Transcripts For CSPAN3 George Washingtons War Tent 20221113

He has developed and collaborated on exhibits, films and interpretive programs for numerous historical sites and organizations, including colonial williamsburg, the smithson in the canadian war museum, the National Park service, George Washingtons mount vernon, the heinz history center, and the museum of the other of the cherokee indian. From 2007 to 2018, scott led the development of the museum of the American Revolutions Award Winning exhibitions, multimedia rien as an educational programing, as well as overseeing the care and expansion of its rich collection of art and artifacts. He has served as president and ceo of the museum of the American Revolution since 2018. Tonight, you will hear from scott about the history and significance of general George Washingtons mobile field headquarters, a linen sleeping and office tent that sheltered our first commander in chief during the revolutionary war. And again, if you havent seen it yet, please go tomorrow up by the old mill to see to see the replica and the Educational Programs taking place. The original tent now housed in displayed in philadelphias museum of the American Revolution, had a rich and dramatic life following the death of george and Martha Washington and with a remarkable cast of characters from lafayette to robert e lee to an episcopal priest with a crazy idea. And with that tantalizing line, im going to turn it over to scott so you can hear the rest of the story. Thanks again to the museum and to your staff and board for making this happen. Welcome to nantucket island and thanks to all of you for coming tonight. Scott. Fantastic. And youre a yeah. They put this wire over my ear, which ive never spoken with before, so that if i speak like this. Can you hear me . No problem. So love to start with a show of hands. How many of you have visited the museum of the American Revolution already . Right. The rest of you will definitely be dying to go before the end of the evening. How many of you saw the tent today, by the way, up on the by the mill . I know a few of you walked by and i told you to come, so i hope you came. Excellent. So i am going to go on what may seem like a rambling journey this evening, but i promise i will bring all the threads back together at the end. So i want to start by introducing you to historic philadelphia Independence National historical park. If you think of it as a big l, this is really the University Campus of a americas founding. It was an incredible place to visit. You have, of course, Independence Hall right in the center. You have the liberty bell right across the street. You have Benjamin Franklins home. He has a connection to nip and tuck it. As many of you know, mother was a nantucket her. Is that what you called or an islander. So nantucket works all right. Christ church on Second Street National Constitution center on the sort of north axis. The first bank of the United States. Youll see a better picture of that building in just a moment. And then sort of anchoring the eastern flank of Independence Historical park, theewest Cultural Institution in philadelphia, the museum of the American Revolution. We have just celebrated our fifth anniversary. So we are really just a toddler and couple those years have been a little bit more challenging. You all have been through this ongoing pandemic, but we still have managed to have a million visitors through the museums since opening in april of 2017. So theres great, great momentum. Heres our robert stern and robert stern designed building, as we like to call it, Cannon Corner at third and chestnut streets, just two blocks from Independence Hall. And if you climb up to that terrace that you can see with the windows up on the right and you walk out onto that terrace, you get this beautiful view of the first bank of the United States other than fords. This is the First Federal police funded building of our new federal government under the constitution, completed in 1797, its undergoing an extensive renovation right now. This is owd the National Park service. Theyre doi external well, um, shoring up of the building new roof. En itll have an exhibition inside talking about the origins of americas financial and of course, the role that our more famous secretary of the treasury, alexander hamilton, not nearly as important as his predecessor, michael hill, goes. Theres a descendant here in the front audience. So youll excuse me if you stand up on that terrace and you kind of look down third street and your transport started about a century and a quarterback, this is the view that y would have seen. And can you see the facade of the first bank kind of peeking out there and the building just on our side, just close to you as the viewer, that Tall Building was this was really the heart of the Publishing Industry in philadelphia. So the saturday evening post, you know, a lot of the 19th century roots of americas mass Publishing Industry was founded right in this neighborhood, as was before new york took off after the erie canal. This was really the center of finance and banking in the early american republic. Um, some of you, as a philadelphia connection, may remember the old evening bulletin. Bill, i dont know if you remember the oning bulletin that wasublished there. Well, in 1906,ts in early august. There was an article published in the philadelphia evening bulletin. It was an interview with mary custis lee, the daughter of confederate general robert e lee. Anheadne was general aubrey lees daughter will sell two tents used by washington to aid confederate home wants to raise 10,000, so im going to take you back now. Were going to come back to this moment. But this is really, in a sense, the moment of the founding of what became the museum of the American Revolution in the early 20th century. But were going to zoom all the way back to 1775 for those of you locals of the great commonwealth of massachusetts, youll know that the depending uponhether you live in xington or concord, the shot fired the heard round the world was either on the green at lexington or if youre from concord, of course you believe it happened at the old north bridge, both on april 19th of 1775. Two months later, the fighting at bunker hill that takes place on this hill overlooking boston. And about 20,000 new england troops march in and bottle up the british in boston and the rest of the colonies who had come together in philadel phia, just across the street from where the museum is for the First Continental Congress in the fall of 1774. And theyd sent a protest to to england protesting the coercive acts, the closing of bostons port. They come back together by previous appointment in may of 1775 in philadelphia and the yankees have started a shooting war. So it was not clear what was going to happen. You know, would these middle and southern states, what future states colonies would sort of decide that this was their common cause, or would they disown what these hotheaded yankees had done by shooting at the british . But of course, we all know the decision that they made in the first two weeks of june that this was the common cause of america. They had to appoint a commander in chief to take command of what would become known as the Continental Army, with the addition of Ten Companies of expert riflemen from pennsylvania, maryland and virginia, they appointed a virginian. So this is the virginian you all know, George Washington. Hes given his commission as commander in chief in philadelia by the continental congress. Amazingly, that document still survives in the national arives. Its presented to him. He carries it in his pocket and he heads north to take command of this new england army that is encircling boston. Now, there were concerns, of course, because these were keen students of history, something we wish all of our countrymen today were as keen students of history. Right. And theyre reading of history. They told them that these kinds of colonial rebellions, these armed insurrections, often led to the creation of dictatorship. You know, generals would refuse to disband. Armies would refuse to disband. Generals would actually take power for themselves. And so as washington is marching north, hes approaching new york and the new york provincial council sends him a congrats flattery letter, but also one that sort of asked the question. They said, basically, weve placed this great power in authority in your hands as a commander in chief. But when we make up these differences with the British Parliament and again, this is not a fight for independence. Yeah, this is a fight to restore english liberties. They basically say you will go back to virginia, wont you . And washington writes an incredible letter back with the line where he says, when