On December 13, 2020 at 7 p.m. Emerging Revolutionary War historian Mark Maloy will sit down and talk with preeminent George Washington historian Dr. Peter Henriques to discuss his latest book about the indispensable man of the Revolution, First and Always: A New Portrait of George Washington. Peter Henriques is Professor of History, Emeritus, at George Mason University and gave the keynote address at the inaugural Emerging Revolutionary War Symposium in May of 2019. You can watch this discussion live on our Facebook page.
George Washington is without a doubt the most important man in the story of America’s founding. Henriques has studied Washington for decades and in 2006 published a book Realistic Visionary: A Portrait of George Washington. Rather than a biography that covers everything in Washington’s life, both Realistic Visionary and now First and Always are “portraits.” They are broken up into individual stand-alone essays and delve in depth into some of the most interesting and at times controversial aspects of Washington’s life. Among these are Washington’s relationships with his mother, fellow Founding Fathers, and slavery. The result is a deeper and fuller understanding of who George Washington really was.
To get a signed copy of Dr. Henriques new book First and Always, you can send $27.95 to 13704 Heritage Valley Way, Gainesville, VA, 20155.
Additionally, we will be talking with Dr. Henriques on the 221st anniversary of the final illness of George Washington. Washington became ill on December 13, 1799 and died late in the evening on December 14, 1799. Henriques is an expert on the death of George Washington and the author of a book The Death of George Washington: He Died as He Lived that explores the final days of George Washington, so we will also discuss Washington’s death. We hope you are able to join us! If you miss the live talk, you will still be able to watch it on either our Facebook page or YouTube page in the future.
One of the worst epidemics in American history occurred in the then capital of the United States, Philadelphia, in the late summer and fall of 1793. The yellow fever epidemic of 1793 killed almost 10% of the city’s population and forced the young government of the United States and President George Washington to seek shelter away from Philadelphia.
“Girard’s Heroism” depicts Philadelphian Stephen Girard personally taking victims of the 1793 yellow fever epidemic into his carriage to be taken to a hospital.
The 18th century was full of epidemics including smallpox, typhus, influenza, measles, and yellow fever. Yellow fever (also referred to as ‘the bilious fever’) was a brutal disease to contract and suffer. Once a person got yellow fever they would come down with aches and a fever. The disease would then attack the liver causing jaundice which turned the person’s skin a yellow color (hence the name yellow fever). Shortly after that, they would begin to bleed from the mouth, nose, and eyes and vomit black blood. It would usually only take a few days for the person to die from the disease. Almost 50% of all those who contracted the disease died.
Yellow fever arrived in Philadelphia in the spring of 1793 when a ship carrying French refugees from the Haitian Revolution arrived from the Caribbean. In an era before germ theory, there were numerous erroneous thoughts as to the cause of this epidemic and how it spread. Many people assumed the fever was caused by putrid air from rotting produce on the docks since this is where the first cases appeared. Others blamed the refugees for bringing the disease into the city.
Arch Street Docks in Philadelphia
Among the early victims of the disease was a member of the President’s house. Polly Lear, the 23-year-old wife of George Washington’s secretary, Tobias Lear, died from yellow fever on July 28, 1793. Washington was personally devastated and attended her funeral the following day at Christ Church in Philadelphia, the only funeral he would attend during his presidency. Polly was given a funeral similar to a state funeral, with her pallbearers being Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and Henry Knox. Even though the fever would claim the lives of people close to George Washington, he, himself, never described fear or anxiety of catching the disease.
The President’s House in Philadelphia.
By August of 1793, cases of yellow fever in Philadelphia reached a point where local doctors declared an epidemic. About 20 people were dying every day of the disease. The College of Physicians in the city gave recommendations to slow the spread of the fever. They believed it was contagious from infected people and travelled through the air. People wore vinegar-soaked cloths around their mouths and noses, stayed in their homes, stopped shaking hands, kept distance on the streets from others, and lit bonfires in the city streets hoping the smoke would kill the disease in the air. People ceased to visit those afflicted with the fever, and the houses of those who had the fever were marked for all to avoid. They also sought to quickly bury people who died from the fever to try and stop the spread. People fled the city in droves. Nearly 20,000 people ultimately escaped the city. Washington described the city as “almost depopulated by removals and deaths.”
