Charles was now put to school; but, after he had learned writing and arithmetic, etc., he was apprenticed, at the age of thirteen, to a saddler. Working out his apprenticeship, when he was twenty-one he married into an influential family; and, with the assistance of a lifelong friend of his father, James Tilghman, set up in business for himself.
The saddlery business did not prove a success; and it was about this time that he, on seeing a poorly executed painting and having had from childhood a taste for drawing, thought that he could paint as well. With some borrowed colors and by the aid of a looking glass, he painted a portrait of himself with such good results that some of his friends advised him to study painting seriously. Thus, at the age of twenty-four, he began the second period of his life—that of a painter.
Peale, the Portrait Painter
After studying under the best available talent in Maryland and in Virginia, he went to Boston and took a few lessons under Copley and shortly afterward was engaged to paint several portraits. Returning to Annapolis, his work soon became noticed. John Beale Bordley and several of his fellow members of the Governor's Council of Maryland made up a purse and sent Peale to London to study under Benjamin West. Returning to Maryland two years later, his ability was soon recognized and for the next twenty years he was the leading portrait painter of Pennsylvania and the south.
His many engagements in Philadelphia caused him to move to that city in 1774 and to make it his permanent home. Being an ardent patriot, he offered his services to the American cause at the beginning of the Revolution, being made lieutenant and later captain in a company of Philadelphia militia. He was in action in the battles of Germantown, Trenton and Princeton. At Valley Forge in the winter of 1777 he found occupation in painting portraits of his fellow officers. Many of his portraits painted during the war were subsequently placed in his "painting room" to form a nucleus of what he hoped would become a national portrait gallery. During this period, his interest in public affairs led him into various activities and public positions in connection with the British evacuation of Philadelphia.
As soon as opportunity offered, he established himself in a house at Third and Lombard streets and resumed with his former energy the practise of his portrait painting. In connection with this house he built a long room to hold his pictures and to use as a studio. As curiosities Dr. Morgan gave him some bones of a mammoth from Ohio; Professor Robt. Patterson, of the College of Philadelphia, presented him with a paddle fish from the Allegheny River; Dr. Franklin gave him an Angora cat from France, which was soon lost for want