we took up the soldier, we did not lay aside. The citizen really, the founder of this citizen soldier tradition that we hold so, so dear to us as americans. And this was the cause of course, that he had to teach to all of these men who were serving under him. And this is a theme im going to kind of come back to numerous times through the talk. So heres the map of british occupied boston, and you can see the lines and a little parallel of grahams and outlines of the entrenchment and the forts that had built ring ringing bars. Then he arrives on july third of 1775 to take command of the army. Theres the center commandedy general washington themselves, used as theyre essentially occupying the buildldings of Harvard Square and establishes this area as his as his headquarters. But one of thes that happens is, you know, as the case in the beginning of every war, we assume that its going to be over quickly. We all know the story at the beginning of the civil war. All the all the civil gains in washington, d. C. , who rode their carriages out to watch the battle and then were, of course, first of all, horrified by the carnage and then really had to confront the reality this was going to be a long and protracted convoy. But now washington had ridden to philadelphia, not knowing about lexington and concord. So hed packed his bags at mount vernon and arrived in philadelphia. He did, however, bring a uniform along, which people noted and this was to indicate his willingness, if necessary, to to take up a leadership position. Maybe he was advocates using his his availability should should the job come up. But he did not pack his camping equipment. And he actually went to one of the only, i think, three letters that have survived between washington and Martha Washington, because in the period when a spouse died, it was customary for the widow or the widower to burn the correspondence that was considered private. And martha destroyed all of the letters from George Washington, but several of them survived, one of them in a little desk that belonged to her. Thats a tudor place in georgetown outside of washington, d. C. Now. And its the letter washington wrote to her, basically telling martha he was not going to be coming home from philadelphia, but rather going to to take command of the army. And what i love about it, because many of us in the audience have done this, we have to sort of send an apology gift as well. And so the postscript was about how he had he had found a beautiful piece of figured silk that he had purchased in a shop in philadelphia. And he was sending that to mt. Vernon to martha, hoping that that would assuage her disappointment a little bit. So washingtons bens, of course, the summer of 1775, trying to organize the defenses through the winter. Theyre trying to sort of figure out how theyre going to eject the british from boston. And he realizes that theyre going to have to take the field the next season. And so, again, here he is in that uniform that he wore. He he decides to send his aide de camp. This is a philadelphia named joseph reed back to philadelphia because this was really the best you know, it was the largest city in british north america. It was the place that had manufactured showers, that could produce goods. It was a place where what imported goods had not been prevented from being imported by the british navy, could be could be purchased. And a fabulous quote. This is kind of the theme of the evening. He writes, he sends them enacted robber of 1775 back to philadelphia. And so they need you to get together. All my camp equipage. So these are all the things is going to need to take the field as commander in chief the following year. Then he writes the beginning of march to ask how its going. And this is a quote from that letter. He says, i cannot take the field without equipage. And after i have once got into a tent, i shall not soon quit. It. Now, he did not know that this was going to be an eight year conflict. And with the exception of just two visits in 1781 after yorktown to mount vernon, he remained out in the tented field for that entire period of time. So what we know because of the surviving records is that washington had a set of tents made just two blocks from where the museum. Is located, right on chestnut street. There was a man by the name of plunkett fleece in who had a shop there at fourth and chestnut, the original receipt has survived. We know he purchased two main tents. One of these was a sleeping and office tent. Thats the original tent thats on display in the museum. And the replica that youve seen up by the old mill there was also a slightly larger tent. It looked more like the top image here. It was a long oval shaped tent. It was a big open room on the inside for dinners, for meetings. You know, a larger meeting tent and those tents went into the field. They met washington and new york during the 1776 campaign. And this, along with a baggage tent and the tents of his his commander in chiefs guard, the soldiers who were essentially the predecessors of the secret service, that were a security detail that was washingtons mobile field headquarters during the revolutionary war. And that sleeping an office tent acted as his only private space. Now, think about the images youve seen of other commander in chief, the image that always pops to mind. And you all know the photograph of John F Kennedy during the cuban missile crisis, where hes standing in profile at the resolute desk with his head hung low. Another picture of George W Bush after 911. Again, sitting at that resolute desk thinking about what that oval office means to a commander in chief. And i think its not too much of a stretch that stretch to think about this sleeping in office. That is the First Oval Office that was the place where washingtons highest and certainly lowest moments of the war took place. Now, it mattered not just to him as the commander to have a place like that more importantly, it mattered to the man that he was leading. And so this is an image done by the great illustrator, howard pyle. So obviously a commemorative, but showing washington in his tent. And once you start to see very early on, is washington consciously trying to create a model for what the general of in a republic would be like . Because this is not a monarchy anymore. He does not owe his commission to a sovereign, but rather the people through congress have given him this authority. And so what does it mean to be a republic in general and people begin to note the significance of him remaining in the tented field even during the winter, during inclement weather times when you wouldnt see a general anywhere near the army for months and months and months. So heres a quote from a fellow virginian, george weedon. Hes writing from middlebrook in new jersey. This is in the spring of 1777. His excellency, our good old general, has also spread his tent and lives amongst us. Youre going to hear this often here, those tents that washington received in 1776, he uses all the way through the year. They remain in the field late, late, late into the fall. The following year, 1777, the british come south to take philadelphia. So the Philadelphia Campaign and that campaign stretches far into the fall. It was the practice to go into Winter Quarters in the fall, partly because the grass that your animals eat, which are your transports and of course die. So its hard to stay in the field and continue fighting into the, you know, beyond the late, late fall. But in 1777, Washingtons Army doesnt march into valley forge until december 19th. And this, of course, image that you all know very well, i thin its impossible to find a book about the revolutionary war that doesnt have an image. This is a painting thatin our collection. It painted in 1883 by a philadelphian, William Betty drago. Its called the march to valley forge. And i love this extract these are washingtons orders to his army. Two days before they marched into valley forge. And he says thatmselwill sharhe hardships and partake of every inconvenience. Hs prising his army. Im not going and staying in a cushy hotel. M gog to stay under canvas. Washington stays in that tent till january of 1777, waiting until his men are built. Those log Hudson Valley forge and that theyre under undercover before he goes in and takes a house himself. And so this is something that, again, starts to now catch the attention of people overseas, because no one is more fascinated by whats going on in america. And whats going to go on than the french. And this is really important. Remember, we write that declaration of independence not so much for the second paragraph. And those the the idea of equality. Thats the charter about the principles that will be founded on. But its primarily a diplomatic document. By