A detail from Paul Revere’s print of the “Bloody Massacre.” This widely circulated image gave the impression that the British soldiers fired in unison on command into a peaceful assembly. (Library of Congress)
“Fire if you dare, G-d damn you, fire and be damned!” the crowd of hundreds of Bostonians yelled as they pressed in around the nine British soldiers guarding the Custom House in Boston on the evening of March 5, 1770. The violence that was about to erupt in downtown Boston had been brewing for almost two years when British regular soldiers first entered Boston in 1768. It had gotten especially bad after February 22, 1770, when Christopher Seider, an 11-year-old boy, was killed while protesting with a group in front of the home of a loyalist. Thousands of Bostonians turned out for the boy’s funeral and the tension and distrust between the civilians and the British soldiers grew larger.
The presence of British regular troops in the streets of Boston enraged colonists, who now felt they were being occupied by a foreign army. It was just eleven days after Seider’s death, on March 5, 1770 when Private Hugh White of the 29th Regiment of Foot took up a sentry post outside of the Custom House on King Street in downtown Boston. The Custom House had taken on symbolic meaning as the center of British taxation. As a young wigmaker’s apprentice, Edward Garrick, passed the sentry, he yelled at a British officer that he had not paid his bill for a wig. The sentry, White, reprimanded the young man. The two engaged in a heated conversation when Private White swung his musket at Garrick, hitting him on the side of the head.
Word traveled through the streets about the altercation and a large mob began to descend on the lone British sentry at the Custom House. As the mob of people began to grow larger and larger, the sentry called for reinforcements. Seven British soldiers of the 29th Regiment of Foot, under the command of Captain Thomas Preston, marched to the sentry’s defense with fixed bayonets. As the nine British soldiers stood guard near the steps to the Custom House, passions enflamed and dozens more people joined the crowd surrounding the soldiers. Bells began ringing in the city and more people came out of their homes and into the streets. The crowd was estimated to have grown to as many as 300 or 400 people. They were yelling at the soldiers, shouting profanities and insults at the soldiers. Others threw rocks, paddles, and snowballs at the besieged men. One of those protestors near the soldiers was a former slave named Crispus Attucks. The crowd continued to hurl verbal abuse and challenged the soldiers repeatedly to fire their weapons. Preston’s men loaded their muskets in front of the crowd.
George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, 1797. Washington was a familiar face in Alexandria from his boyhood days until his death. (Wikimedia Commons)
Alexandria, Virginia, often thought of as merely a suburb of Washington, D.C., is actually one of the most historic towns in the United States. The town, founded in 1749, predates the nation’s capital and the nation itself. While most towns and cities (such as Charleston, Philadelphia, New York or Boston to name a few) set aside museums, parks, and houses where George Washington may have spent an evening or had a meal, Alexandria, Virginia has the distinction of being Washington’s hometown. Washington’s home, Mount Vernon, is only nine miles south of Alexandria. Washington literally helped survey and lay out the very streets of the town in 1748. Washington spent a considerable amount of time of his life with friends and family at Alexandria and became a leading citizen in the town.
A map of Alexandria drawn by George Washington in 1749. (Library of Congress)Gadsby’s Tavern, where not only Washington, but John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison dined. (City of Alexandria)
Today, visitors can see numerous places that had a close association with George Washington and the American Revolution there. Gadsby’s Tavern was where Washington dined frequently throughout his life and where he celebrated his birth night ball, a tradition that continues to this very day. Nearby, a replica of George Washington’s townhome sits today on Cameron Street where his original townhome once stood. Just two blocks from there is Christ Church, where Washington worshipped and was a vestryman. Despite the fact that this is a beautiful and historic building where Washington worshipped, the modern congregation there has sought to distance their association with Washington (because he was a slaveowner) by moving a plaque located in the church.
