America in 1803 and made an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself as an artist. He began in Charleston and moved on to Boston. Due to his lack of artistic success, he returned to Charleston and resumed his legal studies in 1804. In 1808 he was admitted to the bar. He remained in Charleston nearly the rest of his life, and continued his painting even as he practiced law. Between 1804 and 1840 he produced a number of historical paintings and portraits. Among the best known of these portraits are four at the Capitol in Washington--"Battle of Fort Moultrie," "Mrs. Motte Directs Marion and Lee to Burn Her Mansion to Dislodge the British," "General Marion Inviting a British Officer to Dinner," and "Sargents Jasper and Newton Rescuing American Prisoners from the British." The last two were also engraved and used for the ten and five dollar bills issued by South Carolina in 1861 (Dictionary of American Biography 111).
White's works fit the desire on the part of critics and public of his time for paintings expressing patriotic fe
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