Pvt. John Gott Jr.

Patriot Ancestor: John Gott Jr.

Born: 13 Apr 1730 in Hebron, Hartford County, CT

Died: 14 Dec 1796 in Macedomic, Litchfield, CT

Rank: Private, Capt. John Salisbury’s Company // Private, Col. William Whiting’s Company // Private, Capt. Ebenezer Cady’s Company, Col. Asa Waterman’s Regiment

Years Served: 1777 – 1781 (non-consecutively)

GGW Chapter SAR Member: J. Edson Myers

Highlights of Service: Enlisted & Private during different tours in the New York Militia. Served under Capt. John Salisbury; Col. William Whiting; Capt. Ebenezer Cady; Col. Asa Waterman; Lieut. John Muncey; Ensign John Calendar; and Orderly Serg. Nathaniel Curtis. Engaged at Ft. Edward; Ft. George; Moses Creek; Snute’s Kill; Saratoga; Cherry Valley; Ft. Herkimer; and Ft. Alden.

“The Spirit of 1776”

As written by: J. Edson Myers

New York was a hot spot during the Revolutionary War. The British sought to maintain control of the Hudson River and thereby divide the American Revolutionists of New England from New York, Pennsylvania, and the Southern Colonies. It was especially hot and contested in this region because the Hudson River Valley was filled with many rich landowners whose interests seemed to bind them to the English system of government.

Just east of this region was Massachusetts, a center of agitation supporting the struggle for a free and independent America. Nearby were West Point, Stoney Point, White Plains, and Ticonderoga. This geography was near where British General “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne was to surrender after having been defeated by the American Revolutionaries at the battle of Saratoga.

It was because my great-grandfathers, John Gott Sr., his son John Gott Jr., and his son Story Gott were then living in Hebron, Connecticut; Austerlitz, New York; and Spencertown, New York that they were placed in the geographical center of the Hudson River revolutionary War battlefieds.

We Americans can be very proud of this early-American Gott family, for when the call came and men were needed for the cause, John Gott Sr. moulded his bullets, filled his powder horn, and shouldered his musket. He called for his son, John Gott, and his grandson, Story Gott, to do the same and they marched off to war for their country and its fight for freedom. Little Story Gott was then only a lad of twelve, and was, therefore, taken along as a drummer boy to help keep up the spirits of their fellow soldiers. No finer example of the “Spirit of 1776” can be demonstrated than by John Gott and his sons. All three drew land bounty rights at the end of the Revolutionary War for their services, and all remained in Spencertown, New York, after the Revolution. All three lived to be Deacons of the church in Spencertown. Consequently, a very fine tombstone monument was erected by the citizenry in the graveyard at Spencertown in memory of John Gott. We find on this monument the following inscription:

DEACON STORY GOTT b. 1767 d. 1841

A soldier of the Revolution. A patriotic citizen of the Republic which he fought to establish; warm and generous friend; a shining light in the church of the Redeemer, he lived respected by all the good and died amidst their regrets.

The now-famous painting depicting these two patriot great-grandfathers and one great-uncle, first called “Yankee Doodle” and now referred to as “Spirit of 1776,” today hangs at the museum in Abbott Hall, Marblehead, Massachusetts. Artist Archibald M. Williard (1837-1918) painted it. Archibald was the brother of Judson Willard, who married Delia Gott. The artist created the painting precisely because of Delia Gott’s family’s Revolutionary War history.

Since it was some generations after the conclusion of the American Revolution, the artist used models to depict the Gott men. The fifer in the painting, depicting John Gott Jr., was modeled by Hugh Mosier, a Lorain County, Ohio farmer. The drummer boy depicting Story Gott was modeled by Harry K. Deveraux from the Brooks School in Cleveland, Ohio. The Rev. Samuel L. Willard (the 85-year-old father of the artist) posed as the principal character, John Gott Sr.

The Rev. Willard and his artist-son, Archibald, resided in the town of Wellington, Ohio. Wellington, Spencer, Penfield, and LaGrange, Ohio were the then-hometown areas of the Gott family, beginning in the year 1828. Shown below, is the 1976 United States Centennial Stamp “The Spirit of 1776,” which was also taken from this now famous pairing.