Last week I took the kids to Mount Vernon, primarily to see the "George Washington and His Generals" exhibit which is only on display for one year, ending in January 2010.  I was delighted with how the kids read everything and excitedly talked about various artifacts.

   We are always saddened by one painting in particular of the Battle of Bunker's Hill near Boston June 7th, 1775. In this painting, Dr. Warren is shown dead.  If you've seen the movie "Johnny Tremain", then you've seen Dr. Warren in the movie. He operates on Johnny's hand, restoring use of his fingers. He is also one of the Sons of Liberty. In addition, he died at the Battle of Bunker Hill. This was one of the first paintings we saw.    

     There were medals with Latin inscriptions that the kids tried to translate.  They'd call me over to help them when they got stuck.  Amazingly, my son discovered that one of the medals, Washington Before Boston, had the wrong date. Written in Roman numerals, the one for Washington's first victory that took place in Boston at Dorchester Heights said 1275 instead of 1775. Oops!  (The link takes you to this beautiful medal and actually discourses on the wrong date at the bottom.) There was also a copy of a play about Bunker Hill, written about controversial John Burke, which I had blogged about last year.  It was great seeing lots of things we had learned about. 

          Later my son called me over to a giant painting of Washington Rallying the Troops at Monmouth and he asked, "Hey Mom, is that Lafayette and Hamilton?" "Yes," I smiled.  He asked more questions so I told him to read the sign that went with it.  He would discover he was on the right track. (The link will take you not only to the painting, but to Steuben Society of America, as in Baron von Steubon, a German who came to America to help in our war. He trained the troops at Valley Forge. If you scroll further down, you'll get some German history from my part of Texas, New Braunfels and Fredericksburg, with Prince Carl Solms and Baron von Meusebach who formed the only lasting peace treaty with the Comanche.) 

     I was excited to see a cannon thought to have been one that was transported from Fort Ticonderoga, over the mountains in the winter, to the bluffs overlooking Boston.  This led to General Washington's first victory as the British yielded Boston and fled, all according to Knox's bold plan. We read all about it in TOG Y2U2. I have been to Fort William Henry which is at the southern end of Lake George. Fort Ticonderoga is at the northern end and I can appreciate the difficulty it took to transport these cannons. Quite impressive! (The resulting victory is the one featured by the medal that had the wrong date.)   

     Last summer while touring this museum, I learned about the Society of the Cincinnati and saw their emblem on some Washington china. Historians are going to groan, but I was wondering why???  I thought it had something to do with Cincinnati, Ohio, except that didn't make sense either, because I was certain that the city had not been established yet. (In my defense, last summer's display had no history of the Society of the Cincinnati.) This particular morning while touring the mansion, I noticed a relief of hmmmm, who is that? Not Julius Caesar?  I asked the tour guide, who said it was Cincinnatus. Ohhhhhh. I knew him! We read about him in TOG Y1U4. He was the ancient Roman, who while plowing his field, was called upon to defend his country. After the victory, he returned to his plow instead of assuming leadership/dictatorship like other caesars before him had done. The actor who portrays Washington at Colonial Williamsburg mentions Cincinnatus whenever guests ask him if he plans to run the country after the American Revolution.  I thought that was the actor adding that info for us, because Washington was just like Cincinnatus. Washington did not seek to lead our country, but returned home to manage his estate after the war.  I asked the tour guide if that relief had been hung on the wall by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association?  No, General Washington put it there.  Wow, General Washington knew about Cincinnatus?  Washington never got a full education like many of his peers like Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and the Marquis de Lafayette.  As a young boy, his future held a formal education in England, like his older half-brothers had. Unfortunately, his father died while he was young and Washington had to go to work. Nevertheless, he continued to educate himself.  I knew that Washington had educated himself. However I didn't know to what extent he took his education. As a teacher, I was impressed!  There is truely no limits to education for one who truely wants to learn!

      In the "George Washington and His Generals" exhibit, there is a Society of the Cincinnati display and I finally got it.  (Note to Historians...there is hope for me yet!) After the victory at Yorktown in 1781, peace talks lagged for two more years and tempers grew short, causing two of the generals to threaten mutiny. Washington's infamous words, "I have grown grey in your service," reestablished loyalty among the men.  In response, Henry Knox designed the Society of Cincinnati to encourage esprit de corps and support veterans.  Of course, the Society of Cincinnati was derived from the Roman Cincinnatus who returned to his plow after leading his country to military victories.  (In fact, I have since learned that the town of Cincinnati, Ohio was established after the American Revolution and was eventually given the name Cincinnati to honor the Roman hero Cincinnatus and the Society of Cincinnati.)

     In the exhibit, medals for the society were displayed. Washington designed his own, as president of the society. However it was not needed. The French naval officers designed a stunning one for him encrusted with diamonds, rubies and emeralds.  This has only been worn by Washington and succeeding presidents of the society.   

     When Lafayette came to America on his Grand Tour of 1824, George Washington's step-granddaughter gave the simpler one that Washington had designed to Lafayette. There is a painting of Lafayette wearing it.  When my son was done reading everything, and we were waiting for my daughter, I made sure he knew about the medals and the simpler one. He had no idea who else, besides Washington had owned it. I told him a painting in the room shows someone wearing it. He grinned and said he took that as a challenge. He found a Society of Cincinnati medal on General Kosciuszko from Poland. No, that medal is on the other side of the display case. My son finally figured out that Lafayette was wearing it. About that time a docent came over and told us that that medal, that Washington designed and that was given to Lafayette, had recently arrived for display at the museum a few weeks before! We were glad we didn't come earlier!  In fact he said it has rarely been on display at all!  I think this is only the second showing of it!  

     The "Generals" exhibit was extremely interesting and it was fun to watch my kids' enthusiasm at finding various things. My daughter found a set of calipers donated by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and called us over to see. 

     As interesting as everything was, there was one huge disappointment. There were displays on Dr. Warren, Henry Knox, Nathaniel Green, Benedict Arnold, Mad Anthony Wayne, Baron von Steubon, and many, many more. But the only mention of Lafayette was his likeness in two paintings. Lafayette was so important, why wasn't there a significant display for him like all the others had?  In reading the tour guide book, the organizers admitted they had to narrow down the display due to space, from Washington's 81 generals. I understand that, but to not have more on Lafayette? Perhaps its because they had a special exhibit a couple of years ago centering completely on Washington and Lafayette. Well, I didn't get to see that one. We were in Texas back then.  At least we did get to see the Washington/Lafayette Society of Cincinnati medal!  And we did do the house tour earlier, where again we got to see the key to the Bastille that Lafayette sent to General Washington.  That key is what first sent me on a path to discover Lafayette.     

    After we had completed the tour, we went to the gift shop so I could purchase the corresponding tour guide book.  With most of the artifacts behind glass and in the dark lighting, I could barely see details on any of the artifacts. The book goes into detail both in words and in pictures. It's nice to see the engravings of the various pieces up close and especially to see the beautiful Society of Cincinnati medal the French gave to Washington.  I was going through the book today and stopped at one of my favorite American Revolution paintings, Washington's Farewell to His Officers by Alonzo Chappel. Today I noticed an usual looking soldier in the painting. He looks a lot like the British dragoon, Banastre Tarleton in his short green coat and bushy helmet. My son and I were wondering who it really represented in this painting.