Historian and author william b staple, who will discuss the life of new artist james edward kelley, which he researched extensively for his book generals and bronze the commanding generals of the war. This program is made possible in part by the generous operating support from the parsons todd foundation, the new Jersey Historical commission, division of the department of state, the f. M. Kirby foundation, the mimi washington sterritt foundation, and Program Support from arestill alive hogg family foundation, the new Jersey Council for the humanity and the garden club of morristown and support from our generous members, many of whom i see in our audience. Thank you. Individual donors and. Visitors. Welcome. Macculloch hall was built by george and louisa mccullough, who emigrated from london to, new york city, in 1806, in 1810, they purchased six acres and a one story bank house from john dowdy, a commander in George Washingtons army, during the revolutionary war. The mcculloughs built their federal style mansion. The first significant structures brick structure in morristown in 1810, and added onto it in 1812 and 18, 19, as their familys influence in local, state and history grew five generations of the mccullough miller post family lived in this house. Until 1949. When when the family sold the property to w parsons todd, who created Mccullough HallHistorical Museum for the benefit of public good 1950. And its really fitting that were here today gathered in the school room gallery of hall, which was once home to a school and a Meeting Place during the mcculloughs time and. Were going to Learn Together with bill about the art of the artist james kelly as bill will discuss in the decades following the american civil war, more than 40 Union General visited the new york city studio of the artist who was renowned for his arts historical accuracy. The success of kellys was due in part to the time he took getting to know his subject as he interviewed generals about their Wartime Service and, as bill explains, recorded their deeply personal recollections about their time at fort sumter. Antietam. Gettysburg. Appomattox. Bill and transcribed kellys with generals grant sherman sheridan sickles webb slocombe, hancock Warren Chamberlain and many. He published in bronze interviewing the commanders of the civil war in 2005 and the civil times magazine called it a blockbuster history the civil war. So it gives me great, great pleasure to introduce bill thank you. Thank you thank you all for having me. Thank you to hall and thank you all for coming out this were going to talk about a little bit of james kelly and his art and his writings. James kelly. Is born in 1855 in new york city. So was only six years old when the civil war. But from his front doorstep, young jimmy kelly would watch ten of thousands of Union Soldiers off to the war and inside the kelly home, his father would be reading aloud the depictions of reports of the battlefield and also the kelly. Subscribe to the illustrated magazines of the day. Harpers frank, leslies and young jimmy kelly would would pore over these of these sketches and illustrations and and hear stories of general sheridan at the battle of cedar creek or grand at vicksburg and young jimmy kelly returned to his mother and say, you know, mother one day those generals are going to come visit me and be my friend. And the parents were. Yes, sure. Right son. Well, thatll happen. Well, one thing that little kelly did, he had a natural aptitude for art, and that is his schoolmates would notice that on his slate, he would draw pictures of grant and all the other famous generals. And so how we doing a little bit might work, but thats how kelly worked. He he he he loved history. And it was always his his ambition that he said, you know, again, i want to do their portraits. I want to draw pictures of soldiers and generals and if i if how do i ever met George Washington . What question when i ask washington. So he made up his mind one day at very young age that he was going to meet these generals, draw their portraits. Well, having that natural aptitude for for drawing young kelly was sent to the academy of design and also got an apprenticeship at harpers weekly illustrated, the magazine. And as a young artist is assignment was the streets perhaps on the street and theres a fire on broadway say or an accident downtown, a fight in the bowery. Kelly would draw that incident and then bring it to the art director at who would look at the drawing and then say good. And then he would remove it and say, now draw it from memory. And kelly was trained to witness these things on broadway or whatever. And one thing that kelly became for was his drawings of horses. And it was considered throughout the country that the finest horses were by young jim. Again, hes not even out of his teens yet. Think an example of he made the cover drew the cover for Harpers Bazaar magazine of. A young lady riding her there and frightened by the elevated railway. So kellys witness to the scene drew it made the cover and people the country around the world started to take note of young kellys drawings. There was an article in harpers. It was called louis scribners magazine. Every Famous Artist that was working in new york city did a a selfportrait of their studio at work. And kellys naturally it was out outdoors, so he is actually sketching a horse from the rear a few friends are posing the horse and underneath its its written in the animal Artist Studio people took note one particular artist in europe saw that picture this is kellys probably most famous sketch its called the gilli boy. And usually you know, this was the day in illustrate newspapers they couldnt reprint photography. The artist still had draw the picture and then the engraver had to take the painting and make an engraving. This caused the engraver was named timothy cole actually. And when it was published inscribed ners, it really created a sensation and kelly was