Washington (and the GW Ambassador) takes a Spring Break

South to Florida

Last week during Spring Break many Okies journeyed south to the beaches or north to the ski slopes. I actually went both ways—to Florida and then to Colorado. Although George Washington probably never snowboarded or sunbathed on the beach, he did make trips to both the northern and southern states while he was president. He even made a separate trip to Rhode Island once they finally decided to join the Union. Washington took a BREAK in the SPRING of 1791 to journey south. He left on March 21, 1791 with Major Jackson and an entourage of only FIVE people (that is a lot less than President Obama travels with when he picks up Sasha from school and all of them probably weighed less than my two suitcases and snow gear!). His southern trek took almost three months through a region of notoriously bad, sandy roads (*Freeman 592) so the General planned the trip meticulously (My jaunt to Florida on four-lane interstates took 18 ½ hours). One of his reasons for the expedition was to ascertain firsthand what the people thought of the new government (I went south to Florida and north to Colorado to have a good time!).

He proceeded to such cities as Richmond, Petersburg, Savannah, Halifax, Tarboro (NC), and Wilmington (I went through Memphis, Birmingham, Columbus, and Orlando). By April 29 he was in South Carolina where he spent a week in Charleston (I was already headed north to enjoy a Rocky Mountain High—Thank you, John Denver). At a ball given by Governor Pinckney, the females had interesting hairdos—nearly all of the coiffures included a bandeau or fillet (a ribbon or band of material worn around the head to keep the hair in place) on which was painted a sketch of Washington’s head or some patriotic, sentimental reference to him (*Freeman 595) (Although I have worn headbands while skiing they have never, unfortunately, had GW on them). On May 12 he reached Savannah, Georgia. Joseph Ellis in his book, His Excellency, explained that near Savannah Washington’s dog, Cornwallis—an apt name, died and was buried. The local people cared for the grave for years (My dog did have an ear operation over Spring Break but he is doing just fine!). The General continued to Augusta, Colombia, and Camden, always viewing former battle sites and even made a point to visit the widow of Nathanael Greene, one of his favorite Revolutionary generals (I traveled close to the site of the Sand Creek Massacre in southeast Colorado). On June 12 the President finished the journey and ate dinner at his own table ( I ate at a fast-food restaurant). He wrote, “. . . it has enabled me to see with my own eyes the situation of the country through which we traveled, and to learn more accurately the disposition of the people than I could have done by any information. . . Tranquility reigns among the people . . . they begin to feel the good effects of equal laws and equal protection.” I always feel the good effects of Spring break!

*From Washington by Douglas Southall Freeman—An Abridgement by Richard Harwell. NY, 1995.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 6:14 pm and is filed under George Washington. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.