Stretcher: 67.6 x 57.2 x 2.5cm (26 5/8 x 22 1/2 x 1")
Frame: 75.6 x 65.4 x 6.4cm (29 3/4 x 25 3/4 x 2 1/2")
Type:
Painting
Date:
1782
Exhibition Label:
Born Charles Town (now Charleston), South Carolina
In March 1776, William Moultrie, a wealthy planter with experience as a militia captain, took command of the Continental Army’s fort on Sullivan’s Island in Charles Town Harbor. Renamed in his honor following the Revolutionary War, the fort is visible in the background of this portrait.
In advance of the takeover, Moultrie deployed his soldiers to attack British Army encampments on Sullivan’s Island and slaughter or capture formerly enslaved people who had been promised their freedom in exchange for fighting for the king. These raids were specifically designed to instill fear in the Low Country’s Black population and to dissuade them from deserting their enslavers. Such efforts were familiar to Moultrie, who owned over two hundred people, making him the second-largest holder of enslaved individuals in the Continental Army after General George Washington.
Nacido en Charles Town (hoy Charleston), Carolina del Sur
En marzo de 1776, William Moultrie, un rico hacendado con experiencia como capitán de milicias, asumió el mando del fuerte del Ejército Continental en Sullivan’s Island, en la bahía de Charles Town. Rebautizado en su honor tras la Guerra de Independencia, el fuerte aparece al fondo de este retrato.
Previendo el ataque inglés, Moultrie movilizó a sus soldados para atacar los campamentos del ejército británico en Sullivan’s Island y matar o capturar a antiguos esclavos que habían recibido la promesa de libertad si luchaban del lado del rey. Con esos asaltos querían atemorizar a la población negra de la costa de Carolina del Sur para evitar que abandonaran a sus esclavizadores. Estas tácticas eran familiares para Moultrie, dueño de más de 200 esclavos, cifra superada solo por George Washington entre los miembros del Ejército Continental.
Provenance:
William Moultrie [1730-1805]; his godson William Moultrie Reid; William Moultrie Reid, Jr.; William Moultrie Reid III; his daughter Miss Reid and Louise Reiser [Mrs. C. W. Reiser], Columbia, S.C.; (Eunice Chambers [d. 1971], Hartsville, S.C.); (A. E. Rueff, Brooklyn); (Harry MacNeill Bland, New York); (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); purchased 1 May 1936 by The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1942 to NGA; transferred 1965 to NPG.
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift of the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, 1942
