MD, USA
George Washington
1732–1799 · Commander-in-Chief · Mount Vernon Planter · Enslaver
1732–1799
Commander-in-Chief · Mount Vernon Planter · Enslaver
George Washington's relationship with Morristown defined the unglamorous reality of revolutionary command. He brought his army here twice — in 1777 and 1779-80 — and both times faced challenges that no battlefield victory could resolve: disease, desertion, supply collapse, and the slow erosion of political support.
During the first winter, Washington made the critical decision to inoculate his army against smallpox, accepting the short-term risk of weakening his forces to eliminate the disease that had killed more soldiers than British muskets. During the second winter, he watched his army starve, freeze, and nearly dissolve. His correspondence from the Ford Mansion is a masterclass in controlled desperation: letters to Congress pleading for supplies, to state governors demanding recruits, to his officers urging patience with men who had every reason to quit.
Washington's genius at Morristown was not tactical but managerial. He held an army together through two winters when the rational choice for every individual soldier was to go home. He did this through a combination of personal example, political maneuvering, and sheer stubborn refusal to acknowledge that the cause might fail.
In Annapolis
- Mar 1783Newburgh Conspiracy and Washington's Response(Commander-in-Chief)
In March 1783, anonymous letters circulated among officers at Newburgh urging them to march on Congress. Washington defused the crisis with a speech in which he apologized for needing his reading glasses, remarking he had grown old in the service of his country. The emotional effect reportedly ended the conspiracy. The Newburgh episode was the direct backdrop for Washington's resignation at Annapolis nine months later.
- Nov 1783Annapolis Serves as National Capital(Commander-in-Chief)
From November 1783 through August 1784, Annapolis served as the seat of the Continental Congress — the de facto national capital. Congress had fled Philadelphia in June 1783 after unpaid Pennsylvania veterans surrounded the State House. During the Annapolis session Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris and received Washington's resignation.
- Dec 1783Washington Resigns His Commission(Commander-in-Chief)
On December 23, 1783, George Washington resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief before the Continental Congress in the Maryland State House. The ceremony was precisely choreographed — Washington bowed to Congress; Congress nodded rather than bowing back, asserting civilian supremacy. After handing his commission to Thomas Mifflin, he left for Mount Vernon, arriving home on Christmas Eve. Thomas Jefferson, watching from the gallery, called it the greatest act of Washington's life.
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