The Society of the Cincinnati

We all know that George Washington was President of the United States for eight years, from 1789 to 1797.


Few remember, however, that he held another presidency twice as long. For the last sixteen years of his life, from 1783 until 1799, he was President of the Society of the Cincinnati. 


The Revolutionary War did not end abruptly with the defeat of Cornwallis at the Battle of Yorktown in October, 1781. Matters dragged along in a state of episodic conflict and general uncertainty about the outcome, while England and France quarreled about their remaining positions in North America, and John Jay maneuvered to extract for the thirteen colonies, now to be states, the most favorable possible terms. Washington did not officially declare the war at an end until April, 1783.


It was during this period that events led to the founding of the Society of the Cincinnati. The weak Continental Congress had no taxing power, and was unable to enforce its calls upon the states for funds. As a result the soldiers and particularly the officers had received little or none of their promised pay. Many officers came to feel they could achieve their rights only by force of arms. Their resentment was fanned particularly by General Horatio Cates, who hoped at this late date to displace Washington as Commander in Chief.


At a meeting of officers called by the conspirators at the winter camp at Newburgh, New York, on March 15,1783, Washington famously appeared, and appealed successfully to the patriotism of the officers, effectively quashing with one dramatic address a potential military coup. On April 19, the eighth anniversary of the Battle of Concord, Washington proclaimed the cessation of hostilities, and that same month General Henry Knox was organizing the plan for a Society of the Cincinnati. Cincinnatus was the Roman hero called from his farm to save the republic, who after victory returned to his farm and his plow, disdaining the power he might have seized. The American officers thought of themselves as so many Cincinnati, “beating their swords into plowshares.”


The stated goals of the Society were preservation of the liberties for which the members had fought, charitable help to needy officers or their families, and maintenance of their mutual friendship. A very real, if unstated, goal was to work through political, rather than military means, to secure the promised back pay. For years Knox had thought about such a society, and even its insignia. Now it was Pierre L’Enfant, much later famous as the planner of the city of Washington, who was entrusted with the task of designing the insignia and having the first ones made in Paris.


The goal of caring for widows and orphans of deceased officers and helping those who had been impoverished by the war involved allowing sons of deceased members to become members. This led people like Jefferson, who had never gone to war, to oppose the Society as the beginning of an hereditary nobility. Washington’s overwhelming objective, that the officers proceed by peaceful political means to seek their rights, led him, although very reluctantly, to accept the presidency of the new organization. Once involved, he could never extricate himself. His leadership, however, was probably responsible for the existence and survival of the Society. 


As the years passed and Revolutionary officers died one by one, the Society began to fade away. It is a federation of thirteen state societies, one in each of the thirteen original states. In addition a French society is made up of officers of Rochambeau’s army and the French Navy at Yorktown. Early in the nineteenth century many of these fourteen societies faded into more or less complete desuetude, but enough survived that when interest began to return in the mid-century, it was a matter of revival, rather than complete reconstitution of the organization. 


Today, the Society, made up of descendants of the Revolutionary officers, is flourishing, with several thousand members and a magnificent mansion in Washington, the legacy of a member, Larz Anderson. He build Anderson House as a home, but with this disposition in mind. The building not only serves as a headquarters and meeting place, but also houses a museum and a magnificent research library concentrating on eighteenth century military history, particularly our Revolution. 


The insignia, has a depiction of Cincinnatus with his plow and the motto, “He gave up all to serve the republic.”


John A. Washington

Published in 2006

Washington Words

George Washington's Farm

By George Washington's Mount Vernon • November 8, 2023
Learn from George Washington about the farming techniques he uses to yield prosperous crops each year and hear from Priscilla, an enslaved farm worker, about a typical workday at Dogue Run Farm.

