A French and Indian War battle inside the walls of an old home

[Subdeacon Joe]

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-news-rare-french-indian-war-drawing-20190519-7k4wg5n6sjb2dcgx42az4pouni-story.html?fbclid=IwAR1i4Z2uJP159DW0lwVwmFIvPMLaAgzCdhAh74RZfpX3Vth964vZlx1GBVM

 

 

Steve Bielitz was busy removing old plaster and nails seeking the original wooden frame of a 17th-century home in East Hartford when something behind the wall caught his eye.

Like an archaeologist opening an ancient tomb, Bielitz gingerly uncovered the plaster wall and found what turned out to be a five-foot-long primitive battle scene possibly from the French and Indian War.

 

“We could have a first-hand account of a battle scene,” Bielitz said when asked what he initially thought of the discovery. “We had cannons being moved. Native Americans aiming arrows at one another. We had a number of dead bodies that seemed to have arrows in them. We had soldiers in dark, red and orange uniforms. I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s like finding buried treasure. It is buried treasure."

Bielitz and his Glastonbury Restoration Co. crews have been dismantling old houses in Central Connecticut for decades, finding treasure in the walls like old bibles, toys, papers and antiques. Crews were dismantling and moving the oldest house in East Hartford known to be from Colonial Hartford (1693) when they made the discovery.

 

After showing the artwork around to various experts across the state and the University of Delaware, the drawing is believed to be drawn by someone who possibly participated in the war or heard a first-hand account of it. The experts all agreed they had never seen anything like it, Bielitz said.

Michael Emmons Jr., an architectural historian at the Center for Historic Architecture and Design at the University of Delaware, said markings on buildings in the 18th century were limited to builders signatures, occasional carvings of ships or other figures with a penknife or nail. He called the art discovered in East Hartford an “architectural sketch” and noted they are very rare.

“I only encounter them occasionally,” he said, adding they are probably hidden all over the place, but rarely discovered. “While I was unsure at first, I definitely think it is quite viable that this is an 18th century graffiti mural, and a pretty rare one — especially due to its size and the completeness of a “scene.” ... I’ve studied an unbelievable amount of historic graffiti and other historical markings on early buildings ... and I’ve never seen anything quite like this.”

 

Emmons said he has documented thousands of graffiti and wall markings across the country. He said a vast majority were created by young males — ages 10 to 30 — but mostly by teenagers. He said although the drawing looks like it may have been created by a child, that’s not the case.

“Rudimentary drawings and less literate writings often reveal younger people’s handiwork, but admittedly, these things can also be misinterpreted because it “looks” like it’s done by a young person, when in reality it was done by someone who just couldn’t write or draw well,” he said.

Emmons said he believes the drawing could have been made by a family member after being told the story of the battle. He said it could be from the French and Indian War or the Revolutionary War. Captain David Hills, grandson of the original builder Jonathan Hills, participated in the French and Indian War.

“My gut sense here is that these images were created by a younger person, rather than even a young soldier who has fought in a war. This does not preclude the possibility of these images being drawn by someone who actually participated in a war, which is definitely possible, but my instinct is that this is a younger person drawing a scene they’ve read about or heard about, or maybe even recreating an event that a family member experienced,” he said.

The artwork was also reviewed by Patricia Kane, Ph.D., Friends of American Arts Curator of American Decorative Arts at Yale University; John Stuart Gordon, Yale Department of the History of Art; and Dean Carlson, Curator of the Museum of Connecticut History in Hartford. Bielitz also has plans to bring it to the Connecticut Historical Society, Militaria at Skinner’s Auctions and the Wadsworth Atheneum.

All the experts consulted were fascinated by a central figure in the drawing — a large orange tree with a face on it. Some think it could be a rendering of “Old Man Winter” since the battle could be taking place in winter with the long coats of the soldiers.

Art experts are confounded by the image of a large, colorful tree in the center of the drawing. Some believe it could represent "Old Man Winter." (Hartford Courant)

“We were all captivated by the red large tree-like figure,” Bielitz said. “Since many of the figures pictured in the mural have large, long coats on, including some of the deceased, I assumed that the scenes may have taken place in the colder months. Does this large ‘tree’ have wind blowing its ‘hair?’ Is it a symbol for Old Man Winter? It seems to have eyes and a large nose. No one can really tell.”

A descendant of the Hills and Olmstead families is having the house dismantled and moved to South Carolina and now owns the artwork, which may be placed where it was originally located in the house. Bielitz said the artwork appears to have been painted in place. He noted a stud was added later after 1850 to attach the plaster, which hid the artwork for the past 169 years. There were more figures underneath the stud.

“This confirms that it must have been painted in place, possibly by an adult for the viewing by children,” Bielitz said.

Steve Bielitz, owner of Glastonbury Restoration Co., and his crew were dismantling and moving the oldest house in East Hartford when they discovered a sketch of a battle scene behind the plaster. (Marc-Yves Regis I / Special to The Courant) (Marc-Yves Regis I / Special to the Courant)

Bielitz said he has been impressed by the details of the artwork done in charcoal and chalk with different colors.

“They had never seen anything like this before and were all quite interested,” he said of the experts’ opinions. “Although primitive, the uniforms, hats, military formations seemed to suggest the artist had a very good understanding of this event.”

Emmons said the multiple colors for an informal sketch is “a bit rare, especially one that might be so early.” The artwork will be brought to Emmons for further study and infrared photography and reflectance transformation imaging, which Emmons said might reveal more vivid details of some of the drawings.

“Dean Carlson actually said he had a ‘cerebral meltdown’ when first viewing it. I shared this same excitement in uncovering this piece and seeing it for the first time,” Bielitz said,

Captain David Hills (1724-1785) participated in the French and Indian War and responded to an alarm to aid Fort William Henry and adjacent areas in New York State. He left the Hartford area Aug. 3,1757, with a Regiment led by Capt. Josiah Lee of Farmington.

Peter Marteka can be reached at pmarteka@courant.com.

[Pat Riot]

That is very interesting. Good thing he had the sense to see it for what it could be and not just tear things up. 

 

When I was a kid my Dad got a job tearing down a house in the country in Pennsylvania. The owners were convinced the house was haunted. The house was actually a large log cabin built in the very early 1800’s. We found coins from the 1820’s. There were bottles and odds and ends in a basement closet that had been sealed off. 

 

The owners wanted everything burned. They insisted upon it and put it in the contract. My Dad followed the contract and did as instructed. One of the owners stayed on site to verify that everything was destroyed. 

 

I was only in 4th grade but the whole thing sickened me. If I were my Dad I wouldn’t have done the job.

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

Or, they may have found a drawing by a couple of school boys on that brown paper that came on a roll for elementary school art class.......

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

Interesting. During a remodel/restoration of a couple of rooms in our 1909 house two years back our contractors found some detailed 'graffiti' under 7 layers of wallpaper. Not really graffiti, but detailed drawings of cartoon characters, including Barney Google and some others that pretty clearly dated it to the 1930s. It was fun to look at and 'identify' with the long-gone workmen who did it. 

[Smuteye John SASS#24774]

On 5/20/2019 at 7:49 AM, Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 said:

Or, they may have found a drawing by a couple of school boys on that brown paper that came on a roll for elementary school art class.......

Plains tribes are famous for using the same style of mural to tell the story of important events.  One of the best known is a pictorial history of the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

 

I wonder if, at some point, if that room was used by some Indian that had fought in the French and Indian War.  Then again, literacy rates were low enough back then that it could have been done by a white man as well.