George Washington: Birthday Boy

THE OVERLOOK

By Tom Clavin

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Presidents Day was this past Monday but let us not forget that George Washington’s birthday – his 293rd – is not until Saturday, the 22^nd. Some readers are old enough to recall when Washington’s birthday and Lincoln’s birthday, on February 12, were celebrated separately as holidays.

You may be surprised to know that Washington’s birthday was publicly celebrated while the man himself was still alive. I’m going to borrow here from the book Valley Forge, written by Bob Drury and yours truly and published in 2018. This excerpt depicts a day when General Washington was with the Continental Army at their winter camp. By the third week in February, conditions had become quite desperate. (Of the 12,000 men Washington had led into Valley Forge the previous December, 2000 would die of malnutrition, exposure, and disease.) Lifting Washington’s spirits a bit had been the recent arrival of his wife, Martha, but otherwise he was battling despair over the condition of his starving, frozen men.

From Valley Forge: “Sunday, February 22, 1778, dawned dank and chill. It was George Washington’s 46^th birthday. There was little to celebrate. One week earlier the Valley Forge commissaries had run out of food, and seven days with no rations had again roiled the prospect of famine in a cantonment that had taken on the trappings of a refugee camp.

“Having already issued a General Proclamation to ‘the virtuous yeomanry of the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia’ pleading for cattle in exchange for a ‘bountiful price,’ the Commander in Chief’s General Orders for the date turned toward the sick. They stressed that if rice could not be distributed in the Flying Hospitals, sepawn or ‘Indian meal’ – boiled cornmeal ground from maize – was to be substituted. There followed an unmistakable warning to the infirmary administrators. ‘As Indian meal is an article that can at all times and under all circumstances be had, no excuse will be admitted for the neglect.’

“It was all an angry and frustrated Washington could do. His ire would have surely risen had he been aware that earlier that morning a herd of 150 fat cattle bound for Valley Forge had been captured by a British patrol mere miles from the Schuylkill, a precursor to the 2,000 yards of Continental cloth seized by Tories the next morning. As it was, he did not learn of either misadventure for days.

“Even as Washington was dashing off another urgent letter to New York Governor George Clinton pleading for emergency provisions, Martha Washington had arranged to purchase enough supplies from local farmers to constitute a veritable feast in honor of her husband’s birthday. Using his personal account, she had delivered to Potts House a meager quantity of veal and fowl as well as a small supply of vegetables and eggs. On this occasion, no one had to share a cup.

“The celebratory post-dinner toasts had barely finished when the Washingtons and their guests heard stirrings on the Gulph Road. In the next instant, on a hillside just east of headquarters, the fife and drum corps from Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia regiment burst into an impromptu concert. Though Washington retired without acknowledging the players – perhaps he felt the tribute too reminiscent of the British custom of military bands honoring the King on his birthday – Martha emerged and handed the bandleader 15 shillings.

“It was the first public recognition of George Washington’s birthday in the history of the United States.

“The melodies had barely ceased to echo off the eastern flank of Mt. Joy when Gen. Nathaniel Greene and his foraging party trudged into camp with several wagonloads of food. Though the Commander in Chief’s mood may have been black enough to match the day, Greene’s return to camp foreshadowed the arrival of another visitor on his way to Valley Forge, a man who would transform the entire tenor of the Continental Army: Baron von Steuben.”

After he became president, Washington continued to be the subject of regular birthday festivities, including balls and fireworks in his honor in New York and Philadelphia, the sites of the first presidential mansions. Finding something to celebrate was key to Washington’s success. As the new country was looking to establish a national identity, he was eager to fill that void.

Americans celebrated Washington’s birthday informally in the years after his death in 1799, and February 22 was first recognized as a national holiday in 1879. Every year since 1896, the Senate has selected one of its members, alternating between the parties, to read Washington’s 7,640-word Farewell Address in a legislative session on or around February 22. Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi, was scheduled to deliver the 2025 address yesterday.

The contemporary idea of a Presidents Day came in 1968, when Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which designated certain government holidays — including Washington’s Birthday, Labor Day, and Memorial Day — to be observed on Mondays. The idea was to give federal employees more three-day weekends. Columbus Day became a federal holiday too.

President George Washington retired after two terms because he did not want to die in office and risk setting a precedent that the role would be inherited. Otherwise, he reasoned, the most promising country in the world in the 19th century would be set on a clear path toward monarchical rule.

Tom Clavin is the bestselling author/co-author of 25 books, including Bandit Heaven and, with Bob Drury, Throne of Grace. To purchase copies, please go to your local bookstore or to Bookshop.org, Amazon.com, BN.com, or tomclavin.com.