ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY.

Are you a rabbit in search of a hole? Wikipedia has an article on “hand-in-waistcoat” that could be the beginning of weeks of compulsive rummaging in museum sites and image archives.

On this day in 1754, George Washington surrendered Fort Necessity to the French. This was the only surrender of his military career. In other unsuccessful battles, he simply ran away.

Readers in search of the true story of George Washington’s career will find something of interest in the Memoir of the Late George Washington by an Associate, edited by Dr. Boli. Whether what they find is the true story is up to them to decide.

. 2 comments.

Comments

  1. Von Hindenburg says:
    July 3, 2024 at 6:50 am

    Luckily, when you’re on the short end of a grinding, years-long asymmetric war, the wisdom to know when to pull out rather than make a glorious stand and the ability to hold an unsupported, dispirited army together through one retreat after another is just as, if not more important, than an ability to regularly win battles and take territory.

    One can imagine his thoughts at the Battle of the Monongahela, as he watched Braddock’s army come apart and mentally prepared himself to throw together a fighting retreat across the mountains.

    “Oh no! Not again!”

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  2. Von Hindenburg says:
    July 3, 2024 at 8:00 am

    That article was a fascinating rabbit hole. I’d long been under the impression that the arm-in-waistcoat pose was popularized by Napoleon because it helped with his ulcers during hours-long portrait sessions and by Nelson, whose empty sleeve was pinned up in such a manner.

    The article introduced me to the unfortunately named Union General Jefferson Columbus Davis and the Modoc War, neither of which I’d heard of before.

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