We are here Lafayette

By James Westlake • April 2, 2023
General John Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Force in France, spoke these words through an interpreter on July 4, 1917 as the United States joined the Allies to end the bloody stalemate that World War I had become. He honored the outstanding service that the Marquis de Lafayette gave to America during the Revolutionary War. Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, came to America with his friend, Baron Johan de Kalb, with documents from Silas Deane recommending commissions for the two men. Lafayette was not yet 20 years of age. He traveled to Philadelphia to present himself to the Continental Congress and to meet General Washington. From the beginning a close friendship developed between the two men that lasted until the General died in 1799. Lafayette served with exemplary patriotism and zeal at Brandywine, and sojourned with the army at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777. He received commendation from the Congress for his service and valor in battles around Rhode Island. When he requested to be allowed to return to France to seek aid for America he was granted leave to do so. Lafayette was sent to Virginia to work with Von Steuben. The South became the theater of operations. The battles of Kettle Creek in Georgia, Kings Mountain and Cowpens in South Carolina, Guilford Courthouse in North Carolina, along with skirmishes at the Dan River, resulted in maneuvering General Cornwallis into Yorktown, Virginia. American and French troops laid a siege that ended in the British surrender on October 19, 1781. The French Navy also contributed to the success of the battle by ringing the area of Yorktown and preventing reinforcement or escape. This was, for all intents and purposes, the end of the War for Independence. Lafayette returned to France carrying a letter of appreciation from Washington which said, “I owe it to your friendship and to my affectionate regard for you, my dear Marquis, not to let you leave this country without carrying with you fresh marks of my attachment to you, and new expressions of the high sense I entertain of your military conduct and other important services in the course of the last campaign, although the latter are too well known to need the testimony of my approbation.” The Marquis left America in December of 1781 and was received as a hero in France, which was still ruled by the king. When Louis XVI was deposed, the French Revolution became a class struggle with the nobility being persecuted and many executed, and their possessions seized in the name of the Revolution. Lafayette was hard pressed to save his immediate family and did lose his estate, called La Grange, until 1797, when he was released from a five year imprisonment in Austria. He was then able to return and reclaim his estate. In 1825, he was invited to visit the United States, and thus began a tour of this country where accolades were showered upon him as a hero. In Fredricksburg, Virginia, he was greeted by Mayor Robert Lewis, son of Fielding Lewis and his wife, Betty Washington Lewis, sister of the General. The Washingtons and the Marquis were again joined in that encounter. Lafayette visited many towns and cities. In the aftermath of his visit, many towns, counties, roads and other monuments were named for him. Lafayette came to Savannah on March 19, 1825. The lavish hospitality showered upon Washington was again shown to the Marquis. Banquets and a great parade were given for him. He stayed at the Owen-Thomas House and viewed the parade given in his honor from the balcony of that home. He dedicated anew the monument to General Nathaniel Greene, who was a good friend and Commanding General under whom he served in the South. Lafayette had spent $200,000 or more in his service to the Colonies in the Revolution. Congress eventually repaid him with two checks, one for $120,000 which is now in the museum at Valley Forge, and the second for $80,000. The Marquis died in France in 1834. To the end he spoke out for liberty and representative government. His great service to America will be remembered in our history for all times.

James Madison's Birthday Wreath Laying Ceremony

By Linda Horstmyer • April 2, 2023
As a member of the NSWFD and a member of the National Society of Madison Family Descendants (President Madison is my 1st cousin 8 x removed) it gives me great pleasure to participate in President Madison's Birthday Wreath Laying Ceremony by way of coordinating the delivery of a wreath on behalf of the NSWFD. George Washington and James Madison were contemporaries even though there is nearly twenty-years age difference between them. Both worked together toward independence in their own way. While George led the Continental Army, James devoted his efforts to government. When the Articles of Confederation proved unworkable, he was older, more experienced, and lent his expertise to developing a new plan for government. During this time, they had a good working relationship. Prior to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, George was reluctant to attend. It was James who knew that the States would send their best representatives if General George Washington was part of the Virginia Delegation. He persisted until finally, a little more than a month before the convention was to begin, Washington yielded and said that he would attend[1] George Washington and James Madison’s working relationship developed to the point that they began to rely on one another for consultation and advice. James Madison visited Mount Vernon on his way back from Congress to the Convention in Richmond, at which he was to defend the Constitution against such veteran politicians as Patrick Henry, George Mason, and William Grayson. No doubt he would be in for a difficult task as he was an unspectacular speaker. So, they most likely mapped out a course of argument.[2] In Richmond, the summer heat and illness negatively affected James and even though he was eventually successful, the effort wore him down. George wrote to James and invited him to Mount Vernon to recuperate before returning to Congress in New York. George recommended “Moderate exercise, and books occasionally, with your mind unbent will be your best restoratives.” James arrived on the 4th of July and stayed until the7th.[3] This type of consultation and advice relationship continued until James had been drawn away from him into the Jeffersonian circle.[4] After the death of President George Washington, James Madison reflected on his years as the nation’s first president and listed his attributes as “remarkable prudence,” “love of justice,” “fortitude,” and “the advantage of a stature and figure, which however insignificant when separated from greatness of character, do not fail when combined with it to aid the attraction.” James Madison’s estimation was that he had in full measure a trait that he had long admired, “a modest dignity,” which “at once commanded the highest respect and inspired the purest attachment”.[5] [1] Lynne Cheney, James Madison A Life Reconsidered, (Penguin Group, NY,NY, 2014), pg. 120. [2] Elswyth Thane, Potomac Squire, ( Duell, Sloan and Pearce, NY,NY, 1963), pg. 283. [3] Ibid, pg. 284. [4] Ibid, pg. 351. [5] Cheney, Madison, 281-283.

