Spirit of ’76 Museum – A 2009 Visit

Although it’s been closed due to the Coronavirus, the Spirit of '76 Museum in Wellington is preparing to reopen sometime in July. According to its website, it will be new and improved too.

I hope they didn’t improve it too much. There’s a certain earthy charm and sense of fun when a museum isn’t too slick or uppity for its own good. If it resembles a high-end flea market, so much the better!

But if it turns out that the Spirit of ’76 Museum has changed a lot, then it might be fun to take a virtual tour of how it used to look.

What follows, then, is an ample sample of its artifacts from a visit I paid to the museum back in July 2009 (in preparation for an article I was going to write about it for the Black Swamp Trader & Firelands Gazette).

This photo is labeled, “Archibald Willard Home – Union Street”
(The address of the home is 121 Union Street)

This Willard painting depicts Civil War veterans reading an
account of the Battle of San Juan Hill. The man on crutches is Willard.

The lighthearted Willard composition that was later reworked
as the more patriotic ‘Spirit of ’76'

This drum was owned by Freeman Greene, member of the famed
Brighton Fife & Drum Corps. Green first posed as the central figure
in the ‘Spirit of ’76’ painting. But he tired of traveling to Cleveland to pose
and was replaced by Willard’s father. Green lent him his drum to pose with.

The small note in the corner of the painting reads,
“This painting of Gen. George Custer was painted by
Agnes Chapman Haskell, a Wellington woman,
whose husband was on Custer’s staff during the Civil War."

Civil War Union Field Grade Officer’s Uniform