But Washington’s understanding of the value of chaplains did not begin with the Revolutionary army. In fact, when he was a young soldier, George Washington found himself in disagreement with his employer, the governor of Virginia, over the issue of chaplains. The young man, only in his twenties, was earnestly seeking chaplains to be a built-in part of the army (at the time, it was the British Army). In theory, chaplains were to be a part of the army. But in practice, it didn’t seem to be working out that way. The young Colonel Washington penned a letter to the Royal Governor Robert Dinwiddie on September 23, 1756:
The want of a chaplain, I humbly conceive, reflects dishonor on the regiment, as all other officers are allowed. The gentlemen of the corps are sensible of this, and propose to support one at their private expense. But I think it would have a more graceful appearance were he appointed as others are.84
What is Washington saying here? That it reflected badly, in his humble opinion, that chaplains were a low priority to their army and were not there.
The Governor apparently took umbrage at the young man’s letter. So Washington wrote him back on November 9, 1756, in an I-was-misunderstood type of apology. He clarified:
As to a chaplain, if the government will grant a subsistence, we can readily get a person of merit to accept the place, without giving the commissary any trouble on the point.85
Colonel Washington clarified further in another letter to the Royal Governor, this one dated November 24, 1756:
When I spoke of a chaplain, it was in answer to yours. I had no person in view, though many have offered; and I only said if the country would provide subsistence, we could procure a chaplain, without thinking there was offense in expression.86
Washington had persisted in getting a chaplain to their regiment. The Royal Governor Dinwiddie declined his requests and was later recalled in any event. So on April 17, 1758, Colonel Washington wrote to the president of the Virginia Council:
The last Assembly, in their Supply Bill, provided for a chaplain to our regiment. On this subject I had often without any success applied to Governor Dinwiddie. I now flatter myself, that your honor will be pleased to appoint a sober, serious man for this duty. Common decency, Sir, in a camp calls for the services of a divine, which ought not to be dispensed with, although the world should be so uncharitable as to think us void of religion, and incapable of good instructions.87
Here was Washington, the young man, long before he became leader of an army that would be opposing the British Army, asserting his belief that the army needed chaplains—a view he never altered.
As leader of the U.S. Army, Washington continued to insist on chaplains for the military. On the ninth of July, 1776, the very day he received the Declaration of Independence, he issued the order we already quoted at the beginning of this section that established Regimental Chaplains in the army. Clearly, Washington operated with the understanding that his army could not win their contest without God’s help. Therefore, they had to honor him. Intertwined with the General’s goal that the troops hear the Declaration of Independence read aloud were his instructions about how chaplains—men of good character—were to serve in the army.
A CHAPLAIN SPECIALLY HONORED BY GENERAL WASHINGTON
In fact there was one Chaplain, Abiel Leonard from Connecticut, who was so respected by Washington that, as he transitioned in his duty, the General wrote to both honor him and to commend him to Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull.88 Later, Washington appointed Abiel Leonard to the rank of Regimental Chaplain to Col. Knox, who was one of Washington’s closest military friends.89 Washington heard Leonard preach on at least three occasions.90
What makes Chaplain Abiel Leonard particularly noteworthy is that he composed a prayer for the use of Washington’s Army. We include it as an appendix to our book, since it was not only a product of Washington’s esteemed chaplain, but it was also a published prayer that Washington had bound in his personal collection of pamphlets.91 Published in Cambridge in 1775, its title is “A prayer, composed for the benefit of the soldiery, in the American Army, to assist them in their private devotions; and recommended to their particular use” by Abiel Leonard, A.M., Chaplain to General Putnam’s Regiment in said army.
The Christian character of this prayer, as well as its compatibility with the concerns of General Washington, can be seen by the following selections from the prayer:
O my God, in obedience to the call of thy providence, I have engaged myself, and plighted my faith, to jeopardy my life in the high places of the field in the defense of my dear country and the liberties of it acknowledging thy people to be my people, their interest my interest, and their God to be my God..... And I desire now to make a solemn dedication of myself to thee in it through Jesus Christ presenting myself to thy Divine Majesty to be disposed of by thee to thy glory and the good of America. O do thou, I most fervently entreat, wash away mine iniquities, blot them out of thy remembrance, purify and cleanse my soul in the blood of the great Captain of my salvation—accept of—own and bless me!
