Get the Picture?
Sunday Word 1
This picture is on the move.
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Seems fitting it's new home ought to be its original home.
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But it's going to be on loan with option to renew.
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Washington and Lee University is loaning this painting to Mount Vernon for 2 years beginning in December.
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Mount Vernon is where George Washington posed for the artist, Charles Willson Peale, in 1772.
Context?
George Washington poses in his Virginia Regiment uniform of the French and Indian War, two years after the Boston Massacre, two years after his trip to the Ohio River scouting out land promised him and his men in 1754, and 4 years before the Declaration of Independence,
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We think of this time as men looking forward, when what they were doing was looking back to the past and tending to its impact.
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An Aside on the Red Breeches.
We think George Washington poses in red breeches ("pants") because the 1754 proclamation by Lt Gov Dinwiddie, promises land ONLY to the men who were on duty in 1754, not to the men who saw action after, not even to those who signed up for duty in the Braddock Expedition of 1755. The men of 1754 wore red breeches.
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What is W&L getting in return?
Mt Vernon is loaning to Washington and Lee, the painting we all see on the US One Dollar Bill.
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Why the Move of this Picture?
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It was prompted by the 2017 demonstrations in Charlottesville.
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“Bringing the Stuart portrait to our campus allows us to better tell the story of George Washington’s pivotal gift to the university while simultaneously expanding the audience for the Peale portrait, which is truly one of a kind,” W&L President William Dudley said in the release.
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In August, Dudley sent a letter to the Washington and Lee community that said the university planned to replace the portraits of Washington and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that were hanging in Lee Chapel at the time. Both portraits showed the men in military uniforms and hung on either side of the chapel’s stage.
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Dudley’s letter came in response to recommendations from the university’s Commission on Institutional History and Community, which he created following the white supremacist marches in Charlottesville last year. Dudley tasked the commission with evaluating the role of the university and its founders in Confederate history and the school’s institutional ties to slavery.
Soon after surrendering his Confederate army at Appomattox Court House in 1865, Lee served as the president of Washington College until his death on campus in 1870, when his name was added to the institution’s. A central building to campus life is Lee Chapel, where the general and his family are buried."
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End quote of excerpt.
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Sources for all the claims above?
This picture itself?
And the painter of it?
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Quite a story.
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The claims made above and the story about it all see link below.
See this link :
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See picture in its current location. See link above for more on that.
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5490 11/18/2018, 10am
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More info to edit for later
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EARLIEST KNOWN PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON
Compiled by Jim Moyer 9/20/2015, 11/19/2016, update on uniform 7/21/2017, 11/18/2018
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Click on picture to enlarge
This picture was painted in May-April 1772 , the first and earliest known picture of George Washington.
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He was 40 years old, almost 13 1/2 years after he resigned December 1758 from his rank of Colonel in the French and Indian War, four years BEFORE the Declaration of Independence.
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More context:
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Washington poses in his Virginia Regiment uniform for the French and Indian War, two years AFTER the Boston Massacre, in which the British soldiers were defended by John Adams as their attorney.
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That same year of the Boston Massacre in 1770, George Washington made a journey to the western lands to secure promises of land made in 1754 for himself and for the men who fought in the “last war,” their contemporary name for the French and Indian War.
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To Modern Eyes
These years are all about a known coming future. To these men, only the past was known. They were tending to it and its impact.
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Back to this portrait.
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This picture shows George as Colonel in his Virginia Regiment French and Indian War dress uniform.
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GORGET
You will see the Gorget, a signifier of rank, on many famous portraits. The Gorget, from the French meaning “throat”, evolved from a covering of the throat to a protection of the throat to a symbol signifying rank or prestige.
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SASH
This is probably not the still blood stained Braddock Sash and would honor neither Braddock or Washington in this pose for a portrait. That sash is as strong as a hammock, designed to carry the wounded officer to safety. A test was performed on sashweaver.com to confirm that utility. Mt. Vernon holds the Braddock Sash.
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ORDER OF MARCH
Those are the words inscribed on that paper emerging from that pocket.
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WHERE PORTRAIT SITS
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See Lee Chapel and Museum at Washington and Lee University, Lexington VA, founded in 1749, enhanced by George Washington’s generous endowment of $20,000 in 1796.
