I had the honor of presenting the wreath at His Excellency's grave. The top tweet shows the tomb open, but that's no longer the case. You used to be allowed to walk in, but now Mt. Vernon keeps the gate closed.
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- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
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I had the honor of presenting the wreath at His Excellency's grave. The top tweet shows the tomb open, but that's no longer the case. You used to be allowed to walk in, but now Mt. Vernon keeps the gate closed.
This was the next to the last city that the British evacuated at the end of the American Revolution. New York City, which was the hub of the British operations during the American Revolution from 1776 - 1783, was the last city to be evacuated.
Many people do not realize that Mount Vernon is a privately owned property. The non-profit Mount Vernon Ladies' Association receives no government funds to support the restoration and maintenance of the mansion and the estate's 500-acre grounds. Through the years I have always found them worthy of my support.
While on the subject of George Washington, and in honor of The GLOV (RIP), I will note that George Washington dined in the McKees Rocks area in 1770 with Alexander McKee, a man of great renown at the time and after whom McKees Rocks was named. McKee was an Indian agent who carried out trade and acted as a sort of diplomat between the English colonists and the Native Americans.
You could be correct. Someone name Vlad the Impaler has been doing porn for....oh about 1500 years or so.
McKee is an interesting character. Many know of McKees Rocks, which is named for him. And as you noted, George Washington did dine with Alexander McKee at his home on his huge (1,200 acres) plot of land, which was named Fairview, in 1770.
The American Revolution, especially on the frontier, wasn't as cut and dry as many Americans seem to think. Some Native American tribes aligned with the British, some remained neutral, and some aligned with the Patriots/Rebels. This created issues in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. (I can't really do justice in summarizing it. There are entire books on the general subject, and entire books on the shifting dynamics in each state.)
McKee is a good example of these shifting dynamics. He was the son of Thomas McKee, who was a fur trader, Indian Agent, and interpreter for General Forbes at Fort Pitt. As an adult, Alexander set up his own trading business that dealt with those that traded with Native Americans, primarily in the area which is now Ohio. George Croghan, who was an Indian Agent for the British recruited McKee to work in the Crown's Indian Department.
He was awarded the land which became Fairview in 1765 by Colonel Henri Bouquet (a Swiss mercenary who who great success as a leader for the British in the French & Indian War). (I always found it strange that Bouquet was able to award McKee the land, though the Penn family still ran Pennsylvania and settlers ether purchased land from them or rented land from them. Perhaps it's explained in the book about McKee, A Man of Distinction Among Them, which was published in 1999, but I've never read it.)
During the American Revolution, McKee broke with the Patriots, and joined forces with the British. He organized a number of uprisings by the Native Americans against the Americans in the frontier areas that America was granted by the Treaty of Paris, but from which the British, despite the terms in the Treaty, were very slow (like by more than a decade) to vacate after the treaty was signed.
He ended up moving into Canada, and negotiated many treaties for the British with Native Americans in Canada.
FWIW, his home in which Washington dined survived until 1902, when it was knocked down by the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad.
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Thanks for that Tom. Good stuff. The McKee book was available on Amazon and I just ordered it. I probably won't get to reading it until mid January but I appreciate your mentioning it.
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how nice. I look forward to reading your thoughts on the book after you've finished it.
Great stuff Tom. Have you looked into the Wyoming Valley Massacre? I did a quick post on Queen Esther and the Bloody Rock.
Queen Esther’s Bloody Rock
As the Wyoming Valley Massacre came to an end, Queen Esther exacts revenge for the death of her only son.
wanderingspectator.wordpress.com
Hi Tom. I’m wondering if you have any insight into Simon Girty from that era? I have a hunting camp near Girty’s Notch along the Susquehanna. Did some google searches and sounds like an interesting character, but accounts vary. Several locals I talked to either had no idea who he was or just some guy from that era. Sad.
Simon appears in the June 17, 1778 edition of Dunlap and Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser as being wanted for Treason (along with several others). There were several stories told about him over the years. There was a 1934 article that covered a lot of ground and a few "artists' renderings" of what he might have looked like. This was from Oct 22, 1782.
I think I have a book on Girty, but I've never read it. If I recall correctly, he switched from the Patriots/Rebels the same night that Alexander McKee did.
Girty had a pretty wild life. He was a captive of Native Americans for @ 10 years as a kid.
As an adult, he, and many others, violated King George III's Royal Proclamation of 1763, which basically forbid any settlers west of the Appalachian Mountains, as that land was for Native Americans, which caused problems for the British between the French & Indian War and the American Revolution.
Girty was a participant in Dunmore's War. I believe he served as a scout and a translator.
After switching to the British side during the American Revolution, he, like McKee, was instrumental in leading uprisings by Native Americans in modern-day Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, etc. And like McKee, he also ended up in Canada.
Girty appears in a lot of literature from the timeframe that is focused on the frontier.
Sad that folks from the area you referenced have no idea about him.
I'm kind of pushed for time, so I won't go into more about Girty.
Thanks for the info Tom. Enjoy your history shorts. I read about him living with Indians, switching sides, being a traitor, scalping settlers etc. That most important era in our history seems be fading away
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