declaring independence, were hoping to bring foreign allies and most importantly, the french in well, they are paying attention. And i love this image here. This is the first engraved image done in france. This is in 1780. Its its inspired by a portrait by Charles Wilson peale. But the french artist has expanded and look at how much symbolism is dripping in there. Just from what ive talked about already, hes in his tent in the field. Theres an encampment off in the distance. Hes got all of his camp equipment around him. Hes holding in his hand a sheaf of papers that include the declaration of independence and the treaty between france and the United States. And hes standing on shredded papers that are all conciliate tory bills from parliament, offers of pardon from the king. So this is this is absolutely a propaganda piece as much as anything but the title of this is a translate basically as general washington he does not present a a threat to the republic because again everyone in france is fascinated. What is this guy going to do if they actually win independence . Is he going to become the new king george of america or Something Else . John trumbull, who from connecticut, who had briefly serveds aide de camp to washington, patethis portrait on the right about the same time. 1780 is actually traveled to england during the war and is studying with benjamin west. But one of the important things to note, if you see in the background of these two images and theyre certainly in dialog with one another, ishey inclusion of a figure who represents william lee, who was shingtons enslaved valet . Washington had purchased willi and his younger brother frank in 1768, anth served in the household at mount vernon. William lee served as washingtons valet through the entire revolutionary war, actually lived in that tent with washington. And so the other inhabitants of of washingtons tent and was so wo out by his service, he had several bad falls from horses ri his during his military service that he was basically crippled by the by the end of the revolutionary war. Now, i want to talk a little bit about symbols of a republic in general. So on the left, you see rolled up the actual original ribbon. You see that over washington, shoulder under his coat. When washington goes to new england in 1775, one of the first frustrate actions he has is that nobody knows who he is and that theyre supposed to pay some kind of deference to him. In other words, that hes in charge. The new englanders very democratic. Many of these new england officers owe their positions to being voted in by their man. And so thats one of the things that in aristocratic southerner, who immediately sees, as youll see, you know, the colonel of a new england regiment shaving his own man or, you know, playing cards with them, etc. , in washington wants to impose more of a traditional military discipline on a on a european scale, thinking that the professionalism is going to be really important. So he had he adopts a system of colored ribbons. These are literally just wide woven moray silk ribbons. They have a beautiful design. You can see it on the left hand side there. Its almost like a watermark thats made by crushing or pressing these between engraved steel plates. And its a, you know, a form thats very recognizable in european armies at the time. And washington adopts this blue ribbon. So this original ribbon has survived because he later gives it to Charles Wilson peale, the painter who we sat for, for this portrait. And peale probably had more life sittings for washington than than any other painter in the period. Here he is in another you know, full length painting from 1779 washington at the battle of princeton and another george here on the left. King george also painted the same year in 1775 or 1779 with a full array of military might behind him. So this is sort of like two georges really trying to be peacocks here and show themselves off. Right. But you can immediately see how somebody whos really looking close at what this george from virginia is thinking about the future. Isnt he kind of dressing like a king with that ribbon . And so french officers actually note that by about 1779, washington had laid that ribbon aside and there were actually some portraits that have survived that peale did, because he becomes basically has a shop producing these paintings because Everyone Wants a portrait of George Washington. You can actually see that in originally had the ribbon on it and theyve painted over it. One of them descended in the current direction. Hbos family and you can actually see over the centuries as the paint sort of started to bleed a little bit, the shadow of that ribbon. So hes very consciously going to an even plainer dress. This is a wonderful portrait. Um, itsadly in present at harvard university, when it was donated, it had the prn that it could never be loa outside of the i think its at thfordeum. And so well never be able to get it to philadelphia unless any of you know anybody at harvard. But there is like all the things ive been talking about, there is washington, the republic in general. Hs in the tented field in front of a marquee tent. For those of you who came up to e the replica tent today and where some of you were asking about the furnishings, you can see the little folding table there behind him. And thats what we bhe the design of that replica table up there. And again, that very plain uniform. He is not covered in lace. He does not have that ribbon on there. This is the republican general, or washington, in the tented field with his army. Now washingtons perhaps greatest moment as a as a commander. There were two moments that people felt were in washington as a great general. One was crossing the delaware in 1776 and attacking the hessian garrison at trenton. The other one, of course, was the victory at yorktown, which was really a partnership up with the confederacy. And here he is, surprisingly wearing his aristocratic, in this case, red ribbon painted a little bit later in the 19th century. But the contribution that led the French Forces that had come as a result of that alliance and were partnered with washington in the siege of yorktown. And there you are, one of my favorite Little Details in this this philadelphia map of the Yorktown Campaign in by an eyewitness, a american officer. You see washingtons quarters in russia in those quarters. But the icon is of those tents and its during this this long siege at yorktown that lots of people are commenting again about washington placing himself in harms way, living amon troops in his town. In fact, 50 years later, weve got a great quote. This is from a virginian. Get to it in a second here. I got a painting of washington and rochambeau at yorktown. Thats in the museum. So this is 1832, 15 years later. And a virginian, francis cole, as hes applying to get a pension as a revolutionary war soldier, recalls that he had the gratification of seeing general washington every day in his marquee meeting, his tent that was very near his tent into clarence tent, another carry trailer. This is an 1850, is still recalling that he conversed with general washington in his tent. So imagine the significance for these soldiers in making such an impression that they saw washington living with them. Now, thats the backdrop for like the second part of this talk, which was about explaining this New York Times story. So all the images that ive showed you so far are none of those are eyewitness images of George Washingtons tent. And the field. Probably the closest one would be that Charles Wilson peale painting, because peale certainly saw washington out in the field. But we never had an image when we open the museum on april 19th of 2017, that was like somebody sat down and sketched and theres George Washingtons tent. And then as often happens. Something pops out of the unexpected either. So two weeks after we open the museum, we get an email from an Online Auction house out in texas alerting us that there were some revolutionary war objects that we might be interested in coming out, coming up to auction. Now, i was so exhausted from opening the museum that i have to confess i did not click on that link. But fortunately, our chief historian, fort meade, is obsessive about looking at all those auctions. And so he sends me in about 11 00 at night. He sends me a link and said, did you see this exclamation point . So what he found when he looked in there and this is the description of this lot and its a little as youll see in a minute, its fortunately for us, it was not cataloged accurately. So it threw most people off the scent, but it described a panoramic watercolor, says s a group of six watercolors on lead paper are about seven feet long. That purported to show the battle of stony point. Although, curiously, there was a label that described a plancks point. And im going to show you where those are in a minute and said that it was the site of a of a battle there. And then describe a little bit about the provenance of these pieces. So if you clicked on that link, this is what would show up on your computer screen. And frankly, all of you are thinking that does not look very interesting. Right. You had to really dig into the scene and the first i started looking. Closely, you could click and you could bring up the details. And when i clicked on the left hand side of the watercolor, this popped up and my heart just about stopped. Because what youre seeing is a little hilltop right . Theres a tent on the very top and then a little group of tents slightly down the hill. Now, most of tents, if you remember that image i showed you right at the beginning of the two different, the engraving with the two different kinds of tents, and one of them had the end entrance and one of them had the side entrance. 