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Click on picture to enlarge.
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The picture of Washington displays on left, Lee on right, and in middle sits a recumbent Lee.
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“The Washington portrait once hung in Arlington House but was removed by the Lee’s in 1861 for fear that the Yankees would steal it. ” See source Old Virginia Blog.
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Out on Loan
From Roanoke Times, Nov 16, 2018
By Alison Graham alison.graham@roanoke.com 540-981-332
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The university is loaning “George Washington as Colonel in the Virginia Regiment” by Charles Willson Peale to Mount Vernon, where it will hang in the Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center for the next two years.
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In return, Mount Vernon is loaning its portrait of Washington by Gilbert Stuart. The portrait is a replica that Stuart also painted during Washington’s second term based on his 1795 original, known as the “Athenaeum” version, and is the same image of the president that appears on the $1 bill.
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The same year that Washington sat for the “Athenaeum” portrait, he donated $20,000 worth of James River Canal stock to the struggling Liberty Hall Academy, Washington and Lee’s predecessor. The trustees renamed the school Washington Academy to express their gratitude, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the university.
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The new portrait of Washington will go on public view in mid-December.
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The university’s loan of the Washington portrait will initially last two years, with the option to renew. Doug Bradburn, president and CEO of Mount Vernon, said in a statement the museum was excited to display the Washington and Lee portrait, which was painted at Mount Vernon and displayed there during the lives of Washington and his wife Martha.
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Washington and Lee said that eventually its portrait “will return to a place of honor” in a new museum focused on the university’s history.
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Google Car Near the Home of this Picture
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See this link on Lee Chapel and Museum. Below is not a photo. Use Mouse or Touch Screen to navigate around the Lee Chapel and Museum at Washington and Lee University in Lexington VA.
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WHEN PORTRAIT PAINTED
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Charles Willson Peale (1741–1827)
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From Founders Online Footnote:
Peale “came to Mount Vernon on 18 May 1772, and GW finished sitting for his portrait in his uniform as colonel of the Virginia Regiment on 22 April 1773……before setting out for Leesburg where he joined Bryan Fairfax. Peale remained at Mount Vernon to paint miniatures of Martha Washington and of John Parke and Martha Parke Custis. GW charged Martha Parke Custis’s miniature to her account, and those of John Parke Custis and Martha Washington to Custis’s account. “
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See Guardian Accounts, 3 Nov. 1773.
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November 30, 1772 payment for the painting:
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30—By Mr Peale Painter, Drawg my Picte £18.4.0 Miniature Do for Mrs Washingtn 13. Ditto Do for Miss Custis 13. Ditto Do for Mr Custis 13.8
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Source:
http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-09-02-0025
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17 CHILDREN SIRED
Charles Willson Peale was not just creative but expansive and open to all, embracing much in life.
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Expansive not only in teaching his talent to his brother and children, but also for educating the public at large with his museum first in Philadelphia, later in Baltimore.
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Click to enlarge. Optical Illusion painted by Charles Willson Peale. Titled – Staircase Group (Portrait of Raphaelle Peale and Titian Ramsay Peale I), painted 1795
Father of 17 children, including the artists Raphaelle Peale, Rembrandt Peale, Rubens Peale and Titian Peale. Brother of artist James Peale. Uncle of Charles Peale Polk.
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Studied under Benjamin West.
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See list of children: http://www.nndb.com/people/443/000086185/
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MAMMOTH MAN
That self portrait of artist below? Yes. He’s 81 years old in that picture.
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An 81 year old Charles Willson Peale invites you to his museum and shows you the majesty of his exhumation of an American Incognitum, the first in United States, initially called a Mammoth, but later termed Mastodon by Georges Cuvier.
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An excellent link from the Schiller Institute on this amazing American Artist, truly a Renaissance Man.
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Click on both pictures to enlarge.
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About Peale’s Mastodon Expedition
Peale led America’s first organized scientific expedition on July 29, 1801, to excavate giant bones from the extinct mastodon in Upstate New York.
