Captain John T. Pratt Papers

Collection — Drawer: 42

Identifier: SC-042

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Pratt Papers document Pratt's activities as a Captain in the First Regiment of the United States Army. Includes appointment papers to the American Legion, signed by George Washington (original signed copies in Art Collection), and correspondence with Secretary of War Henry Knox. Three of the letters pre-date the establishment of the United States Military in 1789.

The papers came with the museum's acquisition of Captain John Pratt (19753-1824), a portrait painted by Ralph Earl. (1990.146.1) https://collections.dma.org/artwork/3049774

Dates

1779 - 1806

Conditions Governing Access

Copies in the library's Ralph Earl artist file must be used for research.

Repository permission is required for access to the originals. Please contact DMA Archives, archives@dma.org.

Biographical / Historical

JOHN PRATT (1753-1824)

Captain John Pratt was a Hartford native, the son of Zachariah and Abigail (Cook) Pratt. During the American Revolutionary War, he served as assistant commissary general under James Clinton, and continued to pursue a military career after the end of the war. He fought in the Ohio Indian Wars in Ohio (also known as the Northwest Indian War). In 1791, President George Washington appointed him a captain of the First Regiment of the United States Army. In this role, Pratt was ordered by General Henry Knox to head the Army recruiting service in the state of Connecticut, with "the principle rendezvous...at Middletown."

Due to his new assignment, Pratt settled in Middletown in 1792 where he purchased a farm. He married Elizabeth Cooper of Middletown in 1795 and served as a magistrate and a representative in the State Legislature. Pratt was also an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, organized in 1783, prior to the disbanding of the Revolutionary armies. He commissioned Ralph Earl to paint his portrait in 1792.

https://collections.dma.org/essay/NVAJbA4Y

RALPH EARL (1751-1801)

Born and trained in the British Colonies, the painter Ralph Earl fled to England in 1778 because he supported the King of England during the Revolutionary War. After his return to the newly independent United States in 1785, he took advantage of the market for portraits of war heroes. During the 1790s Ralph Earl traveled throughout Connecticut painting portraits of prominent residents in each successive township. In his portraits, Earl went beyond the "likeness" of his handsome contemporaries to display keen insight into their characters; his paintings show people in their own homes, surrounded by their furniture, pursuing their customary occupations. Behind his subjects appear glimpses of identifiable scenes such as the countryside, seashore, river valleys and villages. Earl opted for rapid execution over lengthy sittings, using bold colors and brushwork. By this time full-length portraits were no longer in style in more fashionable locales such as New York, but they remained popular in Connecticut until the end of the century. Of the many military portraits Earl executed in America, eight are members of the veterans group the Society of the Cincinnati, including Captain John Pratt (1792, 1990.146.1).

https://collections.dma.org/essay/6e0OYj9V

Extent

1.00 items (Binder and CD)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The collection consists of a binder containing orignial colonial-era documents related to the Captain John Pratt portrait in the DMA collection, an a CD of scans of the documents.