Teach, I pray thee, my hands to war, and my fingers to fight in the defense of America, and the rights and liberties of it! Impress upon my mind a true sense of my duty, and the obligation I am under to my country!...but may I live to do further service to my country—to the church and the people of God, and interest of Jesus Christ, and see peace and tranquility restored to this land....
Hear me, O my God, and accept of those my petitions through Jesus Christ, to whom with thee, O Father, and the Holy Spirit, one God, be glory, honor and praise, forever and ever. AMEN.92
Only a devout Christian could find the ministrations of such a chaplain to be worthy of special commendation to his governor, who also happened to be a clergyman. If Washington was not a devout Christian, then he was not only a remarkable actor, but also a most accommodating Deist, given how well, how often, and how openly he played the role of an interested Christian. Of this much we can be certain, since there is simply no escaping the evidence—Christian chaplains were important to George Washington. Even as president, Washington continued to appoint Christian chaplains to serve in the US Army under the new Constitution.93
A SERMON PUBLISHED FOR THE ARMY AND DISTRIBUTED FOR FREE
Chaplains not only pray, but they also preach. One of the remarkable sermons that comes from Washington’s collection is by Reverend Israel Evans, Chaplain to Brig. Gen. Maxwell of the Western Army.94 The title is “A discourse, delivered at Easton, on the 17th of October, 1779, to the Officers and Soldiers of the Western Army, after their return from an expedition against the five nations of hostile Indians. Easton, October 18, 1779.” The officers of the Western Army voted to have it printed and “distributed amongst the federal Corps of the Army gratis.”95 Evans’ discourse was based on 2 Samuel 22:40, 50, “For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: them that rise up against me hast thou subdued under me.—Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen; and I will sing praises unto thy name.”
We cannot consider Evans’ extensive sermon at any length, yet there are passages in it worthy of notice, as they reveal the religious beliefs that were held by the chaplains and the commanding officers of the American Army. He provides a Christian perspective on the Revolutionary War (going on at the time he delivered his message), but also the French and Indian War from two decades earlier.
The first text explains their mission and honors the soldiers who confronted the dangers of fighting the Indian tribes in the wilderness, given the universal remembrance of Braddock’s disastrous defeat. The second passage explains the Gospel benefits of the soldiers’ expedition against the hostile enemies. Evans declared:
When the tyrant of Britain, not contented to expand his malignant wrath on our sea coasts, sent his emissaries to raise the savages of the wilderness to war, and to provoke them to break their faith with the United States of America; then our defenseless frontiers became the seat of savage fury, and hundreds of our countrymen bled, and hundreds of them suffered more than the tender ear can hear related, or the compassionate heart can endure....But this was a war, from which the boldest and bravest were ready to shrink, and they who had fought an army of regular veterans, dreaded the sudden and hidden attacks of the subtle and bloody savages....Who has resolution enough to expose himself to the secret ambuscade, and risk the unhappy fate of a General Braddock?...Public mercies demand public acknowledgements, and therefore our worthy General has seized this first opportunity for calling us together, to return our most grateful thanks to Almighty God, for the very signal support and success he has been pleased to grant us, during the expedition we have just finished....The pleasure that we shall meet with, when we once more see the illustrious CHIEF of the Armies of the United States, and obtain his approbation, for he knows your worth, will make you forget all your past dangers and toils, and make you pant for an opportunity to distinguish yourselves in his presence.
It is clear that the general and the chief were pleased with the soldiers’ successful mission. It is also evident that these same officers, inclusive of Washington, the Chief, had no objection to Chaplain Evans’ Christian understanding of the soldiers’ mission into the wilderness.
