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or, an Inspirational Story, and How It Has Grown…
The whole bit about the drummer freezing and the commander (Col. Barrett, one presumes) calling upon the bystanders for assistance also rings false. Sensible bystanders weren’t standing very nearby, nor would the military types have welcomed their proximity nor solicited their help in what aspired to be, after all, a professional military operation. Wouldn’t the offending drummer face a firing squad for cowardice in the face of the enemy? Or how might they punish the commander for his bizarre behavior? Doesn’t sound like any other account of the occasion that I’ve seen, and accounts survive in bewildering abundance and variety.

I’ve looked, moreover, and haven’t yet found any evidence (beyond Browne’s stirring narrative) that Arch Willard had Joe Munroe in mind when, a hundred years later, he painted the famous Ancient Drummer-boy. His fellow-Masons report that Willard, Senior (Archibald’s father) was the final model of two who sat for the likeness. Both father and son were anxious to “do something special” for the Centennial and succeeded far beyond any reasonable expectation.

Art experts have always pooh-poohed the “Spirit of ‘76” (originally titled, “Yankee Doodle”), as little more than a cartoon, not serious art. Well and good. Would the experts kindly name a piece of serious art that has ever been received instantaneously and durably into the public heart, as has this embodiment of Willard’s patriotism?

The painting, like the Corporal Joe story, captures something of what we all wish we were. Especially when we forget to be critical and sophisticated. Or, for that matter, historically truthful.
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