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Peale’s expedition traveled north on the Hudson River, escorted by Capt. George Fleming, Commander of the West Point Military Academy, to a swampy area of Ulster County, New York. It was financed with $500 from Franklin’s American Philosophical Society, and aided with tents from the U.S. Army, and a giant water pump from the U.S. Navy to drain the swamp.
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Peale had earlier seen a local farmer’s collection of very large bones and now returned to dig at the site of the discoveries. He recovered bones from three mastodons, two of which were complete enough to reconstruct and mount for display–the first time anywhere in the world.
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Source: See Schiller Institute link
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Peale’s influence on the Lewis and Clark venture
Peale’s Mastodon expedition and his Museum preceded Lewis and Clark. It is likely they looked at what Peale was doing. This link states: to prepare for it, President Jefferson would first send Meriwether Lewis to Philadelphia to confer with Peale).
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Source of following quote: Nor is it written anywhere that Lewis visited, for purposes of study, Charles Willson Peale’s natural history museum, the first of its kind in the United States and located, at that time, in Independence Hall, but it would be most uncharacteristic if he had overlooked the opportunity.
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After Lewis died, Clark is on the Writing Project
Source: Lewis & Clark in Philadelphia (Part II): The Map’s the Thing By Ken Finkel Published: June 4, 2012 http://www.phillyhistory.org/blog/ :
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Source of following quote: After Lewis’s death, the project [of writing about the Lewis and Clark Expedition] fell into the hands of a reluctant William Clark, who visited Philadelphia to find a more experienced author. As Charles Willson Peale painted Clark’s portrait (illustrated here) he urged Clark to stick with the project…By the Spring of 1814, when The History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark to the Source of the Missouri, Thence Across the Rocky Mountains and Down the Columbia River to the Source of the Pacific Ocean finally appeared, the words had passed through the hands of at least seven writers and two publishers and taken six years to write. The book’s map, on the other hand, had remained relatively unscathed…..As far as Clark was concerned, Biddle’s text didn’t much matter. He put his faith in his map of the American West, a map which, inch-for-inch, had it all over any hand-me-down written account.
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Lewis-Clark.org link – Peale working hard to preserve and display Lewis and Clark Expedition finds
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PA state historical sign for Charles Willson Peale
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Correspondence by Washington about Peale
Correspondence between Washington and Peale didn’t start until 1780, but here are some letters by Washington discussing his thoughts about Peale.
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GW’s DIARY: [May] 18. Went up to Court and stayed all Night. In the Evening Mr. Peale & J. P. Custis came to Mount Vernon.
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Washington writes To Jonathan Boucher, from Mount Vernon May 21st 1772,
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“Inclination having yielded to Importunity, I am now, contrary to all expectation under the hands of Mr Peale; but in so grave—so sullen a Mood—and now and then under the influence of Morpheus, when some critical strokes are making, that I fancy the skill of this Gentleman’s Pencil, will be put to it, in describing to the World what manner of Man I am.
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I have no doubt of Mr Peales meeting with very good Incouragement in a Tour to Williamsburg; for having mentioned him to some Gentlemen at our Court, they seem desirous of employing him in his way down.1“
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To George Washington from Jonathan Boucher, 22 May 1772: “I forgot too, in my Lr by Peale, to tell You from Mr S. Galloway, that He had sent You two Cases of excellent Claret (I have tasted it, & it really is good)…”
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From Washington To Jonathan Boucher from Mount Vernon, May 23, 1772, discusses a sitting for Peale and how he mentions losing “near a hundred” sheep to “rot.”
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Correspondence between Washington and Peale starting in 1780
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About the UNIFORM
Washington’s description of Uniform
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“Colonel Washington expressly orders, that no Officer do provide himself with any other kind of Clothes than those ordered the 17th of September last as they will not be allowed to appear in them. Every Officer who has not complied with that order, to do it immediately—and they are all to procure Sashes, if to be had—They may be supplied with Hats, and waistcoat-lace, at Mr Peters’s, Rock-Creek—and sword-knots— . . .”
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And the order on September 17, 1755? GW’s order, “a Suit of Regimentals of good blue Cloath, the Coat to be faced and cuffed with Scarlet, and trimmed with Silver: a Scarlet waistcoat, with silver Lace, blue Breeches, and a silver-laced Hat.”
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Notice GW mentions “blue Breeches” in quote above?
