Who said Virginia Blues?
Who said Virginia Blues?
Compiled by Jim Moyer 7/18/2017, update 7/22/2017, 7/23/2017, 3/4/2018, 7/13/2018, 6/26/2022, posted Jul
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What was the
myth making machinery
saying shortly
after news
of Braddock’s Death?
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Especially regarding
the Virginia Blues?
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The Capt George Mercer Co of the VA Regiment
hoist some Grog
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“…he [the dying General Braddock]
woud cry out my dear Blue’s (which was the Colrs the Virginians wore) give em tother Fire, you Fight like Men, & will die like Souldiers ;"
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Many abbreviations are found in letters back then: Colrs is Colors, and spelling was not standardized, such as woud, Souldiers.
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General Braddock with our Captain George Mercer Co.
of the Virginia Regiment
celebrating the 275th Anniversary of Fairfax County Virginia
in June 17, 2017.
See more:
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A standardized dictionary?
Samuel Johnson published a popular and extensive standardized dictionary of spelling in 15 April 1755. Americanized standard spellings would come much later with Noah Webster.
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Compiled by Jim Moyer 7/18/2017, update 7/22/2017, 7/23/2017, 3/4/2018, 7/13/2018, 6/26/2022, posted July 2020 moved to Nov 2020
Back to our Virginia Blues
. Quote continues from the same writer, John Bolling, above, referring to Braddock: .
“. .. he lived from Wednesday to Sunday after, & during that time coud not bare the sight of a red Coat, whenever one came in his View, he raved imoderately, but when one of the blues, he said he hop’d to live to reward ’em”
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Chesterfield burgess John Bolling
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He was not at the battlefield,
He has an interesting family origin.
. He wrote his son Robert in England
13 Aug. 1755,
one month
after Braddock died.
. Source is from Schutz, “Report of Braddock’s Defeat,” 376–77).
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Picture is of Captain George Mercer Co of the VA Regiment (who recruited residents of this county) celebrating Fairfax County's 275th Anniversary.
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Bolling’s story of what General Braddock said and felt cannot be corroborated,
but clearly reference to the Virginia “blues” is widespread in the colony.
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Picture is by Tony Elar Jr. . This was a spontaneous impromptu crayon drawn at VA Beer Museum in Front Royal 7/21/2017 depicting the Blues ….the Virginia Blues.
mentions the Virginia Blues
in his letter to GW:
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"The Under Sherif of this County
Carries Down three Deserters
which were taken up here
and as they are of our Brave Blues,
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I most Earnestly Intreat your Interest
in Procuring a Pardon for them."
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Smith has a Sweetheart & 2 Children here & Barker a Wife which I Presume were the Loadstones that Attracted them."
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Source:
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Behaved Like Men
Died Like Soldiers
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Kevin O’Malley draws this picture in July 2017 to show the dying General Braddock carried on his Sash used as a stretcher.
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"you Fight like Men, & will die like Shouldiers"
appears 13 August 1755,
while
a similar phrase
appears in GW’s letter
of 18 August 1755.
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GW writes from Fort Cumberland to Lt Gov Dinwiddie on 18 August 1755, five days after Bolling's letter.
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Quote: . ‘The Virginian Companies, behavd like Men, and died like Soldiers’
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Source: Footnote 4 from …
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“…he [the dying General Braddock] woud cry out my dear Blue’s (which was the Colrs the Virginians wore) give em tother Fire, you Fight like Men, & will die like Shouldiers; "
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London hears about the
Virginia Blues
and the Carolina men
. A letter from GW’s cousin in London 5 September 1755:
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"We have heard of General Bradock’s Defeat. Every Body Blames his Rash Conduct. Every body Commends the Courage of the Virginians and Carolina men: which is very Agreable to me."
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1. In its Aug. 1755 number,
the Gentleman’s Magazine (London) reported, i
n part, that when Braddock’s regulars
“fled with the utmost terror and precipitation . . . the Virginians who formed the rear still stood unbroken, and continued the engagement on very unequal terms near 3 hours”
(pp. 379–80).
Other similar accounts appeared in the British press.
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Breeches Red or Blue
in the Braddock Expedition?
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In 1754 the breeches were red.
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And Red breeches is what you see in this portrait of GW years later in 1772.
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We think this is because GW was still actively claiming land promised by Dinwiddie only to the men of 1754, not to the men of 1755.
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After September 1755 the breeches were blue.
