Julian Scott discovered his artistic life's work in the chaos and destruction of the American Civil War. Born in Johnson, Vermont, Scott received his youthful education there at the Lamille Academy. At the age of fifteen he enlisted as a drummer in the Third Vermont Infantry and campaigned with that unit. He kept sketchbooks of his activities during the war, which provided him later with sources for his paintings. Scott received the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery at the Battle of Lee's Mill in 1862. After the war concluded, Scott studied art at the National Academy of Design and was a student of the history painter, Emile Leutze. He then traveled to Paris and Stuttgart, Germany, to continue his education. Scott's first studio was in New York City but he soon moved to Plainfield, New Jersey, his home for the remainder of his life. In 1890 he was commissioned by the Department of the Interior to visit the American West to draw and paint Native American tribes. His work was published as part of the Eleventh Census Report on Indians Taxed and Untaxed, and in Edna Dean "Proctor's Song of the Ancient People" (1892). Scott is best known for his large history paintings, many of which record events of the Civil War.

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