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FOUNDING FATHER HAD MANY 'CHILDREN'
Saluting Fatherhood from a Founding Father
Date published: 6/15/2008
VIENNA-- As we celebrate Father's Day, we can learn a lot about fatherhood from a man who was never a biological father yet was a father to untold millions.
When our eventual first president married the widow Martha Custis, he became a father to her children. However, he never sired a child, the likely result of smallpox sterility. During the Revolutionary War, he took on a fatherly role, particularly with three of his generals. Whether 1778 or 2008, George Washington's relationship with his "sons" reveals some of fatherhood's best qualities.
Fathers know how to turn their children's skills into action. Boston was in lockdown in 1775, and Washington's army surrounded the British-occupied town by land, but not by sea. Boston bookstore owner Henry Knox had read volumes on warfare. He offered to travel 200 miles during winter to New York's Fort Ticonderoga to acquire weapons. Washington did what fathers do: He gave Knox a chance.
Knox's knack for inventory proved an asset. He transported 60 tons of artillery onto "42 exceedingly strong sleds" and "acquired 80 yoke of oxen to drag them." Knox sent the inventory list ahead to Washington. The plan worked. Washington mounted the cannons on the highest point overlooking Boston harbor to control the sea. The redcoats retreated. Washington won.
Fathers care about their children's character. Of all his "boys," Washington saw more of himself in the biological son of a Rhode Island iron-foundry owner. Nathanael Greene may have been a mold-maker by trade, but he proved to be a mold-breaker in spirit. He rejected his father's disdain for formal schooling and sought out a tutor. Although he came from a pacifist Quaker family, Greene readily embraced a musket. Perhaps because of his differences with his own father, Greene reached out to Washington with a son-like yearning for respect. After Washington's success in Boston, Greene asked Washington for a promotion.
"I have ever found myself exceeding happy under your Excellency's command. I wish my ability to deserve [a promotion] was equal to my inclination to merit. How far I have succeeded in my endeavors, I submit to your Excellency's better judgment," Greene wrote humbly.
Jane Hampton Cook is the author of 'Stories of Faith and Courage From the Revolutionary War,' a digest of personal writings from about 20 key players in the Revolutionary War.
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Date published: 6/15/2008
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