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Margaret Stone and the French Officer's Horse
On September 14, 1781, two French Officers serving as aides to General Rochambeau, Baron Ludwig von Closen and Francois Joseph Cromot du Bourg, passed by Habre de Venture, the home of Thomas and Margaret Stone just outside Port Tobacco, Maryland. Both Closen and du Bourg kept journals. Neither record an encounter with the Stone children, so what you see here cannot be verified in original source materials. We also know little about the Stone children’s personalities. What history does not record the artist can fill in, so I have. The three Stone children are from right to left: Margaret, Mildred, and Frederick. They are curious and playful children looking for something to do on a sunny early fall day. They spot the officers in the distance and run to the roadside. Who are these men in their bright blue and red uniforms headed toward Port Tobacco? Closen and du Bourg have time to stop, and they do. Margaret catches the attention the of the chestnut mare. They connect. Meanwhile mother, Margaret Stone, waves, and calls out to her three children and greets the French soldiers.
Oil on canvas 24x48 inches