90 of the tents youll see in the in the period have that end entrance. George washingtons tent has that side entrance. And you can see in that detail, theres like a little bower and its like a little shade in front of it. Looks like a jungle gym. But you can see indicated that this thing looked an awful lot like George Washington, this tent. And then i remembered a quote, because ive been researching this tent forever by a french officer who was present at this spot at the end of the revolutionary war. This is a journal that he writes about noticing a little hill which looked over the camp and an assemblage of tents which i recognized easily as the quarters of general washington. This is it for plancks point in 1782. So lets locate you where were talking about in space here. This is a map showing that the washington rochambeau route. So in 1781, the french army is up around newport there in rhode island, most of washington is is in the Hudson Highlands. And so that is in this area right here. They steal a march partly by land, partly by sea, and they block up Cornwallis Army at yorktown. Theres an image showing you the area of the Hudson Highlands. So to zoom in a little bit, the spot were looking at about six miles north of new york city, and its the first spot where the hudson river starts to narrow enough and it gets into a hilly country. This was the important crossing point in a place called kings ferry. So if you can imagine if youre in new england, new york, the middle colonies, the only way you have to communicate to send troops back and forth because new york is occupied by the british, is using these ferries that are through this this this area of any of, you know, Bear Mountains. Dylan sang a song about a Bear Mountain picnic years ago. Thats all right. In this area here. So this area was probably one of the most militarized zones in america during the revolutionary war in terms of skirmishes, the dedication of troops. So on the west bank or the arrows indicating forts montgomery and clinton were built in 1776, peekskill, new york was a place where there were Continental Army stores. These were attacked by the british in 1777 as theyre trying to link up with the burgoyne expedition west point itself is founded in 1778 and becomes a very important depot and military post for the Continental Army. Of course, down below, stony point is a is a place where the british seize an american troops under anthony wayne, captured in 1779 and on the east side were plancks point. And thats going to be the most important spot here for the next couple of minutes is the point of land that sticks out, and that is the place where kings ferry was located, very, very strategic for the british and americans want to try to control this. And then later in the war, further up north in the new windsor and newburgh area, thats where the Continental Army will have its sort of final cantonment at the end of the war. So now were trying to figure out we have this watercolor. We had about two weeks to figure out is this thing real . What is it . Is that really George Washingtons tent . Who can we find to help us try to acquire this piece . So were doing a lot. Of course, im summarizing about two weeks of research, but it was a lot of hours and a lot of hands. So the first thing we found and this was up in harvard in the library, but it did come from washingtons papers. His biographer, jared sparks, had been given access to washingtons papers by the family in the early 19th century, but he sort of borrowed them all and he didnt give most of them back. And so they ended up sort of scattered in all kinds of places. But this is an extraordinary map. Its dated september of 1782, and it is overplaying its point. And were going to zoom in here and im going to show you some arrows here. So a couple of important points, because i want to show you a painting in a second. Were going to match this up. What youre seeing here, first of all, is a little hilltop up with a triangle on it and three little triangl rht belowt. Maybe you can make that it says headquarters. You got a little hill with fort on it, off to the left there, right along the bank of the river, youve got these little long rectangles with letter number combinations and what youre seeing is two j, thats the second new jersey regiment, one y, thats the first new york regiment. So you can see a line of encampments there along along the point and then you see those little dotted lines. Theres a row thats coming from the river and its leading up to that hill that says headquarters. Now, the other important document here is one of my favorite portraits of George Washington. I dont think it looks the most like him, but it was painted by John Trumbull as a personal gift to Martha Washington in 1790. And John Trumbull had actually visited he actually was present at four plagues point and notes in his correspondence that he took sketches and careful measurements and really paid attention to the layout of this camp. And this is a painting that he did gave to Martha Washington. It descended with her in her family until henry dupont bought it h. F. Dupont bought it for the winter term museum in the 1960s, so it still remained in the family and really wasnt very well known until really our lifetimes but often the distance so you have washington with his charger up on this hill but take a look behind the knees that youre seeing here. Can you see a little hill off in the distance with a fort on it . You can see a line of encampments, of tents along there. And it will be difficult for you to see. But if you can see, theres an interruption in the little white tents and some sort of little structure that sticks up. Were going to talk about that in a second. And then youre going to see a line. What youre seeing are two lines of american troops. This last arrows showing you most clearly a pair of flags. One of them is recognized as the stars and stripes. Right. So those are a american regiments that are lined up with their flags in the center. And the french army is marching between them because this was the reunify nation of the french soldiers who had partnered with washington and beaten cornwallis at yorktown. And theyd stayed in virginia for that winter of 1781, 82. And Washingtons Army had marched up to the Hudson Highlands because, remember, the british still occupied new york. The french were marching back to boston to be picked up by ships to go to the west indies. I have never figured out. Maybe adam knows, but dont know why they didnt just pick them up in virginia. But anyway, they had to walk all the way to boston and theyre going to cross the hudson river at kings ferry this was very significant r washington because, remember, we all think the wars over when cornwallis surrenders, theres two more years until. The treaty of paris, it was very uncertain, george. The third was not prepared to give up his north american kingdom. And so washington had to show the french that the Continental Army were good, strong. They were ready to stay in the fight. And so this is the moment when the Continental Army was the best dressed, the best drilled, the best uniformed as they ever were, because it was really a diplomat show. And what youre seeing here is that moment of that french army passing in review to be reunited with with the Continental Army at four planes point. Now, another man who was present there, he was actually an englishman named George Grieve. He was there with roche and aus army again wrote in diary that opposite the camp and on distant diseminences stood the tents of some of the general officers over which towered prent that of general washington. So you see, were starting to feel a little bit more confident that were looking at general washingtons tent. And he