Julian Scott American, 1846-1901 ,was born in Johnson, Vermont and was a Union Army drummer during the American Civil War who received America highest military decoration the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Lee Mills, he was also an American painter and a Civil War artist. Scott received his youthful education at the Lamoille Academy, known today as Johnson State College where the main gallery is named in his memory. Scott continued his studies graduating from the National Academy of Design in New York and subsequently studied under Emmanuel Leutze until 1868. During the Civil War, Scott enlisted in the 3rd Vermont Infantry on June 1, 1861, at the age of 15 as a fifer and in February 1865, was awarded the Medal of Honor for rescuing wounded under enemy fire during the Battle at Lee Mills, Virginia. When the war was over he traveled to Paris and Stuttgart to continue his education. Scott 1872 masterwork, the Battle of Cedar Creek, is located at the Vermont State House. The painting illustrates the contributions of his home state of Vermont in the American Civil War In 1890, and is significant for its absence of glorification of war and instead shows the suffering and human sacrifice associated with war making. Scott traveled west as part of a census party, painting Native Americans in New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma. Many of his works from this expedition now hang in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Art. Scott was interred in Hillside Cemetery located in Scotch Plains, New Jersey |