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...again the rebels rushed furiously on our men. -a Hessian soldier
Jacob Lawrence American
Not on view
Here, British forces of Hessian mercenaries, colonial Loyalists, and Native Americans fight the "rebels," including Black soldiers, at the Battle of Bennington, which ended in a victory for the patriots. By quoting a Hessian soldier’s letter, Lawrence used the words of the defeated to testify to the strength of the Americans and their cause. Scholars believe that this work was the first the artist painted as he was developing his Struggle series—a claim supported by its stylistic distinction from the rest of the panels. He produced it during an artist residency at Yaddo, in Saratoga Springs, New York, not far from the site of the famous battle. It dates to the same year, 1954, that the U.S. military abolished all remaining segregated units.
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