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Notice in portrait the “Breeches” are red.
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Breeches are the pants.
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-02-02-0034
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http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-03-02-0232#GEWN-02-03-02-0232-fn-0003
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Why did GW wear Red Breeches and not Blue Breeches?
In 1754 the breeches were red.
After September 1755 the breeches were blue.
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Land promised by
Lt Gov Dinwiddie
was for the soldiers of 1754.
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Those soldiers wore red breeches.
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wore the red breeches in the 1772 painting by Charles Willson Peale.
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By Sept 1755, GW referred to Blue Breeches.
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Source:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-03-02-0232#GEWN-02-03-02-0232-fn-0003
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Second source on this matter of uniforms, especially the blue breeches:
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Every Officer of the Virginia Regiment, to provide himself as soon as he can conveniently, with a Suit of Regimentals of good blue Cloath; the Coat to be faced and cuffed with Scarlet, and trimmed with Silver: a Scarlet waistcoat, with silver Lace, blue Breeches, and a silver-laced Hat, if to be had, for Camp or Garrison Duty.
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Besides this, each Officer to provide himself with a common Soldiers Dress, for Detachments, and Duty in the Woods.
https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Date%3A1755-09-17&s=1111311111&r=3
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To those men of 1754 only
was Dinwiddie’s promise of western lands.
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And that promise was only to those who served on that mission (Jumonville and Fort Necessity battle) in 1754.
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1754 Proclamation
http://www.sos.ky.gov/admin/land/resources/legislation/Documents/Proclamation%20of%201754.pdf
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More context on the February 19, 1754 Proclamation
http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-01-02-0031#GEWN-02-01-02-0031-fn-0012
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More on the UNIFORM
George Mercer’s description of uniform
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MERCER’S DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIFORM
to see a Sash & Gorget with a genteel Uniform, a Sword properly hung, a Hat cocked, Persons capable of holding Conversation where only common Sense was requisite to continue the Discourse,
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and a White Shirt, with any other than a black Leather Stock, were Matters of great Surprize and Admiration
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& which engaged Them all to give Us a polite Invitation to spend the Evening,
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& after to agree to keep Us Company which they had determined before not to do—agreeable to what they had practised with the other Provincial Troops.
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We have lost that common Appellation of Provincials, & are known here by the Style & Title of the Detachment of the Virga Regiment.”
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From 17 August 1757 letter Mercer wrote to GW while in South Caroline: http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-04-02-0242
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Final Thoughts on the UNIFORM
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See Lt Col Adam Stephen’s actual uniform – http://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=808
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Following is from this link:
http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Virginia_Provincials
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1754 Uniform, all red . . . and 1755 Uniform with Blue
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And more about the British Army and Colonial Uniforms:
http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=British_Army
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Virginia Regiment
Supplies and uniform
http://web.hardynet.com/~gruber/varegt.htm
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Red Breeches Again and Timeline
Where was he during the October and November trials held after the March 5th Boston Massacre in 1770?
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Picture drawn by Jim Moyer, imagining the woods of this land GW was inspecting. . . . . Just around the bend might have been the biggest Sycamore ever recorded in history and it was recorded by Washington.
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He was out on the Ohio River,
exploring land promised 16 years ago
by Lt Gov Dinwiddie in 1754.
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This land was for
the soldiers of 1754,
who wore red breeches
not for the soldiers
who wore blue breeches
in the 1755 Braddock disaster,
which is why we think
the first portrait of George Washington
in 1772
shows him donning his
French and Indian War uniform,
wearing red breeches.
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Dates of Washington’s Journey:
October 5, 1770 to December 1, 1770
Click on Story about this journey.
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Date of Boston Massacre and the trials:
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October 24-30, 1770
The Trial of Captain Preston
Seven months later, in October of 1770, Captain Preston was tried for murder in a Boston courtroom. He was defended by John Adams and Robert Auchmuty and assisted by Josiah Quincy Jr. Captain Preston was acquitted by a Boston jury. It was never satisfactory explained why the radicals Adams and Quincy represented Preston, and later the soldiers, although some surviving documents suggest that the jury in Preston’s case was “packed.” When the soldiers case came to trial soon after they were defended by Adams, Quincy, and Sampson Salter Blowers. The jurors in their case came from outside of Boston and they won acquittals a month after the trial began.