goes on to say that hed seen all theps, meaning the military camps in england from engravings had been taken. But as truly a subject worthy of the pencil of the first artist, because he had no idea that John Trumbull was there. And whoever the artist is thats going to produce this watercolor image. Now, what hes thinking of is this tradition of drawing these large views of military camps. This is thomas sam b. This is during the 1740s in scotland at fort obably what hes thinking about in 1782 is just recently there have been a large encampment in St James Park in london. In response to the gordon riots and his brother paul sam had done these watercolor images, many of which were engraved. And so youre seeing one of those engravings from 1780. So this is something that is clearly in the mind of George Grieve and also presumably whoever is producing this great big watercolor. So when you dig into the details again, if you clicked in and spent the time looking at it, as fortunately not many other people, did you see all this incredible detail . Can you see how similar that line looks to what was in the back of trimbles painting and even in the center . Do you see theres this line of tents and there in t center is some sort of raised structure in the middle. So clearly these two artists, were seeing that in describing the same thing. Well, then we went to the diaries and journals and letters of people who were actually present. And here a french officer whos writing, describing the color line of the American Camp bordered by a beautiful arbor decorated with design ins and coats of arms, very well executed that represented those different regiments. This is a rhode Island Soldier who talks about they were encamped in a single line with elegant bowers built before the tents. So whats a bower . Well, civil war photography is probab t clearest way to show that its simply creating a structure of samplings and greenery to provide shade. Remember, this is late summer, a march into this encampment at thend of august it was probably a lot of days like today. And thats what you want is shade. Whats fascinating is if you look through the orders during this period, theyre there from the end of august to the beginning of october. If any of you have cut brush in your yards, right . And you throw it out back. You notice that after what about, a week, those leaves of old withered and dried. About a week and a half after they construct this arbor, washington starts giving orders, saying, for the love of god, make sure the soldiers do not have any candles or open flame near this thing, or were going to have a big roman candle experience in all the tents of the army are going to burn up. I love when theres moments when you can sort of bring your personal experience of lawn care to the study history. But that was thats how we were then able to figure out what youre seeing in the background. Its not just lines of white tents, but there was this strange, you know, green haze floating over them. Well, theyre building these bowers. And then theres this description of these design lines. Well, most of them were just these non descriptive little high places. They looked like little boxes or something, except in one case we were able to make out a distinct shape where everybody venture to guess what theyre seeing. Theyre that shape and anchor. Were in the whaling museum, for goodness sakes. Yes, the anchor. And the anchor is the symbol of a state which is rhode island. That officer, that french officer whose quote that i read, by the way, this is a drawing he did a little watercolor in his diary of one of those rhode island regiment soldiers. W, this was a regiment that had large numbers of africanamerican, american, indian and mixed race men and several companies in 1781. And so thats an eyewitness image. And they had that anchor emblazoned on their cap. Itsn their buttons as well. And there it is on that armor as theyre representing themselves in the encampment. Now, this is not as weird as it sounds. You cangain, this is a practice that continues here is the 50th new york engineers in petersburg, virginia, during the civil war, doing similar sort of greenery exercises. Its amazing what u do when you have time in camp and you can do arts and crafts. Now this also, this ime helped us to understand some other descriptions that didnt make a lot of sense. When id read them without seeing this image. So, for instance, i want to just remind you, thiss the little cluster of tents that are below what were presuming is washingtons tent at the height and i interesting theres youll see three marquee tents. You can see the kind of vertical lines those are the seam lines from the roofs and then the two on the left have little shades, a little bauers in front of them and then this wonderful like triple arched veranda thats sticking out from the largest tent in the background there, which i presume to be washingtons dining ten if you remember, i mentioned he had his sleeping an office tent. He has this big meeting tent, and it helped to explain this, quote, this french officer who we we were noblemen, who was along with t army, who talks about a day when this review when the french and british army were were exercising for one anotr. He talks about an entertainment, meaning a dinner of more than 90 covers that were served with true military magnificence in the pretorian of the consul, for i rather express myself thus then by saying in the tent of the general, i guess he didnt feel that was his snobby. So this is actually a 1 to 1 record of whingtons dining tent. We didnt bring that alo this trip, but we also have a shingtons dining tent. Of and as you can see with those figures in there for scale, you cant imagine how 90 people could possibly be seated under the canvas. But if you think about that little extension there, theres probably the the answer to how this officer maybe wasnt exaggerating at the number of guests. So all these kind of details are coming together. Now, remember, the clock is ticking while were figuring this stuff all out and convincing, we got to go after this thing. So the one other piece of art that really cinched the deal for us was realizing that it was related to another watercolor. The one on the bottom here has actually been in the collection of the library of Congress Since the 1920s. And what youre seeing is looking from the east bank of the hudson across at the future site of the United States military academy at west point. Its a little bit more finished, a little bit more colored than the four planks point one. But it is also made by joining sheets of paper together, careful pen and ink and watercolor work. Ill show you a few details here anthink back to those images i showed you from scotland and england. Those camps means this is very much in that in vein of showing these little vignettes. In fact, some of the details in here are so good that it allowed us to precely date within probably a month of when this was done. If you see this on the left, you see this officer whos kind of indicating or pointing with a cane, and then soldier with his arms at attention next to him and if you look at his shoulder, there can you make out a chevron or upside down v on his slve in august of 1782, washington su an order for veteran continental soie who had served at least three years in the war. They were entitled to what he called the badge of merit. And so this was chevron they were able to wear as a badge of their long veteran status. And so we knew that even though library of congress had dated this to 1778, they thought this data to win west point was really beginning to be fortified. This tells us that this is done at the same time as that encampment at four planks point in 1782. Now that west point water color had been dated with a group of papers from. Another french officer, Pierre Charles long form. Now, you know, we all heard of long form plaza in washington, d. C. He long for came over as a young man, served as an engineer in the Continental Army. He was part of the group that founded the society the cincinnati. He actually designed badge of the society and the certificates. He, of course most famous for designing the the street layout for washington, d. C. , but long form fell into hard times. He did not receive as many of these veterans of the revolution and officers. They didnt necessarily receive great pensions. They often were owed back pay that they never received. Loan fund didnt receive most of the money that he was owed for this design work that he did. So he was quite impoverished in his late years and he basically became what was called a permanent houseguest. Anybody have any of those in their families, theyre of this man, Thomas Atwood diggs of basically lived the river from mount vernon in maryland