Christ Church as it appeared in 1861. (Library of Congress)A replica of Washington’s townhouse on the original site, which is actually available to stay at through vrbo. (TripAdvisor)
Washington was also a member of the local Masonic lodge. Today, the entire town of Alexandria is anchored on the west end by a massive Masonic Temple dedicated to memory of George Washington. Inside is a large statue of Washington and museum that includes many Washington relics and mementoes, including the trowel Washington used to lay the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol building.
The interior of the Masonic Temple in Alexandria, Virginia, complete with a statue to Washington. (Visit Alexandria)
In addition to all of these Washington sites, the town of Alexandria has even more Revolutionary War history. The men from Alexandria largely joined the 3rd Virginia Regiment in 1776 when the war broke out. One of the town’s most prominent citizens was a “broad-shouldered Irishman” named John Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald would become a captain in the 3rd Virginia Regiment. In November of 1776, Fitzgerald was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and joined Washington’s headquarters as an aide-de-camp. Fitzgerald would be by Washington’s side at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Valley Forge, and was wounded at Monmouth. While many Alexandrians would go on to fight in the war across the country, the war came to Alexandria in 1781. In April of 1781, a British raiding party was sailing up the Potomac River towards Alexandria. Col. John Fitzgerald rallied the local Virginia militia soldiers and marched down to Jones Point to scare off the British. The British never landed and sailed away. Later in life, Fitzgerald would become famous for founding the first Catholic Church in Virginia (St. Mary’s) and became mayor of the town. Today, multiple plaques in the city honor Col. Fitzgerald. While John Fitzgerald was undoubtedly a true hero of the Revolutionary War, the town has chosen to remove his name from a square on the waterfront because he was a slaveowner.
A plaque on King Street in Alexandria, Virginia for Col. John Fitzgerald. (Author’s Photo)
On the northern side of the town, a state historic marker
denotes the location of where part of Washington’s army encamped while marching
to Yorktown in 1781. In addition to
Christ Church, you can also visit the First Presbyterian Church, where memorial
services were held for Washington in 1799 and where his personal physician who
attended to him all his life, Dr. James Craik is buried. In the Churchyard you can also see the Tomb
of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier.
The Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier. (TripAdvisor)
In Alexandria also stands Carlyle House, where General Edward Braddock launched his ill-fated expedition into Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War in 1755. It was also the home of George William Carlyle, a 17-year-old boy who valiantly died during the Revolutionary War in South Carolina at the Battle of Eutaw Springs in 1781. Another person who called Alexandria home, Light-Horse Harry Lee, served with Carlyle at the battle and described him as “the gallant young Carlyle of Alexandria.” Today, Light-Horse Harry Lee has a bar named after him today in Alexandria. In addition to his important service as an officer in the Revolutionary War, Lee became famous as the man who eulogized his fellow Alexandrian George Washington as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” He was also the father of Robert E. Lee, who would grow up in Alexandria.
Carlyle House from the Front (Eric Sterner)
Robert E. Lee would attend the same church as Washington and married into Martha Washington’s family, making his home at nearby Arlington House (which was not only a home, but the nation’s first memorial to George Washington). Robert E. Lee said of Alexandria: “There is no community to which my affections more strongly cling than that of Alexandria, composed of my earliest and oldest friends, my kind school-fellows, and faithful neighbors.”
Alexandria’s expansive history associated with George Washington and the Revolutionary War is only rivaled by its important history during the American Civil War. Alexandria was the scene of the first deaths of that war in 1861 and was the longest occupied town in the war.
The Lyceum, Alexandria’s History Museum, where the inaugural Emerging Revolutionary War Symposium will be held on September 28, 2019. (City of Alexandria)
With such an extensive George Washington and Revolutionary War history, the town makes the perfect location for the inaugural Emerging Revolutionary War Symposium later this month. We hope you make the effort to come to this historic town and learn about how these men and women transitioned from colonists to Americans. While you are in town, we hope you get a chance to visit some of the numerous Revolutionary War and Washington sites!
