I have an ancestor who ran a hospital at valley forge at the time of the battle of brandywine. His wife gave George washington a flip. She addressed him as “Sire” George Washington is reported as saying “We are all brothers now.”
That came to me by family lore and literature through the generations.
Only recently did I read that Ben Franklin made a famous jest at roughly the time of the battle of brandywine—which the revolutionaries lost. The wit said “If we don’t hang together, we will hang seperately.”
(Elon Musk repeated that line at Charlie Kirk’s funeral. )
That may be what George Washington was thinking of when he addressed my many gggg grandmother after his retreat from the losing battle of brandywine to Valley Forge.
A flip is a hot drink from the Revolutionary War era. It was a popular colonial cocktail made with ale (or beer), a splash of rum for alcohol, sugar or molasses, spices, and often a raw egg for creaminess. It was heated by stirring with a red-hot iron poker, creating a frothy, warming beverage enjoyed in taverns and homes. George Washington was known to favor it,
My GGGGGrandfather was commissioned with Washington. He hasa commissioning document signed by John Hancock in a museum in Massachusetts. That’s how I was able to find him.