and so in the 18 teens, 1820s, and hes living with the diggs family. When thomas diggs passes away, 1821, he goes to a nephew, William Dudley diggs. And this is an engraving of green hill. This is where Law Enforcement ultimately dies and is buried on dudley. William dudley diggs state and a lot of his papers then stayed with the family. So the grandson of William Dudley diggs is a man named James Dudley Morgan dies. In 1919, he became as a as a child, you know, hes hes raised by his grandfather. Hes has these stories about long form, this eccentric frenchman who had served with George Washington becomes very interested in animator goodbye. This story kind of pulls a lot of these long form papers together. He ultimately donates that watercolor in these papers. He also arranged this for long for his body to be disinterred and moved to arlington cemetery. And so there you see him. In 1909, ironically, im getting ahead of myself. But the same year the tent comes into the possession of our organization and the house you see in the background. Were going to talk more about in a minute. But that is the custis lee, home of of arlington that you all know so well. And we are just yards from the tomb of the unknown soldier there for those of you who know arlington. But this was all important. This seems like a seems like a distraction. But at the very bottom of that auction record was this. Notice here at the pan watercolors were found among the papers of thomas diggs of maryland. And that showed us that, in fact this came from the same batch of family papers that this other batch of long form material. So we convinced ourselves in these two weeks, 14 days, we worked through the weekends that this was George Washingtons tent, that it was four planks point, that it was by Pierre Charles Charles De Gaulle fault, that it was related to this west int watercolor. And therefore, we have got to get this. So the next challenge is you have to pick up the phone and call people and try to figure out what is this thing going to bring. Because surely other people are gonna figure this out. How important this object is. So, bill and laura, i dont know if we called you, but we might have called you. We were calling friends of the museums, you know. Will you help us if were if were successful in this auction . And i actually have an actual photograph of myself at the moment that the watercolor was sent. And i want to thank my wife, donna, in the back, who took this picture i was floating in hot spring in iceland at the ecise moment we had to hike three mit ti we got back to cell service. And then i got the i got the text from our chief of story and phil mead, who said we got it. And then i was like, oh, how much . And there were only two bids. And i think the hammer was. Like 12,500 for this incredible piece. That was surely missing missing zeros. Ive since talked to a couple of significant archives and one clerk at the society, the cincinnati and no one basically got past that first image of just seeing this kind of muddy looking watercolor and dug into the into the story. So here it is actually. When it arrived. Thats phil mead and i taking a look at it this was there was a New York Times photographer there and literally while were standing there, the conservator mentioned to us, she said, oh, did i mention that theres some writing on the back, the watercolor . No. And so there and thats a little hard to make out. But what youre seeing is verb plank, point camp. And whats remarkable is it is unmistakably in the hand of pierre laffont. So we were able to nail it down, get the whole story together. We conserved them, we had it. We did a little exhibition, if youre interested. We did a catalog of that exhibition called among his troops that is available on the website. And were hoping to bring of the story back out in a new exhibition that were going to do in 2024. So why does any of this matter . Theres our french officer. Weve been reading quotes from from the regiment, royal dupont, and he writes this letter about washington at four planks point. And this comes all the way back to that first letter from the new york provincial council. And when we took up the citizen soldier, we did not lay the citizen. And remaining in the tent in the field, he wrote that washington was on the point of taking a house, meaning moving into a home for his headquarters when he decided to set an example to his soldiers by living in camp. And then he goes on to say, he is so much adored that even th foreigners who see this extraordinary man cannot resist. According him, their admiration and respect. Now think that spot that washington picked, the highest spot there, 8000 american soldiers, many of them have been in the field for three, five, seven years at this point. And the first thing they see when they crawl of their tents and those tents are all in a single row that are all facing that hilltop. Is general washington in his tent . And its the last thing they see if they look over their shoulder as theyre crawling in to their to their crowded tents in the evening. And that power that comes from remaining in the tented field gives washington the ability to diffuse one of the first great challenges that faces the republic. And that is this dangerous moment at the end of every revolution of demobilizing an army. So these are two images that i like to juxtapose. Were all used to seeing those photographs of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and 1865. Right. And that is half the time that George Washington remained in the tented field. And even though these are artist portraits, i think you can really see the transformation, the physical toll that it took, perhaps not in his weight, but certainly in his face of remaining in the field. I mean, look in those eyes, this is a portrait that washington sat for, for the american artist joseph in november of 1783. So at the very last encampment of the Continental Army in new jersey, this is in rocky hill, new jersey, now, just a few months earlier in march of 1783, a group of Continental Army officers in newburgh, new york, came together. They were dissatisfied with how congress was treating them. They felt they had not been provided for. They had ventured their lives. They had ventured their fortunes. They had suffered wounds. They had no prospect of any kind of pensions, any kind of half pay after the war. And they were contemplating things like, well, maybe well just march to the west and let the british and new york march to philadelphia, maybe will march on congress, maybe we will make washington a king or some sort of ruler. So these ideas, these very dangerous ideas are out there and they gather together in washington, gets wind that theyre going to come together for this really illegal meeting where they are breaking the bonds of what military men should be talking about relative to civilian control of the military. And thats when he gives a prepared speech and the original in his hands survives at the massachusetts historical society. I had the great pleasure years ago standing with David Mccullough and holding that original newburgh address in my hands, which was absolutely incredible. But washington folds up that speech, and he says to the man that he had just received a letter from congress that he was going to read to them that was addressing some of their concern. And he takes a pair of spectacles out of his pocket. And it may have been the greatest piece of theater in american history, because none of those men you know, they didnt get to go in the tent. They didnt see his eyesight failing. And he puts these spectacles on and he says, uh, ive never left your side one moment. But when called from you on public duty right, ive been the Constant Companion and witness of your distresses. Hes evoking being in the tented field. And then he goes on and says, i have not only grown gray, but almost blind in the service of my country. And i like to think that men who had literally charged into the mouths of cannons all sat there and wept. And he brought that room down and saved the republic from this terrible danger. Then you all know the story after he sits for that portrait in new jersey, he marches to annapolis. This is where congress is meeting. Why is congress in annapolis . Not because its nice in the fall. And the oysters are better. Its because philadelphia is considered so dangerous. There are literally Continental Army soldiers like marching around with bayonets saying, we want to see our congressmen some things dont change over time, right. And so congress to be to be safer has moved down to annapolis. And this is a painting that John Trumbull does later, ofou that same commission to congress, which is, of course, the act that george the third to ask, famously asked benjamin