One of the great unsung heroes of the American Revolution was an Irish Catholic colonel in the Continental Army who called Alexandria, Virginia home. His name was John Fitzgerald and he would be by George Washington’s side during some of the most dramatic moments of the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, today in his adopted hometown, people are working to erase his gallant memory.
George Washington conferring with an aide-de-camp. (U.S. Army Center of Military History)
In 1769 John Fitzgerald sailed from the emerald green fields of County Wicklow, Ireland to the southern British colonial town of Alexandria, Virginia. Fitzgerald left a country that was firmly under the domination of British and Protestant rule. Despite making up a majority of the residents of the country, Irish Catholics were treated as second class subjects in Ireland. What Fitzgerald would find in colonial Virginia would not have been that much different as many British colonists had anti-Catholic sentiments. Fitzgerald would find it illegal for him to openly worship in Virginia. He would be forced to celebrate Catholic mass in his private home.
Despite the prejudices he faced, Fitzgerald became a merchant in Alexandria and would soon become good friends with the prominent local citizen, George Washington. As tensions began to build between Great Britain and the American colonies, Fitzgerald would become an early proponent of the patriot cause. As early as 1774, Fitzgerald had joined the local patriot militia, the Fairfax Independent Company, as an officer.
In early 1776, Fitzgerald became a captain in the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line, and was promoted to major that fall. In November, Fitzgerald was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and joined Washington’s headquarters as an aide-de-camp. Fitzgerald joined his staff at one of the darkest moments of the entire war. Fitzgerald joined as what was left of Washington’s army was retreating across the state of New Jersey. Washington’s army was dissolving before his very eyes. From 24,000 men that August, by December Washington only counted about 3,000 men. In this trying time, Fitzgerald would be by Washington’s side as the revolution seemed near an end. He would then join Washington and his men as they crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night and took part in the pivotal battles at Trenton and Princeton. (Read about these important battles in my book “Victory or Death: The Battles of Trenton and Princeton”)
Washington Crossing the Delaware, by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze. Washington had crossed the Delaware River on the night of December 25 to attack Trenton. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Early on the morning of December 26, 1776, George Washington and his 2,400 man army went running into the Hessian occupied village of Trenton, New Jersey. It was snowing hard that morning and the one American soldier recalled that “we advanced, and although there was not more than one bayonet to five men, orders were given to ‘Charge bayonets and rush on!’ And rush on we did.” Continue reading “Victory or Death”→
This drawing shows Washington holding a council of war in 1778. The scene would have been similar in the Merrick house on Christmas Eve, 1776. Washington always liked to consult his generals before making big decisions. However, on Christmas Eve of 1776, there were almost no options left. (NYPL)
There was perhaps no darker Christmas Eve in American history than in 1776. The cause of American liberty and independence was on the very verge of disintegration. General George Washington’s army (that had once had more than 20,000 soldiers) had melted to only about 3,000 fit for duty. Of those soldiers, many of their enlistments would expire the following week on January 1. The victorious British and Hessian soldiers had thrashed Washington’s army in nearly every engagement they fought. Just a week before Christmas, Washington wrote that he “tremble[d] for Philadelphia” and that he thought “the game was pretty near up.” The British were well known for their harsh treatment of rebels, and it was likely they would show no mercy to these colonial rebels. Gloom and dread filled the minds and hearts of the patriots. Writer Thomas Paine famously wrote that “these are the times that try men’s souls!” General Nathanael Greene was hopeful some event would change their fortunes when he wrote “I hope this is the dark part of the night, which is generally just before the day.”
General Nathanael Greene by Charles Willson Peale. The final council of war before the Battle of Trenton was held at his headquarters and Washington would personally lead Greene’s division at Trenton. (Wikimedia Commons)
On December 22, Washington’s aide, Colonel Joseph Reed wrote to Washington that “our affairs are now hasting fast to ruin if we do not retrieve them by some happy event. Delay is now equal to total defeat.” Washington had to act.