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November 27 – Dec 14, 1770
Trial of the British Soldiers
The eight British soldiers accused of murder were tried separately from their officer Captain Preston. But just like the Preston’s trial the proceedings were delayed by 8 months after the incident to allow emotions to cool down. As a result of the trial, six soldiers were acquitted on the grounds of self-defense, but two were found guilty of murder because of the overpowering proof that they fired into the crowd.
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Source:
http://www.bostonmassacre.net/timeline.htm
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Another timeline source:
http://www.famous-trials.com/massacre/197-chronology
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LINKS to other related matters
Have not found this article, but there should be relevant information here:
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J. Paul Hudson, “Charles Willson Peale’s Silver Gorget,” Antiques, July 1961, pp. 50-51. – See more at: http://www.maineantiquedigest.com/stories/good-fellows-the-walpole-society/5478#notes
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Washington’s gorget, prominently featured in Charles Willson Peale‘s 1772 portrait of Colonel George Washington, was a metal collar designed to protect the throat of the wearer and Mrs. Peter had received the gorget at the division of her grandfather’s estate.[8] Quincy subsequently gave the gorget to the Washington Benevolent Society of Boston in Mrs. Peter’s name on April 13, 1813.[8][9][10] from Wikipedia link
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Of another side interest of this portrait of a muslim: http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/319114.html
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52086 11/18/2018, 1015am
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NOTES FOR LATER
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About the UNIFORM
Washington’s description of Uniform
“Colonel Washington expressly orders, that no Officer do provide himself with any other kind of Clothes than those ordered the 17th of September last as they will not be allowed to appear in them. Every Officer who has not complied with that order, to do it immediately—and they are all to procure Sashes, if to be had—They may be supplied with Hats, and waistcoat-lace, at Mr Peters’s, Rock-Creek—and sword-knots— . . .”
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Source from Orders 17 September 1755
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This picture has quite a story behind it.
Read that story here:
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http://frenchandindianwarfoundation.org/event/charles-willson-peale/
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And the order on September 17, 1755? GW’s order,
Notice GW mentions “blue Breeches” in quote.
Notice in portrait the “Breeches” are red.
Breeches are the pants.
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Source:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-02-02-0034
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September 17, 1755:
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“a Suit of Regimentals of good blue Cloath, the Coat to be faced and cuffed with Scarlet, and trimmed with Silver: a Scarlet waistcoat, with silver Lace, blue Breeches, and a silver-laced Hat.”
. http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-03-02-0232#GEWN-02-03-02-0232-fn-0003
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October 6, 1755
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“Every Officer of the Virginia Regiment is, as soon as possible, to provide himself with an uniform Dress, which is to be of fine Broad Cloath: The Coat Blue, faced and cuffed with Scarlet, and Trimmed with Silver: The Waistcoat Scarlet, with a plain Silver Lace, if to be had—the Breeches to be Blue, and every one to provide himself with a silver-laced Hat, of a Fashionable size.”