west, thamican pnter, you know, what will washington do at the end of the war . Llhell go back to his farm. He says if he does that, hell be the greatest man in history. Now, the story of the tent, then the tent returns to mount vernon with washington. Its put in storage right near the storehouse, right near the mansion house. This is an image of the next generation and of its of its a journey on the far right hand side. The African American figure you see is believed, to be frank, that is william leaves. So the younger brother and frank acted as the kind of steward of the house at mount vernon. His sons. So william lees, nephew in the 19th century, becomes the caretaker of washingtons tent. So this is a story that has the involvement of many hands. But the little boy on the left, this is Martha Washingtons natural grandson and the adopted grandson and son of George Washington, George Washington park, custos will be the one who ultimately inherits the tent. Theres the storehouse at mt. Vernon, where we know it was stored until washingtons death in 1799, when Martha Washington dies in 1802, George Washington park custis. Here he is painted around the time of the war of 1812, purchases a lot of the furnishings, a lot of the objects from mount vernon, including washingtons field equipment and his tents, and takes them to the home that he builds called arlington on a height overlooking the new federal city, theres a watercolor from the early 19th century course. This is a bit of a neer do well and hes definitely traded on having a really, really famous adopt it grandpa. And so a lot of what he does in the early so the First Quarter of the 19th century is use earlier today as a place to showcase his connection to mount vernon to display these portraits the silver, the objects of the washing and family. He writes anecdotes about George Washingtons tent. You see a few of them here in print. He i artists. He invites antiquarians to come. Ths an engraving done by the famous Benson Lawson thats showing washingtons in their in their duffel bags, essentially with the poles that were displayed in the 1840s at arlington. So there he is shortly before his death, photographed by matthew brady, his daughter mary and Randolph Custis marries the man. Who graduated first in his class from west point. Robert edward lee. Here he is in his blue uniform. As my colleague Hannah Belcher here in the audience likes to say. In 1861, robert ely got a new job and that required him to leave his home of arlington house. And heres a photograph with it, because its being occupied wide by federal troops on the strategic height overlooking washington. Now, many of the washington relics, the paintings, the silver were taken away. But the things they couldnt take away, including washingtons tent. Martha washingtons china, washingtons field headquarters. Tents were packed away in. The basement and the key was entrusted to the woman on e right, selina gray, who was a mrs. Robertdward lees servant. And rtf the steward of the house. While the soldiers start breaking in because soldiers like souvenirs, right . One actually breaks in and cuts a piece of the tent roof for a souvenir, starts taking books out of storage. And so she wants to be really saved of the responsibility and turns the key over to the union commander. Hes in profile sliright of center mcdowell and he orders that those objects or allows objects to be taken into washington where theyre displayed in the patent office. Now, of course, National Portrait gallery. They remain in sort of federal custody, even though the lee family claims their ownership all through the end of the 19th century, their loan, philadelphia, theyre sent for the centennial. Hes an image probably of the dining tent on display during the centennial exhibition. Its not till 1901 tt president mckinley finally returns these items to the lee family, and shortly thereafter theyre taken out of the smithsonian. This is in front of the old brick castle there at the smithsonian. E nts were taken out, set up and photographed maybe 1900 in 1905. Youre looking in the end entrance of the dining tent, the sleeping in office tent, the First Oval Office yose often the background. Theyve just got the roof of it up. And if you can make out the fellow in the straw bowler cap, thats sthsonian curator whos actually cooking with washingtons original mess ki which is definitely frowned upon by curators and conrvator orders today. But that sort of brings us full scale speed. Then back to that moment where mary custis lee, the last surviving child, decides has a responsibility to care for the widows of the men who ser under her father during the war. And so the confederate widows home is being constructed callwhere the Virginia Museum of Natural History is today in richmond. D shecid that shes going to put up for sale. Washington owns two tents that have survived to raise 10,000 to endow this widows home. Heres a photograph of her and part of that article, that interview with her, she said that she wanted Independence Hall in philadelphia to be the proper place for them to be displayed. She hoped that the patriotic citizens of the city would purchase them by popular description. Now, that article published in 1906, comes to the attention of this man, the reverend w herbert burke, who was an episcopal priest in norristown, pennsylvania, just west of philadelphia. He had a dream to build a chapel dedicated to George Washington at valley forge, and itctually survived to the present day. The washington memorial chapel. And he also hoped to build a museum of american there. So burke persuaded some wealthy philadelphians to put a down payment of 500 on on the tent in august of 1909. He takes the train to washington, d. C. He brings it to valley forge. He places it on display in that building. He does what we do as Museum Directors today. They have a souvenir postcard made that they would sell to try to raise funds. They actually set up the tent out in the snow at valley forge. Again, not not condoned by curators today. It was they had a special case built for it. Now, of course, its large that they couldnset it up fully indoors. There you see it in the case that burke had constructed, theres an original surviving ticket from the collection. 0. 15 to go see the tent. And we actually have the original visitor book. Its woerl. The painter, howard pyle. We know the day that he visited and he actually did a little remark of a George Washington figure in the side of the book, just another image there. And if you see the framed piece thats on the end there, that is actually George Washingtons original commander in chief. Standard. That was another piece that came in the end of the collection. Thats still part of the collection here at the museum. During the 1970s, it was loaned to the National Park service. Some of you may remember visiting valley forge around the bicentennial or into the early 1990s. And thats an image of the tent set up and on display there at the park service. But it wasnt until the Museum Opened then in 2017 that the collection and tent had a permanent location. And here is just to give you a few images of this, of the the experience you come into a small theater. We basically tell a version, the story that ive just spent time telling you here, because the first thing people would ask me for years when i was giving talks like this is how do you know its George Washingtons tent . And so you have to kind of take you through the whole story of Martha Washington and George Washington, per us and arlington and lafayette and down the line. So you get a sense of that through a very dramatic presentation. This is the moment every time i can if you listen carefully, youll hear people go, oh, i didnt know that. You know, the connection to robert e lee and mary cautiously, you can see we start to bring up a screen and have a scrim and to dramatically begin to reveal the tent. Its a its a real object theater, a kind of present nation. And then it comes into its full glory. You can imagine theres a theres a soundtrack that just puts the hair on the back of your neck on end. We take you through different seasons, different settings. Thats my shadow playing George Washington, walking back on the wall there. And its an extraordinary experience, really a signature experience for the museum. I just want to end with just a few images to just you a sense of the because many of you have not visited the museum. Thats just of course, one separate experience. We have a 16,000 square foot core exhibition and this is the way you come up. You recognize that painting at the top of the stair. Thats washington and rochambeau at the french officers at yorktown and a copy of a painting that hangs at versailles. Um, and you go up on the second floor, i call