John Trumbull

John Trumbull (June 6, 1756 - November 10, 1843) was a veteran of the American Revolution, who later became an artist. His historical renderings of the American Revolutionary War are displayed in the Rotunda of the U. S. Capitol. Trumbull served in Boston and witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was appointed second aide-de-camp to George Washington, and in June 1776, deputy adjutant general to General Horatio Gates.

Trumbull was a prominent New Englander who was well-connected to the Founding Fathers and other Revolutionary War veterans. Trumbull knew Alexander Coffin, Jr. as a Midshipman on the frigate South Carolina, the largest warship under American command during the war. In 1832, Trumbull signed and testified in Coffin’s pension application to Congress, a common practice for veterans to receive pensions due to the lack of record keeping in the colonies at the time of the American Revolution.