Portrait of a Military Officer, Possibly Captain Thomas Morris

Dateca. 1765

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsFramed: 30 × 25in.

Credit LineBequest of Sherrin H. Baky in memory of Bruce A. Baky

Object number2025-9,A&B

DescriptionPortrait of a man in a military uniform consisting of a red coat with buff facing. He has a white shirt underneath and a black ribbon around his neck. He holds a letter in his proper right hand that is inscribed "May 1764." A black tricorn hat is tucked under his left arm.Label TextThis portrait is believed to depict Captain Thomas Morris of the 17th of Foot; an English regiment that spent time in America during both the French and Indian War and Pontiac's Rebellion.

In 1904, the journal that Captain Morris kept during his time in North America in 1762 was published. The publication covers his journey from Cedar Point, Ohio to Detroit, Michigan detailing the encounters he had with Native Americans along the way. His expedition was meant to be a diplomatic one in which he was to make peace with all the groups that he met and summon them to a council with the British in Detroit. That council, however, did not go as the British hoped and eventually led to Pontiac's Rebellion and the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which limited colonial expansion west of the Appalachian Mountains.