it a movie you can walk through because we really tried to create a very immersive experience of the founding of the nation. So some areas are very artifact rich. Theres about 500 works of art and objects. We do lots of rotations. There were refreshing the stories that we tell. We use media in certain ways to animate d elore the stories of some of those objects. Were very big on immersive spaces, so massachusetts gets its due with the liberty tree here. Theres actually a piece of the last surviving liberty tree. Thats actual wood from, a berty tree that stood on the grounds of whats now St Johns College in annapolismaland, and blew down in a hurricane in 1799. And someone donated a board and i thout,hat are we going to do with this . And then we came up with this idea to make it a touchable element. And i think kids respd that better than the touch screens, to be honest. Its absolutely fabulous. So a lot of tactile, interactive. This is a gallery were talking about the declaration of independence. Yes, we have a privateers, a board that we use as a as a programing space. Right in the gallery. So when our School Groups are coming through, were not busing themrom the classroom room to another classroom. Theyre actually going and learning in the galleries here, a real emphasis on group learning, on intergenerational learning, interactivity, kind of the final experience you have. And its really quite shocking to people, not the least of which was ken burns, because i took him through a few years ago. Hes working on a ten part series about the about the American Revolution. And i got to this spot and he never thought there are actually photographs because. About 150 people who were alive, the revolutionary war, some of them were soldiers, some of them were children at the time. All of life and backgrounds actually into the age of photography. And so that war, you see, is about half of those photographs backlit very dramatically with little capsule biographies of these real people. And, you know, the magic of being able to look in the eyes, a person whos been photographed is worth a thousand. Im sorry, John Trumbull, a thousand. John trumbull paintings. And so our School Groups, they go through we have a program called their eyes where each kid is given a character card. At the beginning. And these are young people and theyre you know, my person was enslaved. My person was a soldier, my person was a quaker all back. And theyre sharing those stories each other as theyre going through and starting to form this kind of empathetic connection to a person. You know, what would my have thought about the declaration, independence or the washing out and crossing the delaware and the surprise is at the end is they get to that wall and every one of those characters is a re psoand i love standing down there and seeing these fifth graders who are trying to find their person and suddenly have seen the world through the eyes of a person different than themselves and the very thing is, we wanted me way to kind of have a strong message at the very end. So we just put different sized mirrors on the wall with the words meet the future of the American Revolution. And this is really the message the museum is that this is not just a story set long in the past. It may as well be orcs and wizards know who can really knows what happened a couple hundred years ago. Its really about getting them to see in the past, struggling with imperfect information and not knowing what the concept of their actions will be. Trying to deal with problems. Whether its individuals, whether its communities. And how did this system of government that we have arise out of this most unlikely of places and then understanding that the system only continues if people take up the challenge. And so we positioned those mirrors and you cakind of get indication of that if you look above those childrens heads when theyre looking at themselves, those mirrors, all those people are looking over their shoulders. And it is incredible. Can stand down there and have a conversation with these kids and ask them, you know, what do you think this means . D youll often s, well, are there is this is everyone equal today . Is everyone enjoy equality in them . No no, no. And are there problems that we need to solve and just a couple of weeks ago, i was down there and this great fifth grader was like he didnt know the word inflation, but he said things are really expensive. So, yes, you know and you know. Well, whos now theres no king. Right. So who whos responsible for solving those problems . And when they do this and point to themselves, you just go, oh. Message, message received. So just a last couple of images here. One of the other programs were really proud about is the citizenship initiative. So we use the muum. We some donors whve contributed to allow us to offer a free course for legal permant ridents who are studying to become naturalized citizens. You know, so many of those hundred questions are rooted in the founding era. And so we use the museum as, the sort of textbook you can walk through to teach them for the course weve had a couple hundred graduates of that program. We have, at last count, more than 20 new citizens who have now seen themselves as part of that story. I always ask them when we do, we just had a naturalization ceremony on july 1st, you know, and i always ask these new citizens to go down and take their pictures in front of those mirrors, because you are part of the story now. And so its something that really brings us a great deal of joy. Were also really about and you can probably get an indication of this from the tent art project there. We love arts and crafts. We like the tactile experience of engaging young people, not just computers. You know, for me, a screen is the last thing i want to do. Its really, how can i move the through touching sometng through a similar. And so actually ruth rai your the french and british flag so yeah we nine women who are into storic younoneedlework and textiles last year to do this trueors project so it was doing all the flags that would be carried aboard an american privateer ship. You know, they didnt just fly the betsy ross flag. You you would fly british if you thought you wouldnt encounter a british ship, you would fly a portuguese, spanish. You try to slip around. And the only rule you could not fire at the enemy until you had shown your true. Flag or youd be treated as aan pirate. And so thats been a great a great project. Weve got gallery so lots of living history interpretation in galleries. We also do special. So right now liberty dawn troy on these paintings, the revolutionary war, don triana is probably the most renowned contemporary history artist, particularly specializing in early history. And the revolution is his sweet spot. This is the first time weve ever had a full retrospect of of his work, and thats at the museum labor day. And that is paired with about 50 original objects from his collection and other private collection. So a lot of things you wouldnt normally see on public display. Looking ahead to 2026, this, of course, is the 2 50 of the declaration independence. And were doing an exhibition called the declarations journey starting in 1776. But looking at what has been the impact of declaration on people through, a quarter millennium, 250 years of american history, how has it inspired people like Frederick Douglass and the suffragists and Abraham Lincoln all the way to dr. Martin luther king and people around the world to kind of shape the world that we live in. And finally, im probably the thing im most proud of is when the Museum Opened in 2017, we were number 438 of things to do in philadelphia. And this week we are number six ofhis to do in philadelphia that is a screen capture from tripadvisor caesar. Soe are shooting our way. To the top. Wereot sure how were going to knock eastern state penitentiary off the list there, but the philadelphia museum, the barnes hall, very solid choices with the museum of the American Revolution. Check out our website is a cover of our last annual report. Tons of information we have tons of digital programs. All of our evening programs like were doing here tonight, we do hybrids. You can zoom in from wherever you are. So if youre interested in becoming a member and kind of staying connected with us, but at the very least, please do come visit philadelphia, visit the museum. I id be shocked if you did not fall in love with us. Thank you all very much and book tv. Welcome, to the series and thank you. In 19 and for our journey for this exhibition at the president ial library and museum in the spectacular 29 billiondollar revenue and renovation it braided in the series will provide you special access the gallery some artifacts and stories inside rateef