Washingtons & Lees

By Linda Horstmyer • March 29, 2023
George Washington and Robert E. Lee were only very remotely related to each other, if we define “related” as sharing descent from some known common ancestor, so as to make them cousins in some degree. Their nearest known common ancestor was Augustine Warner (1611-1674), from whom Washington descended in four generations and Lee in six. Thus, they were third cousins, twice removed, and one can be certain neither knew or would have been interested in such a remote tie. They were, however, “connected” genealogically, as the old Virginia ladies would have expressed it. The connection can be described by saying George Washington was the step-great-grandfather-in-law of Robert E. Lee, if such a phrase conveys any meaning at all. Taken one by one, the individual links in the chain are not unfamiliar. George Washington (1732-1799) married a young widow, Martha Dandridge Custis (1731-1802), widow of Daniel Parke Custis (1710-1757). While they had no children, Martha, by her first marriage had had two children who survived infancy, Martha (1756:1757-1773), who was called Patsy, and John Parke Custis (1754-1781). Patsy had epilepsy and died at seventeen, but Jackie, George Washington’s stepson, grew up and married Eleanor Calvert (1757-1811). When he died of camp fever at Yorktown in 1781, he left three daughters and an infant son with the impressive name of George Washington Parke Custis (1781-1857). Martha was now childless, so when Eleanor Calvery Custis soon remarried Dr. David Stuart, she allowed Martha to keep and raise the two youngest grandchildren, Nellie (1779-1852), and George Washington Parke Custis. Brought up at Mt. Vernon by his grandmother and by her husband, his step-grandfather George Washington, Wash Custis, as he was sometimes called when a child, grew up to be almost excessively devoted to the memory of “the Chief”, as he liked to refer to General Washington, and he thought of and spoke of himself as “the child of Mt. Vernon.” He built the house called Arlington, which still looks down on the city of Washington, where he occupied himself with agricultural fairs, painted huge historic paintings, gave dramatic performances, and guarded memorabilia. Custis and his wife, Mary Lee Fitzhugh, had four children, but only one survived early childhood, a daughter, Mary Ann Randolph Custis (1807-1873), who was thus a great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, and so, I suppose, can be called a step-great-granddaughter of George Washington. She grew up to marry a young army Lieutenant named Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), and I will then, until corrected, call Lee a step-great-grandson-in-law of George Washington. Lee’s father, Maj. Gen. Henry Lee (1756-1818), nicknamed Lighthorse Harry, had been a favorite young officer in George Washington’s army, and Robert E. Lee revered Washington as deeply as his father had. It was the father, Lighthorse Harry, who first used the words, “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen,” in a eulogy after Washington’s death. In his will George Washington confirmed a gift he had made to a struggling school in Lexington called Liberty Academy. This was a large block of stock in the James River Company, which had been given to him in gratitude for his public services, and which he was willing to accept only with the understanding that he would in turn give it to some worthy cause. For many years this was the only endowment the institution had, and in gratitude the trustees renamed the academy Washington College. When the College reopened after the war in 1865, it scored a great coup by persuading General Lee to become President and manage its rebirth. On his death, it is no surprise that the name became Washington & Lee. So it is that, while George and Martha Washington’s remains rest at Mt. Vernon, General Lee and many of his family lie at the Lee Chapel at Washington and Lee University. The Washingtons and Lees, from the middle of the sixteen hundreds, were neighbors in the Northern Neck in Westmoreland. There were not as many intermarriages between the two families as one might expect, but doubtless many connections, if not relationships, could with sufficient diligence be teased out of the genealogical webs of these two numerous clans. One obvious example can be noted. Of the nine children of Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794), two daughters and a son married two nephews and a niece of George Washington. John A. Washington Published 2006 Washington Words