called by the art critics and all their papers were called kelly the founder of the new school of wood engraving. And, you know, it really had motion to it. There was motion in the sky, theres motion in the in the ground, the leaves that there was the grass. Everything moved. And it was one particular artist who saw. And he was so struck by he wrote a letter to his brother, i will read to what he said. Lets go back to the this artist was writing on september 11th, 1882 and quote recently ive also been drawing on the street. I would like to have a horse pose sometime yesterday i heard someone behind say, well, what kind of painter is that shes drawing horses backside. Its instead of doing them from the front, the artist said, i rather enjoyed that comment. I love it much sketching on the street. And as i wrote in my last letter, im determined to achieve a certain standard in it. Do you know the american periodical called harpers monthly magazine . They are marvelous in it. Ive only seen six months of it and i have three issues myself. But there are things in it that i find astounding . And that was vincent van writing to his brother theo. He wanted to draw horses from the rear and have a horse pose for him. Thats exactly what kelley did. Well, kelley, again, such a wellrespected artist. He wasnt given a simon so you could pick and choose what he wanted to illustrate. And the editor at harpers one day and said, you know, what are you working on . He goes, well, theres this guy and an inventor, menlo park, new jersey. He invented box. And you actually, you speak into this box and you turn a crank and it repeats what you said. And the editor said, well, im good down in menlo park and check it out. So james kelly goes to the laboratories of Edison Edison as, a young inventor, and kelly would sketch there he is speaking into that box. And kelly and edison became lifelong friends. It really all illustrations that kelly made of edison are you can see them in various books and publications and the Edison Laboratory in west. Well being kelly from harpers that was on his Business Card he had easy access to some of the most important that would go through new york city in the 1870s, 1880s and nineties. And while former president grant was visiting new york city, kelly had the opportunity to sit and. Grant would pose and he would give give you an excellent opportunity to ask. So thats why i call kelly the ultimate civil war buff, because he got to sit down with grant and sherman and sheridan and hancock. Chamberlin were born in double date circles and any question he wanted. And then he would have the general sign, the portrait. And kelly kept notes, while he was doing these interviews. Basically to protect his art from criticism if someone would come along and criticize a painting of grant at fort. Saying thats not accurate. Well, kelly, produce the notes and say, well, this is what general grant told me. And general grant signed. So thats why kelly, you know, the interviews while he sketched and, kept the notes to protect his art. Also, matthew brady, the famous from the civil war. Brady is probably most important photographer in u. S. History, took thousands of images during the civil war, but he ran into hard times towards the end of his life, he was a broken man, penniless, lost his galleries, lost the respect of the public, and he spent his final months with kelly visiting. Kelly in his studio talking about times and. Kelly brady would look at kellys portraits of grant and sherman and sheridan. And brady said to think those men once held me in great. They were my friends and now im nothing but a broken down old. And he never finished the sentence. Brady only had weeks to live and he died in. January 1895. Dan sickles well, thats someone that they didnt like very much. Dan sickles if you know the story of the battle of gettysburg lost his leg and spent the rest his life disparaging general meade, the commander at gettysburg and also was in charge of the New York State Monument commission. And kelly took note that tens of thousands of dollars were missing from those funds and they were traced to sickles bank account. And so keller not a good friend but he also he made circles his portrait. Joe hooker, shortly before he died, joe hooker commanded the union battle. Chancellorsville received terrible injury. Its actually is standing on the front porch, front steps of the chancellor house and a column supporting the the overhang of the porch. There was hit by a confederate shell and it struck hooker on the side and and knocked him unconscious, paralyzed. And hooker still felt the effects of that 15 years later when he sat kelly and gave details of that day of chancellorsville this is the surrender at appomattox as told by general grant. Now memories a funny thing you look at the picture on the left there that would be the rough sketch that kelly do when he was interviewing general and grant and told kelly that this surrender was signed at a single table. Other members of grants staff who were witnesses in the room said no, it was signed a two different tables, but this is how grant remembered it. So kelly would do the basic sketch, get it approved, and then proceed to create a more detailed sketch. And they would say that the other members of grants staff said that lee was very tense. And his you see his left there raised, clenched almost. And they said, take careful note of that in your painting. Well one of his boyhood idols, kellys boyhood idol, was general philip and. You see the portrait of sheridan there . Kelly would ask him details of the battles and and one thing in particular, the famous painting that kelly did, an engraving called the sheridans ride and its actually named after a poem written by Thomas Buchanan read. And there was a famous now you got to remember this was a time in American History young young schoolchildren had to study and, memorize poetry and recited in the classroom. Well, probably