On the birthday of an “iron man”
Today we celebrate George Washington’s 279th birthday (which is actually tomorrow).
Once the army was in mutiny, not against George Washington but against the Congress that had not paid the soldiers in months. The troops on their march against the Congress, were met by officers who promised a meeting the next day at 10:00 AM with the commanding general. Spirits were high and not friendly. Few thought that Washington would brave a confrontation with the mutinous troops. Indeed, the clock was about to strike 10:00 AM and there was no general in sight. Only seconds before the clock struck, the meeting house door slammed opened and George Washington briskly marched in. What followed was to me one of the most extraordinary speeches in history. General Washington in no way began in a conciliatory fashion. He was the general. He told the troops that the meeting would be held with full military discipline. The speech continued for some time when he picked up a letter with the troops demands. He squinted at the letter, then fumbled for his glasses and said that not only had he grown gray in the service of his country, but his eyes now needed glasses. The troops had never seen his glasses. He called to one veteran, and remembered an incident during a battle. He recognized another veteran, and briefly spoke to him. Was he not with them at all times especially the worst of times? When they were cold at Valley Forge, he was cold. When they were not paid, he was not paid. When they were hungry, he was hungry. When the battle was the worst he had been on the front line. He began to read the demands with some difficulty. The soldiers were embarrassed for, and saddened by their commander’s eyesight and difficulty. The eyes of many of the battle veterans began to water, and they stopped the general; apologized to him, and asked if he would take their grievances to the Congress. George Washington was in the hearts of his soldiers.
Carl Sandburg wrote of Washington;
The name of an iron man goes round the world.
It takes a long time to forget an iron man.
Category: Historical
Indeed. There are leaders throughout our history for whom the soldiers and sailors would faithfully follow, because they knew that he was “one of them”.
We are blessed indeed to not only have such great men leading our forces, but also to have such great men standing in the ranks to follow them.
George Washington was the right man at the right time in the right place. Without him, I feel that the Revolution would have failed. And as important as America has become to the world over the last couple of centuries, I have to wonder if he was guided in his place and given his talents by a higher power to ensure our success? If only people of this day and age would look to him more….
He was, without a doubt, the most venerable figure of the revolution.
That we have diminished his service by calling his birthday celebration “presidents day” is shameful. Congress has never authorized the change from Washington’s Birthday.
Can anyone else imagine the outcry if MLK day was treated the same way we treat Washington’s birthday?
Washington was an amazing man. My personal conviction is that yes, he was sent and protected by God.
An amazing guy whose record doesn’t need any embellishment, but the prayer thing never happened as shown. He was not a conventional christian, if he was a christian. Just another blatant, offensive attempt to rewrite the history of America as a christian nation.
“George Washington’s Prayer Journal” can be found as an excerpt from the book “George Washington, The Christian” by William J. Johnson. New York: The Abingdon Press, 1919.
While I would agree that there are admirable atheists, I would argue that not all admirable men are atheists.
No, not all admirable men are atheists, just all rational ones.
As a figure striding down the aisle of history, George Washington’s towering presence has withstood the test of time. We were indeed fortunate to have had men of his caliber committed to the cause at the birth of our nation.
I personally don’t believe we follow and revere men such as him because he is/was ‘one of us’, but specifically because he was more than what we are and presents an example of what we would strive to be. He was a true leader in every sense of the word.
@Tim – I’m actually no fan at all of MLK Day, but in fairness I’ve noticed that many States don’t call it that anymore, and in fact the only way it was passed in some States, my own included, was to label the day ‘Civil Rights Day’. It has already gone the way of President’s Day.
@Joe – Understand I’m writing this from the perspective of a hard agnostic, while it has been shown in plenty of texts that George was not a conventional ‘Christian’, it is still widely accepted that he was a simple Deist. He did believe in a ‘higher power’, he was just very, very careful not to give that power a name. I don’t see anything about prayer in the article above, injecting that bit of ‘political one up-manship’ during a simple discourse on the man and his relationship with his troops is a bit juvenile old chap.
Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company. George Washington
Okay, just as long as you know that rationality is an artificial construct, also.
Look at the painting, Jacobite, for goodness sake! That represents a pernicious little bit of revisionist history. I’ll admit there are many uncertainties regarding Washigton’s exact beliefs, but that’s no excuse for people to portray him as a bible thumping christian. In those days, being a deist was about as close to being an atheist as you could get. Basically, deists beleive a higher power got the ball rolling, but then sits back and lets nature take its course. Since the advent of the moral majority/christian coalition, I am hypersensitive to people trying to co-opt our history for their own gain, and that’s what that painting represents to me.
I do deeply admire and revere him in my own way. I know “god” doesn’t send people down in times of need; rather, some remarkable people rise to the challange. The human brain is certainly an amazing organ. In some primitive indiginous societies, certain tribesmen are recognized as special, a cut above the rest, and he certainly fit the bill.
That your angst was so quickly piqued by that image says far more about you than it does about the nation or any organization there-in. You need to calm down a bit and breath, last I checked there’s no Christian proselytizing going on here at TAH, and I myself have adopted the posture in the painting without it being religious in significance at all. Some folks here express their personal feelings concerning the matter, but it’s hardly a reason to feel threatened or see a challenge, No one is trying to convert you, or anyone else for that matter. The spread between believers and non-believers is pretty even here unless I miss my guess.
“The Prayer at Valley Forge” was painted by Arnold Friberg in 1976 to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial. It is supposed to be based on eye-witnessed events by one Isaac Potts, a resident of Valley Forge and a Quaker apposed to the war. Here is a link that gives more detail:
http://prayeratvalleyforge.com/
You’re right Jacobite, no one at TAH has tried to convert me. I’m just aware of the christian agenda leaking through the cracks in a myriad little ways. Maybe as far as TAH goes, it’s just a nicely done painting, which it is. But I have trouble reconciling his reputed deism with the pose in the painting. Like I said, I’m a little hypersensitive…
Thanks PintoNag for the link. Again, I’m not sure how to reconcile his supposed deism with his alleged praying…
I would also point out that ‘revisionist history’ did not come about as a result of the advent (interesting choice of word there Joe, lol) of the ‘moral majority/Christian coalition’. The story behind the picture spells that out pretty plainly. I could even claim you are engaging in revisionism by claiming this picture is supposed to represent Washington as a Bible thumping Christian, since according to the history of the piece it actually doesn’t, it just shows a devout, or more likely a desperate, man asking for help and how that inspired a Quaker. The Quakers, especially the early variety, are about as related to modern Bible thumping Protestants as a jellyfish is to a zebra.
As for deists praying? Well they do on occasion though not in the manner of today’s Protestants, and not for the same reasons. http://www.deist.info/deist-life-practice-prayer.html
It’s not beyond the realm of possibility to find the ‘father of the nation’ so buried in stress and anxiety at that time that he turned to the most common form of comfort of his age.
Don’t read more into it than you need to.
I can certainly understand George Washington being overwhelmed and desperate. You’re probably right – I find myself preemptively “reading things into it” before someone else reads their things into it.
no Joe, you read so much from so little that makes you to just plain silly.You jump from A to Z conculsion without considering what is between those points. I would really like to listen you and Jesse the Body talking to each other for about an hour. Laff Central. Oh please stop using Joe.You are embrassing the rest of us “Joe”.