CHRONOLOGY

A Chronology of “Sheridan’s Ride” by Charles Hardin Andrus

1885 Research resulting in preliminary sketches

1888 Final work begun

January 1890 Finished for its first exhibition

December 01, 1900 Burlington Free Press states that Andrus put the
finishing touches on the painting on November 30, 1900.

December 01, 1900 Burlington Free Press states that the painting will go on display this evening at City Hall.

December 03, 1900 Burlington Free Press reports that 150 people
attended the opening two nights earlier.

May 19, 1902 Burlington Free Press reports that the painting was sold to E. H. Lewis of St. Albans who made the successful bid of $150.

1890 – 1914 Painting is assumed to have traveled to unknown places for public exhibition.

February 19, 1914 Burlington Free Press reports that City Hall has
recently been electrified and had a new heating plant installed and the painting which “has been rolled up for 14 years” is put on display.

February 20, 1914 Burlington Free Press reports that General W. W. Henry would do a presentation at the painting in City Hall that evening. Free Press also reports that it has learned that Andrus lives in Enosburg Falls.

February 21, 1914 Burlington Free Press reports that Mr. Lewis who
bought the painting in 1902 never claimed it and his current address was unknown.

February 27, 1914 Burlington Free Press reports that Andrus came
to Burlington to meet with the Mayor about the painting. It also reported that the painting had been involved in two law suits in 1900.

March 03, 1914 Burlington Free Press reports that the City of
Burlington sent Mr. Lewis a bill for 10 years of storage fees for the painting. (Was this their legal method of making claim to the painting?)

July 1914 Per shipping label on the box, painting was at the
World Exposition in White River Junction, VT.

Fall 1975 Bob Durand purchased the Chase Moving &
Storage Building at 77 College Street in Burlington. The boxed painting was found in the rafters of the basement with many years of dust on the cover. The Chases neither mention nor claim the box.

Winter/Spring 1976 The box remains as found due to cold weather and being in an unheated area. Research into the original builder and owner (James Cashman) of the building turned up no clues about the box or its contents.

May 20, 1976 Bob Durand and Nina Parris, Curator of the Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont open one end of the box and discover a rolled canvas. They resealed the box and began to seek a
location to fully open the box and inspect its contents.

July 20, 1976 Men and equipment from Brady Landscaping in South Burlington remove the boxed painting and via a flatbed move it to the gymnasium of the Adams School in Burlington.

July 22, 1976 With the assistance from Parris and other staff
from the Fleming Museum, the box was opened and the painting unrolled on the floor. It was reported that as the painting was unrolled “and the panorama was revealed those in attendance
gasped with surprise and delight.”

August 18, 1976 With help from the Vermont National Guard, the
painting in the box is moved to a state building in Montpelier. (Or was it actually at the Armory in Winooski where is it known that the painting resided due to the efforts of General John Barr?) At the time, it was anticipated that it would be accepted by the Vermont Historical Society and/or the Vermont Council on the Arts.

Summer 1977 State Director of Buildings, Irving Bates, determined that no state building existed that could adequately display the painting. Likewise, no funding was available even if a suitable location had been found. Arthur Williams of the Vermont Council on the Arts searched for a location to place the painting for further display.

October 12, 1977 The painting is listed on the Bicentennial Inventory
of American Paintings at the Smithsonian institution.

October 27, 1977 With help from the Vermont National Guard the
painting is moved to the Armory in Northfield where it could have good security and a large floor space for display.

January 04, 1978 The box is opened and the painting put on display
in Northfield on the floor of the armory.

Summer 2000 The boxed painting is in storage at the Berlin Armory.

June 2004 Painting is hung in a designated area of the new wing of the Vermont Veteran’s Militia Museum and Library.

Other known works by this artist::
Panorama of the Principal Battles of the Great Rebellion 6’ x 150’
Owned by the Vermont Historical Society

Two English Setters At Point
Owned by Esther Andrus Holly of Shelburne, Vermont – granddaughter of the artist

McKinley’s Horses
Once owned by Shirley Andrus Demski of Jaffrey, New Hampshire

Accidentally destroyed

Two Ships in a Stormy Sea
Owned by Mrs. Albert Coffrin of Burlington, Vermont

Andrus is also known to have painted several theater curtains in Vermont and rumored to have done others. It is also rumored that he painting the scene on the ceiling of the Catholic Church in Newport, VT.