sageofmountvernon

[sageofmountvernon]

Washington’s 1753 Winter

When it came to winter weather, the beloved General did not have the best of luck. The winters in Morristown and Valley Forge were not kind to Washington or his army as historians have famously reported. The winter of 1799 is also arguably what killed him. Of course, not every winter was completely awful with the Delaware Crossing in 1776 being very successful for Washington. However, did you know that the Delaware was not Washington’s only river crossing? That is what I am going to talk about today.

In 1753, tensions between the French and British armies were rapidly rising about who would control the Ohio Valley Territory. George Washington, then 21, was selected by the British army to carry out the diplomatic mission of ordering the French army to vacate the Ohio Valley. On December 11th 1753, Washington and his traveling companion Christopher Gist would deliver the demand to the French commander Jacques Le Gardeur, who politely refused, forcing Washington and Gist to quickly start the journey a second time, back through the wintery wilderness and their home of Virginia.

It was 18 days later, on December 29th 1753 that the two men reached the Allegheny River, which like the Delaware River would be 23 years later, was filled with large chunks of floating ice. The two men had originally assumed the river would be frozen over to the point where they would be able to walk across, and were therefore ill prepared for the crossing, forcing them to build a wooden raft and paddle across.

About halfway across the river, George Washington was tossed into the river when their raft crashed into a large ice pack on the river. Washington was nearly hypothermic due to the icy waters, and had Gist not been there to assist in pulling George from the water, it is possible that the mixture of woolen clothing dragging the man, and hypothermia impacting his ability to move properly Washington would have drowned in the Allegheny River at just age 21.

Due to the struggle, the two men were too exhausted to free themselves from the ice pack, making it impossible to reach the opposite shore or return the way they had come. Luckily, they were able to wade through the freezing water and stay a night (though miserable) on an island. By the next morning, the river had luckily frozen over allowing Washington and Gist to successfully return to Virginia, where Washington would go on to become the man we all know, while Gist who remained a friend of Washington’s went on to hold successful commands during the French and Indian War died of Smallpox in 1759.

One final interesting thing that can be observed about Washington’s 1753 trip across the Allegheny River is that it overlaps quite heavily with the Turn: Washington’s Spies scene, which shows Benjamin Tallmadge taking a plunge into the Delaware River during the 1776 crossing, leaving one to wonder if his experience may have been based off of Washington’s real world experience.

Source: “Washington's Winters.” George Washington's Mount Vernon, https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/so-hard-a-winter/.

[sageofmountvernon]

Oftentimes, I see George Washington being portrayed as being not particularly affectionate to his loved ones, especially his wife Martha. Now, why might this be? It could be in large part because we do not have much surviving correspondence between the two of them.

Shortly after Washington's death on December 14th 1799, Martha destroyed (via burning) what she believed to be all of the correspondence between the two. By the time of Martha’s death only three letters between Washington and his wife still existed. Two of the letters, both written in June of 1775 were found by Martha’s granddaughter Martha Parke Custis Peter, trapped behind a desk drawer in a desk that had been gifted to her. The third, a letter from 1777, was found by a man responsible for the management of George’s papers.

Why did Martha Washington burn nearly all the correspondence between the two of them before her death, leaving her husband to be portrayed as cold when it comes to love in most fan works? Why did she leave historians in the dark about what her marriage with George was like? That is just the reason. With her husband finding his victory in the Revolutionary War leaving him quickly into the public light once more as President, Martha spent the remainder of her life in the public light, as even upon George’s retirement from the presidency, they continued to host many people at their home. As a result, Martha felt whether or not her correspondence with her husband ended up in the hands of the public and later historians were the last bit of her life that she still had control over, the only part of her life she was still capable of keeping private, and as a result she burned every bit of correspondence with her husband that she knew remained.

However, as I said some of their letters did survive. One of them being one that was penned by Washington on June 23rd, 1775. It was written as George was about to be leaving Philadelphia for a military camp in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the letter I have added the transcription of below Washington expresses his eagerness to soon meet with Martha once more writing as follows:

“My dearest,

As I am within a few Minutes of leaving this City, I could not think of departing from it without dropping you a line; especially as I do not know whether it may be in my power to write again till I get to the Camp at Boston—I go fully trusting in that Providence, which has been more bountiful to me than I deserve, & in full confidence of a happy meeting with you sometime in the Fall—I have not time to add more, as I am surrounded with Company to take leave of me—I retain an unalterable affection for you, which neither time or distance can change, my best love to Jack & Nelly, & regard for the rest of the Family concludes me with the utmost truth & sincerety Yr entire

Go: Washington”

As I have explained, despite popular fandom interpretation and common choice to portray Washington as a more distant unlikely to open up lover this letter shows otherwise. It shows that even during busy times of work, meetings, and travel, George’s wife was often on his mind and when he was unable to see her, the excitement to meet with her once more was frequently on his mind.

((Also the way he signs his letter to her “Your entire, George Washington” makes me so happy).