View Cemetery Whiting Hill Cemetery Historical Society in Barre and the Drake House Next, head east on Main Street (Route 15), turn right onto Continue east on Route 15 to the intersection with 100C, Railroad Street, then turn left at Lamoille View Drive and enter the cemetery, the final stop on your tour. The Museum in Plainfield, N.J., to view original works and enter the cemetery. The gravestone of Scott’s brother graves of Scott’s mother, Lucy, and brother Lucian are in by Julian Scott, Johnson’s celebrated artist. Charles, damaged by years of acid rain and designated this cemetery, which dates to 1810. JULIAN SCOTT SETTING THE STAGE TRAVEL THROUGH TIME the famous son Vermont’s Volunteers & the Civil War of Johnson, Vermont in Johnson, Vermont orn in Johnson February • First shots are fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, 15, 1846, Julian Scott signaling the start of the Civil War. attended Lamoille County • Asked by President Lincoln to send troops for the Visit landmarks in the town BGrammar School, the precursor Union Army, Governor Erastus Fairbanks famously to Johnson State College. states, “Vermont will do her full duty.” He ultimately where Civil War soldier supplies more than 34,000 Vermonters to serve out of The art of Julian Scott is admired a total population of about 350,000 citizens. for its authenticity. His paintings and acclaimed artist and drawings came directly from • Julian Scott enlists as a fifer in Company E, Third personal experience. He was a Regiment of Vermont Volunteers, June 1, 1861. JULIAN SCOTT Civil War hero whose earliest • After suffering significant losses in early campaigns, recorded actions include the saving of nine soldiers, the Union Army turns the corner in 1863 after the for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor; he also battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg. was born. took part in the Indian Census of 1890 and witnessed • General Robert E. Lee surrenders the Confederate firsthand the demise of the Native American West. Army of Northern Virginia at the Appomattox Courthouse April 9, 1865. The Vermont State House in Montpelier is home to Scott’s painting “The Battle of Cedar Creek,” which • President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated April 14, recounts on a sprawling, 200-square-foot canvas the 1865, while attending a play at Ford’s Theater in actions of heroic Vermont troops. Two other paintings, Washington D. C. “The Mounted Sentinel” and “The Rear Guard at White • The Medal of Honor is awarded to more than 60 Oak Swamp,” are displayed in the Governor’s Reception Vermonters, including Julian Scott, Lewis Ingalls and Room. Scott’s portrait of General William Farrar Smith Jackson Sargent, all from Lamoille County. is co-owned by Johnson State College and the Vermont State House. At the time of this publication (April 2015), it was on display in the Willey Library on the Johnson Special thanks to the contributors of this guide, State College campus. created for Vermont’s Civil War Sesquicentennial: Lindsay Legault-Knowles Julian Scott died July 4, 1901 in Plainfield, N.J. He is Linda Kramer buried at Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains, N.J. John Lord Robert J. Titterton The book Julian Scott: Artist of the Civil War and Native Produced in partnership with the Johnson Historical Society and America, by Johnson State College alumnus Robert LINDsay LEGAUlt-KNOWLES J. Titterton, remains the authoritative source on the famous son of Johnson, Vermont. We are grateful for The Julian Scott Birthplace Marker on the Grand Army the author’s years of research learning about a man who of the Republic Highway (Route 15) in Johnson, Vermont. with generous support from Barbara E. Murphy, otherwise might have been but an historical footnote. president of Johnson State College, 2001-2015 Published Spring 2015.