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Oil on canvas; 36 x 28 in. (91.4 x 71.1 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
Painted in the London studio of Benjamin West. Washington’s slave-valet, Billy Lee (c. 1750–1828), is depicted in the background right.
George Washington, 1780
American artillery captain John Henry, the twenty-year-old son of Virginia governor Patrick Henry, had distinguished himself in battle [at Saratoga in 1777]. After the cataclysm died down, he wandered the field, staring at the faces, the blue lips, dead staring eyes and glistening teeth, of men he had known. The sight unhinged him. He broke his sword in half and went raving mad.
He disappeared for months and never fought again.
Band of Giants: The Amateur Soldiers Who Won America’s Independence (2014)