Living That Bicentury Life

In my continuing to update you all on everything that I should have been blogging about during the ongoing crisis that was the entire month of November (which may or may not qualify as a midlife crisis - hey, I don't know how long I'm going to live!), I feel like I should tell you all about two of the good experiences that did manage to make their way into my life and nestle between all of the anxiety.

And of course, as usual for me (I'm beginning to expect that my normal does not at all resemble that of the general population's...), last weekend and the weekend before that both involved hopping back in time for a bit to the 18th century - to the 1780s, to be precise, and the end of the American Revolutionary War.

Thank you Eliza for the photo! (Also features Cheney of Not Your Momma's History)

It seems that, try as I might (lmao I'm not gonna try to stop), I just can't stop living that bicentury life. I just can't help but live with one foot firmly planted in the 18th century and one in the 21st. (Which I guess means my crotch is right over 1899? Maybe don't think about this image too hard...)

So I decided to do a brief overview of my jaunts back into the 1780s the past two weekends for anyone who wants to live vicariously through me, as I understand we can't all be time travelers part time.

On Friday, 24 November, I attended the Evacuation Day festivities at Federal Hall National Memorial, just down the street from Trinity Church. And on Sunday, 3 December, I attended an event at Fraunces Tavern to commemorate George Washington's farewell speech to the Continental Army that was given in the Long Room in 1783 - complete with a very special guest.

Evacuation Day

So what, historically, was Evacuation Day? During most of the American Revolution, New York City - indeed, all of Manhattan (as what was then New York City is now just a chunk of downtown) - was actually a Loyalist stronghold. So when the Brits - and the Loyalists - lost the war, that meant that all those still loyal to King George III had the choice of either staying in a new country that no longer answered to their king, or getting the hell outta Dodge. Oh, and then there were all the redcoat troops still in Manhattan, knowing their time there was limited before Washington would come marching back in triumphantly. According to Wikipedia:

In mid-August 1783, Sir Guy Carleton, then the last British Army and Royal Navy commander in formerly British North America, received orders from his superiors in London for the evacuation of New York. More than 29,000 Loyalists refugees were eventually evacuated from the city. The British also evacuated over 3,000 Black Loyalists, former slaves they had liberated from the Americans to Nova Scotia, East Florida, the Caribbean, and London, and refused to return them to their American enslavers and overseers as the provisions of the Treaty of Paris had required them to do.
Carleton gave a final evacuation date of 12 noon on November 25, 1783. Following the departure of the British, the city was secured by Colonial troops under the command of General Henry Knox. 

Entry into the city by General George Washington was delayed until after a British flag which had been spotted still flying had been removed. A British Union Jack was nailed on a flagpole in the Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan as a final act of defiance and the pole was allegedly greased. After a number of men attempted to tear down the British colors, wooden cleats were cut and nailed to the pole and with the help of a ladder, an army veteran, John Van Arsdale, was able to ascend the pole, remove the flag, and replace it with the Stars and Stripes before the British fleet had completely sailed out of sight.

 Federal Hall, on the site where Washington was eventually sworn in as president numero uno, commemorated the event with a full day's worth of programming. The event had live music, parades up and down Wall Street in front of the building courtesy of the Hearts of Oak group (of which my friend Eliza is part of), and educational programming about how the evacuation affected all groups - not just the victorious patriots, but the British military, the foreign troops that had been called in to help either side, the local Native American tribes, and the African population.

Cheyney educating the curious on the slave experience after the war.

I was able to see a musical performance by my very talented friend Eliza, and the always amazing Cheyney gave a presentation about the slaves that fought for the British under the impression that the British would free them after the war.

(The British did free the slaves that fought for them - but only if they were the slaves of patriots! Loyalists' slaves were out of luck because white people on average have always been kind of terrible.)

It was really nice to go to this event as a spectator instead of to work like I do at Hamilton Grange events. (Not that I mind doing that as I looooove the work I get to do at the Grange, but you know what I mean.) Still, I kind of felt like I was incognito, as of course I still wanted to do all I could to help my friends and make sure their presentations went off without a hitch. Happily, the presentations all went great. And even my Revolution-obsessed ass learned a thing or two!

Washington's Farewell

Featuring Sarah

Historically, about a week after the Evacuation, Washington gathered his troops (yes, including my dude Hamilton) in the Long Room at Fraunces Tavern to wish them all farewell and thank them for serving with him during the long, grueling war for American Independence. General Washington gave a short speech, the best account of which comes from Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge:

"Such a scene of sorrow and weeping I had never before witnessed.... It was too affecting to be of long continuance — for tears of deep sensibility filled every eye — and the heart seemed so full, that it was wont to burst from its wonted abode. The simple thought that we were then about to part from the man who had conducted us through a long and bloody war, and under whose conduct the glory and independence of our country had been achieved, and that we should see his face no more in this world seemed to me utterly unsupportable."

Fraunces Tavern is, as long-time readers know, still a functioning restaurant and museum (with the restaurant on the ground floor and the museum on the upper floors), and the museum portion decided to commemorate the occasion with free cookies from local favourite Insomnia cookies, guided tours of the museum's collection of Revolutionary artefacts, a "Colonial photobooth" with goofy themed props (thus that photo of Sarah), and reenactments throughout the day of that Washington farewell speech. Naturally, I had to drag Sarah and go along - especially as they were only charging $1 to see all of that!

Oh, but this wasn't just any reenactment. I've met more than a few General Washington reenactors in my frequent hopping back and forth between the centuries. But Fraunces Tavern was not even remotely in the neighbourhood of fucking around, and decided they were gonna go hard or go home.

Image courtesy of AMC

They got Ian Kahn to come in full Washington costume - the same Ian Kahn who portrayed Washington for AMC's "Turn: Washnington's Spies", a four-season American Revolutionary drama that I'm a little bit obsessed with.

The thing about "Turn" is it can be melodramatic. It can be lax with its history (very lax), and some of its choices are really questionable. There are times when it's the historical equivalent of ice cream for dinner, and I'm not sure if it's a bad show that has good moments, or a good show that has bad moments, or just a mediocre show. But when "Turn" is good, it's really good, and even when it isn't, it's still ridiculously enjoyable. That, and - the writers' choices aside - the cast is phenomenal.

So naturally I had to go.

Sarah and I stepped into the historic Long Room and there he was, in full Washington gear. He turned and addressed us, speaking those historical words that continue to resonate through the centuries: "With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable."

Then, he came to each of us and - just like the real George Washington is reported to have done - shook every one of our hands.

When my tiny hand was enveloped in his, there was no doubt in my mind. I was not shaking actor Ian Kahn's hand in that moment. I was shaking the hand of General George Washington himself.

After that, Kahn broke character and answered questions about his acting and his portrayal of Washington. For me, the magic was still there.

His hand is covering my face in this photo but you can see Sarah

I'm back in the 21st century for this weekend. But knowing me, it won't be long until my toes are dipped back into the pool of history.

-Nym