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Source:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-02-02-0070
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January 22, 1757
Letter from William Fairfax to GW:
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“I have seen your Regiments Cloathing at Mr Carlyles and think them well chosen and made: hope You will soon have them;…”
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Source:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-04-02-0052
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January 22, 1757
Letter from John Carlyle to GW:
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?When Capt. Mercer Came here I Consulted him & he Made Sum small alterations Which In my Letter to London by the Next Oppy I orderd, it Was Not Gott to hand When these Goods Came Away & Mr Bowden tells Me the Gorgetts Sashes &c. Which I Suppose to be the remainder of the Shoulder Knotts Woud Come Next Ship Capt. Jno. Johnston is dayly Expected, the Subsequent order & our own Goods Amounts to A Large Sum 1500£ Ster: & Another reason I had to think I had sent for Sufficient[.] Capt. Jos: Lewis, & I think Capt. Mercer told Me they was supply’d & I doubted not Many others also was[.] their is 36 Sword Knots & I Expect the Like number of Shoulder Knotts, Sashes & Gorgetts, the Lace is by Yr Direction all of one kind only different Widths,3 “
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“I can have 125 Ct for Any Single Artickle, & 100 Ct for half the Goods (the Shoulder knotts Excepted). but the price I Will lessen to Yourself If the Officers Chouse any Or All Of them, & this You may depend they are Well bought, & Cheaper by 75 Ct than they Will gett at Philadelphia or any where Else, I am sorry for the disappointment to the Officers, more so than my own Loss, as I rely Cannot blame my self having sent for What I Expected You Wanted as farr as I thought woud Sell, the only Error Mr Bowden has Comitted is the Coursest Blue Cloath 7/6 & shoud been 12/6 & as many of the Goods as are Come to hand I think Extreem Neat & well bought…”
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Source:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-04-02-0051#GEWN-02-04-02-0051-fn-0003-ptr
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More info from above source:
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2. GW’s younger brother John Augustine Washington (1736–1787) was acting as manager of GW’s plantations during GW’s absence in the army. In GW’s accounts with John Carlyle, there is the following entry dated 13 Feb. 1757: “To Ditto [cash] lodgd with you to pay for Brookes’s Negros—[£] 150” (General Ledger A, folio 11). An entry for 30 April of the same year noted £79 10s. “lodgd with Colo. Carlyle in gold to pay for some Negros which he bot for me in Maryld” (ibid., 34).
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3. For a description of the uniforms of the officers of the Virginia Regiment, see GW’s Orders, 17 Sept., 6 Oct. 1755. William Fairfax found those at Carlyle’s “well chosen and made” (Fairfax to GW, 22 Jan. 1757). Mr. Bowden could be George Bowdon of Liverpool, England. Capt. John Johnstoun sailed regularly from England to the James River. During the 1760s, GW frequently received goods from England in the Lord Camden, John Johnstoun, master.
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4. GW had been at Fort Cumberland since late December, and therefore his missing letter of 20 January (see note 1), to which this letter of Carlyle’s is a response, was presumably written from Fort Cumberland. If GW did write a second letter to Carlyle from Fort Cumberland before 22 Jan. 1757, it too is missing. Mrs. Carlyle was Sarah Fairfax Carlyle, daughter of William Fairfax.
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In 1754 the breeches were red.
After September 1755 the breeches were blue.
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Land promised by
Lt Gov Dinwiddie
was for the soldiers of 1754.
.
Those soldiers wore red breeches.
. We think that is why George Washington
wore the red breeches in the 1772 painting by Charles Willson Peale.
.
By Sept 1755, GW referred to Blue Breeches.
.
Source:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-03-02-0232#GEWN-02-03-02-0232-fn-0003
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Second source on this matter of uniforms, especially the blue breeches:
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Every Officer of the Virginia Regiment, to provide himself as soon as he can conveniently, with a Suit of Regimentals of good blue Cloath; the Coat to be faced and cuffed with Scarlet, and trimmed with Silver: a Scarlet waistcoat, with silver Lace, blue Breeches, and a silver-laced Hat, if to be had, for Camp or Garrison Duty.
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Besides this, each Officer to provide himself with a common Soldiers Dress, for Detachments, and Duty in the Woods.
https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Date%3A1755-09-17&s=1111311111&r=3
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To those men of 1754 only
was Dinwiddie’s promise of western lands.
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And that promise was only to those who served on that mission (Jumonville and Fort Necessity battle) in 1754.
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1754 Proclamation
http://www.sos.ky.gov/admin/land/resources/legislation/Documents/Proclamation%20of%201754.pdf
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More context on the February 19, 1754 Proclamation
http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-01-02-0031#GEWN-02-01-02-0031-fn-0012
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More on the UNIFORM
George Mercer’s description of uniform
MERCER’S DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIFORM
to see a Sash & Gorget with a genteel Uniform, a Sword properly hung, a Hat cocked, Persons capable of holding Conversation where only common Sense was requisite to continue the Discourse, and a White Shirt, with any other than a black Leather Stock, were Matters of great Surprize and Admiration & which engaged Them all to give Us a polite Invitation to spend the Evening, & after to agree to keep Us Company which they had determined before not to do—agreeable to what they had practised with the other Provincial Troops. We have lost that common Appellation of Provincials, & are known here by the Style & Title of the Detachment of the Virga Regiment.”