the most popular poem of the day was sheridans right. And youll see the painting over there on the wall of the author of that poem is also the painter, and thats thomas mchenrys painting of sheridans. Right. Well, when kelly was drawing this his version of sheridans right. His father just commented and say, well, the poem says that as they make a statue one day of that event. And i wonder going to be the sculptor to create statue. And kelly said, may, ill do it. Yes, sorry. And that was kellys very first attempt at sculpture. Youll see on the table there is a copy of kellys statuette bronze of general sheridan at the of cedar creek. It was a very popular bronze. It was in the window of tiffanys in manhattan and a Young College student was walking past tiffanys window, and he sees the statuette of sheridans right. And he went inside and. He bought it. That was Teddy Roosevelt spent, i believe he spent his last 200 to buy the bronze. And when his father found out, give me his uncle i found out that teddy wasted his money on this bronze gave him a scolding. But if you go to sagamore hill today in Teddy Roosevelts personal on the mantel is copy of sheridans right it was probably kellys most popular work Teddy Roosevelt said he considered three bronzes to the typical american pride. I believe he used the words. One was the puritan by saintgaudens, the other was bronco buster by Frederic Remington and kellys shared. While interviewing general Sheridan Kelly says to the general in all the paintings of surrender at appomattox, you figured prominently in the room, where exactly did you stand during the surrender . It appomattox. And sheridan says. Well, kelly would like to be in your picture, but i wasnt there. I arrived at the mclean on april 9th, 1865, and we shook hands all around and said to the others, gentlemen, ive been in the saddle for ten days and i am exhausted. And he went down and he laid that beneath a tree and fell asleep. He never set foot inside the mclean, he said. I woke up when general lee started to send the steps. General grants at the top step and sherman and said, whatever you do in your in your illustrates and be sure to give lees horse traveler a short tale tale. Kelly again, you know, immediately out a quick sketch and general sheridan his raising himself up on his elbow, watching the historic scene from the ground. Kelly also interviewed general abner doubleday, who fired the first gun at fort sumter. Kelly made this illustrate and it was criticized by some saying, well, he put an old ships cannon in the port there and, set of a proper gun, a fort. So after the drawing was published, you know, kelly went to doubleday and said, im receiving criticisms. The cannon and double said, no, youre right. It old ship cannon, the governor of South Carolina had all the proper the good guns removed and replaced with old obsolete cannon. And so thats how kelly worked. Everything had to be details. He wouldnt a button on a uniform unless he could document it. And again, save the notes to, protect the art. They were publishing a history united states, bryants history of the u. S. And kelly was going to receive the commission to do art for that book. And it came to the point of the battle of gettysburg. And the publisher could not to have a page to general hancock and a page for general meade and a page general slocombe. So what did they do . Kelly suggested there was only one time in the battle of gettysburg where they were all together. And that was the night of july second, 1863, and meet headquarters is the council of war. Thats the way we can depict them all on a single page. So kelly went and with the surviving generals were at gettysburg, john the left there youll see a general winfield, Scott Hancock who gave details to kelly. And when he set for his portrait, hancock says, make my collar as high as fashion will allow his. Hancock was getting a little fall under the chin at the time, so i think kelly boosted shirt a little bit to hide that dignified undergrowth. Some of his also on the right, you see general warren. Warren criticize it a little bit. Warren was slightly wounded that Little Round Top on july 2nd, hitting the neck and his was bandaged and when he arrived at the meades headquarters for the council of war he fell asleep on the and flat on his back. And warren insists kelly depicted me in the wrong way. You have me raised upon my elbow. And kelly says, well, that was the only way to show you. If youre lying flat on the bed no one would see you so that was a little bit of Artistic License that kelly made. So whats interesting that that illustration has been used in every gettysburg magazine and every gettysburg history, but no one knew the background of it. No historian ever knew what was actually said that night at headquarters. But kelly recorded it and got the information directly from the participants. Hancock slocombe, warren, butterfield and others. So its not a willy nilly picture. Everybody has documented where you sat, who sat next to you. What did meade say . What did you say . General hancock . You had the uniform. You were at gettysburg, and he reaches in the closet there and. Hancock says, this is the jacket i wore at the battle of gettysburg. Well, by now, after early attempts at sculpture, kelly in his studio, he dont turn it into a full time, more or less gave up illustrate and painting on the left is doing there thats bust of admiral dewey spanish war hero on the right kelly is working on a relief of admiral walden who commanded the monitor in the famed battle of the iron clouds. The monitor versus the virginia again, all the while taking careful notes about relief with general sheridan, the left, and Joshua Lawrence chamberlain on the right. Kelly again always wanted to know exactly what their apparel was what their uniform were wearing, and kelly asked general chamberlain, what was your appearance at gettysburg . And chamberlain said, well, i wore a full beard and