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GW orders on September 17, 1755,
“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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Breeches Red or Blue in the Braddock Expedition?
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Footnote in Founders Online states:
. "The Virginia troops under Braddock wore the standard provincial uniform of blue coats with red facings and blue breeches." .
Source of text above: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-02-02-0004#GEWN-02-02-02-0004-fn-0001
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See first portrait of George Washington in this link and scroll down to the uniforms section.
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See:
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February 19, 1754 Proclamation
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GW was still actively claiming land promised by Dinwiddie only to the men of 1754, not to the men of 1755.
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That promise was only to those who served on that mission (Jumonville and Fort Necessity battle) in 1754.
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See
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1754 Proclamation
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More context on the February 19, 1754 Proclamation
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Other Links for followup
RUMOR OF GW DEAD
in the Braddock Expedtion
And much like Mark Twain many years later,
news of George Washington’s demise was greatly exaggerated:
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As I have heard since my arrivl at this place,
a circumstantial acct of my death and dying Speech,
I take this early oppertunity of contradicting , ,
and of assuring you that ,
I ⟨ illegible ⟩ of the livg by the miraculous care of,
I have not, as yet, composed the latter.
But by the all powerful dispensatns of, Providence,
,I have been, beyond all human probability & expectation
for I had 4 Bullets through my Coat,
and two Horses shot under me
yet although death
was levelling my companions
on every side of me
escaped unhurt.
. 1. GW had arrived at Fort Cumberland the previous day. 2. The illegible portion may read: “am still in the land.” 3. GW reached Mount Vernon on Saturday, 26 July.
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STORY OF SURVIVOR
from the Braddock Expedition
AT RETIREMENT AGE
. Anecdote of General Gates, extracted from the genuine letter of an officer . The Gentleman’s and London Magazine: Or Monthly Chronologer, 1741-1794 . https://books.google.com/books?id=QvoRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=was+Braddok%27s+gold+in+pound+sterling?&source=bl&ots=b6ADK_YN2D&sig=fBnmD4iS6mrwtupXcLHH4rNbi2I&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDhtnh9IPVAhVDdz4KHY4tCSAQ6AEIRDAD#v=onepage&q=was%20Braddok’s%20gold%20in%20pound%20sterling%3F&f=false
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See more on this story.
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General Horatio Gates and General Adam Stephen meet July 9, 1782, near Martinsburg WV.
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What do they talk about?
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July 9 1755.
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That was the disaster for the Braddock Expedition at the Monongahela River.
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General Gates was wounded and saved by a man mentioned in the google books link above.
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There were 4 future Generals who survived the disaster of Braddock’s Expedition:
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George Washington, Horatio Gates, Adam Stephen, Charles Lee.
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Three of them have homes within several miles of each other near today’s Martinsburg WV.
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Two of them,
Horatio Gates and Adam Stephen
met years later on July 9, 1782,
at
Horatio Gates’ home
called
Travelers Rest.
This is after
the Siege of Yorktown
ending October 19, 1781
and before
the Paris Peace Treaty
of September 4, 1783.
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Braddock Died and Buried
July 13, 1755
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[Braddock] died
at a camp near
the Great Meadows
on the evening of 13 July
and was buried nearby.
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“We Buried him,” one soldier wrote,
“in two Blankits in the high Road
that was cut for the Wagons,
that all the Wagons might
March Over him
and the Army [also] to hinder
any Suspision of the French Indiens.
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For if they thought he was Buried their, they would take him up and Scalp him”
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(“The Journal of Captain Robert Cholmley’s Batman,” in Hamilton, Braddock’s Defeat, 32).
Source
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GW later recalled
that he had responsibility
for choosing the grave site
and seeing that the general
was properly buried.
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(GW Biographical Memorandum, c.1786, ViMtvL, photostat).