From 17 August 1757 letter Mercer wrote to GW while in South Caroline:
http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-04-02-0242
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Excellent Link on this subject:
http://web.hardynet.com/~gruber/varegt.htm
From the above link:
Therefore it appears that the real first uniform followed the color scheme of blue with red facings; a scheme that was followed for the regiment�s entire existence. This uniform was ordered and purchased in London through John Hanbury in the fall of 1754 and arrived in March of 1755, in time for the regiment to leave Will�s Creek (Fort Cumberland) with General Edward Braddock on the ill-fated Fort Duquesne campaign. In spite of no order for the making of the uniforms having yet been found, there are a couple of hints that lead to a conclusion that this first uniform was blue. One, is a reference of Captain Robert Orme�s, in a description of the Battle of the Monongahela, to the “Virginia blues”. The other reference is in a letter from Governor Dinwiddie to Captain Robert Stewart on 26 November 1754 advising him to purchase “some cheap blue Clothing” for his men while they await the arrival of the uniforms from Britain (Brock, v.1, 413). The quality of this first uniform seems to have been something less than the expectations for a standard uniform, for Washington described this uniform to Lord Loudoun as “a suit of thin sleazy Cloth without lining, and without Waistcoats except of sorry Flannel” (Abbot, v.4, 86).
When the Regiment was reorganized after the Braddock campaign with Washington as its colonel, the first orders concerning the uniform are extant. The regimental is ordered blue with red facings, a red waistcoat, and blue breeches. However, approximately one and one-half years would pass before the soldiers received their uniforms from London. The timing was fortuitous because they arrived just as several companies were to leave for Charles Town, South Carolina to act in conjunction with the British. These uniforms were apparently impressive to the British officers because the Virginia officers received several compliments on the appearance and bearing of their soldiers (Abbot, v.4, 373).
It appears that the regiment was kept in good uniforms for the remainder of their service, except during the 1758 Fort Duquesne campaign. Because their old uniforms were literally worn out, and the new ones had not arrived from England, the regiment was authorized by General John Forbes to wear Indian clothing (hunting shirts, breechcloths, and wool leggings) for the campaign. The new uniforms arrived before the end of the campaign, just as the colder fall weather was setting in. Deserter notices describing the regimental as late as May 1762 advertise a deserter having “a blue Coat, turnup with red”, thus making it likely that the regiment used the red on blue color scheme from 1754 to 1762 (Pennsylvania Gazette, 29 July 1762).
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In 1754 the breeches were red.
After September 1755 the breeches were blue.
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Land promised by Lt Gov Dinwiddie was for the soldiers of 1754.
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Those soldiers wore red breeches.
. We think that is why George Washington wore the red breeches in the 1772 painting by Charles Willson Peale.
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By Sept 1755, GW referred to Blue Breeches.
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Source:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-03-02-0232#GEWN-02-03-02-0232-fn-0003
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Second source on this matter of uniforms, especially the blue breeches:
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Every Officer of the Virginia Regiment, to provide himself as soon as he can conveniently, with a Suit of Regimentals of good blue Cloath; the Coat to be faced and cuffed with Scarlet, and trimmed with Silver: a Scarlet waistcoat, with silver Lace, blue Breeches, and a silver-laced Hat, if to be had, for Camp or Garrison Duty.
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Besides this, each Officer to provide himself with a common Soldiers Dress, for Detachments, and Duty in the Woods.
https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Date%3A1755-09-17&s=1111311111&r=3
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To those men of 1754 only
was Dinwiddie’s promise of western lands.
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And that promise was only to those who served on that mission (Jumonville and Fort Necessity battle) in 1754.
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1754 Proclamation
http://www.sos.ky.gov/admin/land/resources/legislation/Documents/Proclamation%20of%201754.pdf
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More context on the February 19, 1754 Proclamation
http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-01-02-0031#GEWN-02-01-02-0031-fn-0012
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Final Thoughts on the UNIFORM
Following is from this link:
http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Virginia_Provincials
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1755 Uniform
and before that, the 1754 VA Regiment Uniform
And more about the British Army and Colonial Uniforms:
http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=British_Army
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