By Ted Hirt
“First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of His Countrymen!” We may recall this tribute to our first president, George Washington. These ringing words, delivered as a funeral oration before Congress on December 28, 1799, were written by Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, who had been a major general during the American Revolution, a member of the Continental Congress, and the father of Civil War General Robert E. Lee.
Not surprisingly, Gettysburg and Adams County joined in that accolade. In this article, I highlight several examples, principally from our local newspapers, from over 150 years ago.
Library of Congress
I have located references to Washington as early as 1803. At that time, our local newspaper, The Sprig of Liberty, carried an advertisement for a book about Washington, entitled “The Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington.” In 1810, The Star and Sentinel, through its editor, Robert Harper, announced that his newspaper would accept proposals to publish a “valuable work,” collecting several of our important founding documents. These included the Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, and Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address. Harper hoped that the work would be 500 pages and would be “embellished with an elegant full-length portrait of General Washington.”
Our local communities took frequent opportunities to celebrate Washington’s legacy. These often coincided with our July 4th/ Independence Day celebrations. For example, in 1822, The Star and Sentinel reported that July 4 was celebrated in the “accustomed manner; and nothing occurred to mar the festivities of the day.” The Gettysburg Guards and the Union Artillerists assembled at the Courthouse, and “marched to a wood in the vicinity of this place,” where various dignitaries recited the Constitution, the Declaration, and Washington’s Farewell Address, and were each succeeded by a discharge of artillery.” Many toasts were delivered after a dinner “prepared for the occasion.” Washington was saluted as the “model of Heroes and Statesmen; may his heroism, patriotism, and other virtues, be as universally possessed as they are applauded.” Of interest – Congress was toasted too: “may it do more in ‘deed,’ and ‘less in word and in tongue.’”
On February 22, 1838, a local Presbyterian minister, the Reverend Charles G. McLean, delivered a formal Address – to the Gettysburg Guards – on the anniversary of Washington’s Birthday. McLean was the son of a surgeon in the British navy, and, ironically, in September 1814, he had volunteered to defend Baltimore against the British invasion.
His speech, reprinted and now in the files of the Adams County Historical Society, focused on Washington’s principles. McLean observed that the Gettysburg Guards had recited the Farewell Address and that his “difficult task” was to follow it. Washington had emphasized that religion and morality were “primary and essential elements of political prosperity.” This was particularly true in our country, in which the people controlled the government and thus were responsible for developing the nation’s character. McLean opposed the union of any specific religious denomination with our Constitution. Instead, he urged that Americans venerate God and not allow politicians to alienate them from that activity. He also invoked Washington’s admonition that we resist efforts to alienate “one portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties, which now link together the various parts.”
In 1856, The Star and Banner reported that February 22 would be celebrated by the Independent Blues, a parade, and “public exercises” in the St. James Lutheran Church. Attorney David Wills, later known as the organizer of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery and host to President Lincoln in connection with his November 19, 1863, Address, would read Washington’s Farewell Address. The newspaper was glad “to observe a growing disposition” that the day be observed as a national holiday, like July 4. “It should be kept as a festival devoted to social amusements, and distinguished as a day of rejoicing. We have too few days consecrated to repose and relaxation, and we should like to see this one added to the calendar.”
Library of Congress
It may be no surprise that as our nation veered toward sectional division, Washington’s legacy was invoked by various factions. By 1860, partisan rhetoric had intensified. On January 2, 1860, The Gettysburg Star and Sentinel (which spoke for the local Republican Party), quoted a 1798 letter from Washington to the
Marquis de Lafayette, in which he denounced slavery, and Washington noted with approval the 1787 Northwest Ordinance that prohibited slavery’s extension to those new territories. The article concluded: “What a terrible ‘black’ Republican Gen. Washington must have been.” In contrast, on April 1, 1861, The Gettysburg Compiler (which spoke for the local Democratic Party), reprinted a newspaper column that contended that state “personal liberty” bills – designed to counteract the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 – would “turn out of church” George Washington (among others) as “slaveholding followers in the South.” (The Compiler did not acknowledge that George and Martha Washington undertook various efforts to emancipate the slaves at Mt. Vernon).In May, 1863, the Compiler cited portions of the Farewell Address in which Washington appealed to national unity and against the consolidation of the powers of the federal government, and it stated that, based on the Republican definition of the term “Copperhead,” Washington would fit it!
One post-War example: on February 22, 1867, the Reverend Henry Louis Baugher delivered an address at Christ Lutheran Church entitled “The Character of a Good Statesman.” Lauding Washington as “endowed” with both nobility and disinterestedness, Baugher explained that the elements essential to the character of a good statesman were the “fear of God” and a “regard for others as for ourselves.” Thus, Washington “sought counsel of God” and “prayed and was heard.” Washington also tried to teach, “by precept and example,” that public office should be sought for the public interest and not for private gain. His example was “unrivaled in the history of our country and of our world.”
So, as we consider the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution and the people who memorialized that time, like “Light Horse Harry” Lee and our Adams County ancestors, we can turn to Washington as an example of the Revolution’s animating principles.
Author Ted Hirt would like to thank Rodger Rex for his assistance in creating this article.