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TOUR OF THE SITES
OF THE BRADDOCK EXPEDITION
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compiled before the Patriots Day event in Middletown VA on Saturday 7/22/2017
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Middletown VA Patriots Pride Day
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Add this to the Virginia Blues post from long ago
To George Washington from Adam Stephen, 22 November 1755 From Adam Stephen Winchester Novr 22d 1755 Dr Sir, I had just finish’d my Letter of this date when Capt. Stewart deliver’d me Yours of the 18th Inst. The Men I am in great hopes will answer Your Expectations They Shoot extreamly well, but are much harass’d at present with the Cattle—I make the Butchers, Cutters, Salters, & Coopers wait on McLean for Orders every morning—and a Return is made to me every night of what work is done.1 To keep things alive I hurry’d down to Expedite Salt; want of which, brings us to a Stand. The Drovers threatned to bring us up the Carolina Cattle, which I thought n⟨ecessa⟩ry to prevent, untill I had receiv’d Yr Instruc⟨tions.⟩2 Your orders with respect to the Maryland, and Caroli⟨na⟩ Companies, I will take particular Notice of.3 As Recruiting is the only method of compleating Our Regimt I should be glad to know your pleasure about Sending out any Officer who has a mind to go, we Can Spare Some. I will dispatch one up the Branch.4 Capt. Waggener desired me to mention his inclination of going to Philadelphia, please to take Notice of it in your next. Be so good as forgive my not Sending A Return ⅌ Bearer, of the pt of the Regiment at fort Cumberland—I had one for that purpose, but in a mistake put it by in my pocket-Book. I remember there is 330 in the whole fit for duty, of whom Carolina and Maryland furnish about 50 betwixt them. I have discharged four in Winchester enlisted by different Officers, that never would be fit for the Service. Two of our Old men, One Shot in the Wrist and therby disabled, named Edrington—One Old Man, worn out & infirm, Beaumont, One of Majr Lewis’s Company. The State of Your Regimt in these parts, is nearly this At Fort Cumbld Effectives: pt. 280 & 40 Serjeants a great Number of Corps. At Enock’s Mill.pt.171 SerjtAt Watkins Ferry.161 SerjtAt Winchester.30 New Recruits. Please to Consider the necessity of a party at Coxs ⟨illegible⟩ Ferry.Regular Returns Shall be duly transmitted to You, and we Shall behave as much like Soldiers, as possible.5 I am hurryg off Some Waggons to Falmuth, and Some to Belhaven as is most Convenient. I set off now to Watkins-Ferry to View the Stores, and should be glad ⟨to kn⟩ow Something about that Lodged in Maryland side6—They will ⟨mutilated⟩ a Right to them, it is like, when provisions are stopt at the Fort. There are Sixty of their Militia at Cressops, but I believe they will Stay about the same time their Volunteer Company did.7 We shall wait your instructions about Building with Impatience. The Accounts of Our Behaviour is much Exaggerated, we must give them Credit—and pay the publick the Balance next Campaign.8 Commissions from his Magisty would give us New Spirit, and at any Rate we will Continue to deserve them—I am with Respect, Sir, Your most Obt hube Sert Adam Stephen ALS, DLC:GW. 1. For Allan McLean’s work as a commissary, see Dinwiddie to GW, 26 Oct. 1755, n.1. 2. See Stephen to GW, 7 Nov. 1755, n.2, for further information on the “Carolina Cattle.” 3. GW wrote on 18 Nov. that the Maryland and North Carolina companies were not to be “supported out of our Provision’s.” 4. It was GW’s suggestion, made on 18 Nov., that some of the militiamen stationed on the South Branch of the Potomac might be persuaded to enlist in the Virginia Regiment. 5. Stephen enclosed a return of the force at Fort Cumberland, dated 8 Dec. 1755, in his letter to GW of 9 Dec. 6. For a description of the storehouse at Conococheague opposite Maidstone, see GW to George Gordon, 15 Sept. 1755, second letter, n.1. For Stephen’s earlier reference to Watkins’s ferry and the supplies there, see his letter of 6 Nov. 7. In late October, Gov. Horatio Sharpe ordered the captains of the Maryland militia in eight counties to march with 30 men each to the “extreme Limits of this Province, Fort Cumberland, Col. Cresap’s or as far westward as you shall think expedient” for 1 month (“Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1753–1761,” Md. Archives, 31:82–83); and on 2 Nov. several companies marched forth from Frederick Town. The “Volunteer Company” referred to may be the “number of Gentn & Voluntiers” (Sharpe to Sir Thomas Robinson, 23 July 1755, in Browne, Sharpe Correspondence, 1:256–57) with whom Sharpe marched toward Fort Cumberland after Braddock’s defeat and reached Conococheague in August (Sharpe to Lord Calvert, 11 Aug. 1755, ibid., 262–64). 8. Stephen is referring to the exaggerated account of the role the Virginians played in the battle on the Monongahela, which GW reported was being circulated in London (GW to Stephen, 18 Nov. 1755, n.11). PERMANENT LINK What’s this?https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-02-02-0182
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