A plaque on the site of the Samuel Merrick house placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution denotes the structure’s historical significance. (Author Photo)
On the night before Christmas, Washington met with his generals in the home of Samuel Merrick in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where General Nathanael Greene had made his headquarters. Here, Washington laid out his final dispositions for what would be one of the boldest missions of the entire war. The following night, his army would cross the Delaware River and march on Trenton, New Jersey and attack the 1,500 Hessian soldiers garrisoned there. What exactly was said in this meeting we do not know, but there must have been major objections to such a dangerous and desperate action. The demoralized army would have to cross an ice-choked river, march nine miles in a winter storm and defeat well-drilled and equipped German soldiers. However, as Washington had written the day before: “Necessity, dire necessity, will, nay, must, justify an attempt.” As Washington and his fellow generals left the Samuel Merrick house that Christmas Eve, they were given the password for this daring Christmas mission: “Victory or Death.”
The Samuel Merrick house as it looks in 2017. The stone part is the original building. Today it is a private residence. (Author Photo)
The events that would follow would prove to be the most crucial in the history of the United States. To learn more about these events and what must have been the gloomiest night before Christmas, as well as have a field guide to see where these sites are today, I hope you check out my new book about this campaign: “Victory or Death: The Battles of Trenton and Princeton.”
George Washington died on December 14, 1799. On December 12, 1799, the celebrated Revolutionary War general and former president rode around his beloved Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon. Despite the fact it was snowing and sleeting, Washington spent five hours in the winter weather. Washington had survived much worse winters before, and gave little thought to this particular storm, even as he sat for dinner that evening with snow still clinging to his hair. Later that night however, he began to show signs of a sore throat. The next day, he went out again in the miserable weather to mark some trees that needed to be cut down. On the night of December 13, the sore throat had gotten worse. He stayed up that night reading the newspaper with his wife, Martha, and his personal secretary, Tobias Lear. As he headed to bed, Lear suggested he take some medicine for his cold. Washington declined, saying he would “let it go as it came.”[1]
In this highly romanticized painting done in 1851, painter Junius Brutus Stearns depicts the final moments of Washington’s life. (Wikimedia Commons)
Around 3 or 4 in the morning, Washington awoke with a fever and his throat even more tender. Martha was worried and wanted to go alert Tobias Lear, but Washington was afraid the cold air would harm Martha and decided to wait until the enslaved handmaid Caroline came into the room to start a fire at 7 in the morning. At that time, Lear was alerted and he immediately called for doctors to come to Mount Vernon. Continue reading ““I die hard; but I am not afraid to go.” – George Washington’s Final Battle”→
In one of the songs of the Broadway hit Hamilton, the character of Aaron Burr says: “Did ya hear the news about good old General Mercer? You know Clermont Street? They renamed it after him. The Mercer legacy is secure.”
The line is referring to Mercer Street in lower Manhattan. Ironically, while they mention in the musical that the renaming of this street secures Mercer’s legacy, many Americans probably have never heard of General Mercer, nor do they know what his true legacy was.
A drawing study John Trumbull did of Hugh Mercer for his painting of the Battle of Princeton. He likely used Mercer’s son as a stand in. (Wikimedia Commons)
Hugh Mercer was regarded as one of the greatest American heroes of the Revolutionary War, at least by his contemporaries. Interestingly, though, Mercer was born in Great Britain, (Scotland to be exact) and studied at the University of Aberdeen to be a medical doctor. After graduating, he joined the Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army as an assistant surgeon and witnessed the bloody destruction of that army on the fields of Culloden in 1746. The young 20 year old became a fugitive in his own land.
The Battle of Culloden decimated the Jacobite forces in April of 1746. The suicidal battle followed an aborted night attack that could have possibly resulted in a Jacobite victory. (Wikimedia Commons)
While walking through the Willis cemetery, located at the top of Marye’s Heights in Fredericksburg, Virginia, I encountered the grave of an American patriot from the Revolutionary War, George Washington Lewis. Lewis, as it turns out was George Washington’s nephew and played a role in the Trenton-Princeton campaign in 1776 and 1777.
A relatively modern stone marks the location of George Lewis’ grave in the Willis cemetery on Marye’s Heights. (Author photo)
