Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/78

 STUART

STUART

stationed uii the extreme loft, and was severely woundeil in the shouMer. lie was nominated brigadier-general, Nov. :jy, 1863, and commanded the 4th brigade, Morgan L. Smith's division, suc- ceeding to the command when General Smith was wounded at Chickasaw Bayou. After McClernand reached the field, Sherman's (KUh) corps was formed into the 13tli and 15th corps, and Morgan L. Smith taking the new i;3th corps, Stuart was given command of 2d division, 15th corps under Sherman, and took an important part in tlie capture of Arkansas Post, Jan. 11, 18G3, but resigned April 3, 18G3. because his nomination for brigadier-general failed of confirmation. He died in Detroit. Mich., Sept. 19, 18G8.

STUART, Qllbert, artist, was born in Narra- gansett, R.I., Dec. 3, 1755. He received his early education from his mother, subsequently be- coming a pupil of the Rev. George Bissitt. In 1757 he went to Newport, R.I., to visit Dr. Will- iam Hunter, wliose attention Stuart's scattered chalk and charcoal sketches had attracted, and who requested him, while his guest, to attempt the painting of an animal subject. In 1768 he painted

irthpla<e of

Oil BERT STUART.

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the portr;iit^ of Mr. an 1 Afr^. John Bannister of Newport, and in 1770 studied under Cosmo Alex- ander, a Scotchman, who saw artistic possibili- ties in young Stuart's work, and took him to Edinburgh in 1772. After the death of Alex- ander and his benefactor. Sir George Chambers, who had enabled him to study in tiie University of Glasgow, he returned about 1774 to the United States, by working his passage on a Nova Scotia collier, and established himself as a por- trait painter in Newport. He returned to Eng- land in 1775, where he was eventually forced by poverty to seek aid from his countryman, Benja- min West, an artist of renown. As a result of this step he was a member of the artist's house- hold for several years, during which time he not only received instruction from West, but was able to earn a small salary as a church organist. Having gained consideraVjle reputation by his full-length portrait of a Mr. Grant of Congalton, skating, which was exhibited at Somerset House, he opened a studio of his own in 1782 on an ela- borate scale, where he entertained freely and soon

became overwhelmed with orders. He was mar- ried. May 10, 1786. to Charlotte, daughter of Dr. Coates of Berkshire, England, and their daugh- ter Jane (1810(?)-1888) was also a portrait painter, and contributed a sketch of her father to Scrib- ner's Monthly, 1877. Stuart removed to Dub- lin, Ireland, in 1788, and in 1792, possessed with the desire to paint a portrait of General Washing- ton, returned to the United States. He opened a studio in Stone street. New York city, where, un- til 1794, he was busily engaged in filling distin- guished orders, among tliem that of John Jay, who gave him a letter of introduction to General Washington, tlien in Philadelphia, and as a re- sult of the interview he began work in German- town, Pa., in 1795, upon what proved his master production. In 1803 he removed to Washington, D.C., and in .1805 to Boston, Mass., where he painted a full-length portrait of Washington for Faneuil Hall. The number of portraits which he produced is said to exceed 750. Although largely owned by individuals, there are several in the possession of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Lenox library and the New York His- torical society, the Boston Art Museum, the Red- wood library of Newport, the Maryland Historical society, and Harvard university. In addition to his five whole-lengths and several other portraits of Washington, are the portraits of John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Story, Ames, Egbert Benson, Judge Stephen Jones and T. S. Richards of Boston, the two latter being c> .iisidered among his greatest works. See " Life an ! Works of Gilbert Stuart," by George Cham- plain Mason (187\i). He died in Boston, Mass., and was buried in the Central burying-ground in the family tomb of a friend. No inscription was placed upon tiie tomb, which projects beneath the wall of Boston common, and until 1896 the exact spot of his interment was unknown. In 1897 a bronze tablet was placed by the Paint and Clay club of Boston upon the iron fence near the tomb. The date of his death is July 27, 1828. STUART, James Ewell Brown, soldier, was born in Patrick county, Va., Feb. 6, 1833 ; son of Archibald and Elizabeth Letcher (Parmill) Stuart, and a descendant of Archibald Stuart, who emi- grated from Ireland in 1726, and settled in Penn- sylvania. His maternal ancestor, Giles Letcher, emigrated from Irelaiid prior to the Revolution- ary war, and settled in Virginia. James Stuart attended school at Wytheville, Va. ; Emory and Henry college, Va., 1848-50 ; was graduated from the U.S. Military academy, and bre vetted 2d lieu- tenant of mounted riflemen, July 1, 1854, and served on the western frontier, 1854-59, being severely wounded at the combat on Solomon's Fork, Kan. He was promoted 2d lieutenant. Oct. 31, 1854 ; was transferred to the Istcavalrv. ]\rarch