Posted on 02/21/2022 12:16:49 PM PST by Retain Mike
George Washington commanded a consistently ragged, underfed, seldom paid, often mutinous amalgam of regulars and militia through over eight years of war. Toward the end, his officers had determined to confront Congress with a list of their grievances. Washington opposed this initiative, because he foresaw in it an outcome similar to the legions marching to destroy the Roman Republic. The officers would at least assemble to hear him once more. His biographer James Thomas Flexner relates what happened next.
“As he looked at his command, Washington appeared ‘sensibly agitated.’ For the first time since he had won the heart of the army at Cambridge, Washington saw in the faces of his officers not affection, not pleasure in his being present, but resentment, embarrassment, and in some cases anger.
‘If my conduct,’ Washington said, ‘heretofore had not evinced to you that I have been a faithful friend to the army, my declaration of it at this time would be equally unavailing and improper. But as I was among the first who embarked in the cause of our common country; as I have never left your side one moment but when called from you on public duty; as I have been the common companion and witness of your distresses, and not among the last to feel and acknowledge your merits; as I have ever considered my own military reputation as inseparably connected with that of the army; as my heart has ever expanded with joy when I have heard its praises, and my indignation has risen when the mouth of distraction has been opened against it, it can scarcely be supposed, at this late stage of the war, that I am indifferent to its interests.’ Washington paused to examine the faces before him: they were unmoved.
Washington then assured his hearers that it was ‘My decided opinion’ that Congress entertained ‘exalted sentiments of the services of the army’ and would, despite the slowness inherent in deliberative bodies, act justly…..And you will, by the dignity of your conduct, afford occasion for posterity to say, when speaking of this glorious example you have exhibited to mankind, ‘had this day been wanting, the world had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining.’
Washington had finished his speech, but the chill in the Temple had not thawed. He reached in his pocket for a letter from a member of Congress that showed what the body was trying to do…..The officers stirred impatiently in their seats, and then suddenly every heart missed a beat. Something was the matter with His Excellency. He seemed unable to read the paper. He paused in bewilderment. He fumbled in his waistcoat pocket. And then he pulled out something that only his intimates had seen him wear, a pair of glasses. With infinite sweetness and melancholy, he explained, ‘Gentlemen you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown grey but almost blind in service to my country.’
This simple statement achieved what all Washington’s rhetoric and all his arguments had been unable to achieve. The officers were instantly in tears, and, from behind shining drops, their eyes looked with love at the commander who had led them so far.
Americans can never be adequately grateful that George Washington possessed the power and the will to intervene effectively in what may well have been the most dangerous hour the United States has ever known.”
Martha Washington said that in twenty years he was resident at Mount Vernon she and he never dined alone. He was an ever-gracious host, but managed irritate other southerners, because he always tipped his hat to his slaves and addressed them by name, and because he never allowed male guests to rape the women slaves.
Amen.
Yes, he was a great man who treated people with respect.
He also freed the slaves in his will, fully upon Martha’s death.
Didn’t I hear that John Adams came up with that title?
GW was also often nicknamed “Fabius” because of his deceptive withdrawal tactics. (Necessary with the few, poor “army” he had.)
Flexner’s book is good. Based on that, is the EXCELLENT mini-series “George Washington”.
Barry Bostwick forever became my GW since 1984!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086720/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_4
But the forgotten author is Douglas Freeman. Great series per my mother (who doesn’t like the emphasis on “dalliances” in Flexner).
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