Before I close this Discourse, suffer me to remind you of other happy consequences of your success. You have opened a passage into the wilderness, where the Gospel has never yet been received....Churches shall rise there, and flourish when perhaps the truths of the Gospel shall be neglected on those eastern shores. For it cannot be supposed, that so large a part of this continent shall for ever continue the haunt of savages, and the dreary abodes of superstition and idolatry. As the Gospel, or Son of Righteousness has only glanced on the shores of this western world, and it is predicted of it, that it shall be universally propagated, it will probably like the Sun, travel to the western extremities of this continent. And when men from other nations, prompted by Liberty and love of the pure Gospel of truth, shall cross the ocean to this extensive empire, they will here find a safe asylum from persecution and tyranny. How honorable then must your employment appear, when considered in all those points of view. How happy to have been the instruments in the hand of God, for accomplishing so great a revolution, and extending the Kingdom of his Son so far. Liberty, and Religion shall have their wide dominion from the Atlantic through the great continent to the western ocean ....promoting the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, ...may you more especially be the partakers of all the benefits and happiness, with which Christ will crown his faithful and dutiful Subjects!
This passage is filled with the American post-millennial theology of the time, that viewed the Christianization of this new nation as a precursor to the second coming of Christ. It also reflects the seeds of America’s later idea of “manifest destiny”—the inexorable call of American settlers to occupy the entire North American continent from coast to coast. In another chapter, we will consider how the millennial hope was explicitly part of Washington’s personal faith as well.
THE SUFFERING SOLDIER OF CHARACTER AT VALLEY FORGE AND BEYOND
The spiritual strength of the army was necessary not only for confronting the impending assaults of the far stronger British Army, but also for enduring the sheer fatigue, exposure, and near starvation that would be part of the Army’s experience before victory was secured. Today, the very name Valley Forge implies heroic sacrifice and perseverance. George Washington described the sufferings of his men at Valley Forge to Virginia Congressman John Banister on April 21, 1778, after the long, brutal winter.
...for without arrogance, or the smallest deviation from truth it may be said, that no history, now extant, can furnish an instance of an Army’s suffering such uncommon hardships as ours have done, and bearing them with the same patience and Fortitude. To see Men without Cloathes to cover their nakedness, without Blankets to lay on, without Shoes, by which their Marches might be traced by the Blood from their feet, and almost as often without Provisions as with; Marching through frost and Snow, and at Christmas taking up their Winter Quarters within a day’s March of the enemy, without a House or Hut to cover them till they could be built and submitting to it without a murmur, is a mark of patience and obedience which in my opinion can scarce be paralleled.96
But the sufferings of the American soldiery, that Washington so poignantly described, had already begun before Valley Forge. Writing the summer before to a committee of Congress, composed of Philip Livingston, Elbridge Gerry, and George Clymer on July 19, 1777, Washington explained his men’s lack of food, soap, and clothing.
Gentn.: The little Notice I had of your coming to the Army, and the shortness of your Stay in Camp, will, more than probably, occasion the omission of many matters which of right, ought to be laid before you, and the interruption which my thoughts constantly meet, by a variety of occurrences must apologize for the crude, and indigested manner in which they are offered....
With respect to Food, considering we are in such an extensive and abundant Country, No Army was ever worse supplied than ours with many essential Articles of it. Our Soldiers, the greatest part of the last Campaign, and the whole of this, have scarcely tasted any kind of Vegitables, had but little Salt, and Vinegar, which would have been a tolerable Substitute for Vegitables, they have been in a great measures strangers to....Soap is another Article in great demand....I have no reason to accuse the Cloathier general of Inattention to his department, and therefore, as his Supplies are incompetent to the wants of the Army, I am to suppose his resources are unequal;... It is a maxim, which needs no illustration, that nothing can be of more importance in an Army than the Cloathing and feeding it well; on these, the health, comfort, and Spirits of Soldiers essentially depend, and it is a melancholy fact, that the American Army are miserably defective in both these respects; the distress the most of them are in, for want of Cloathing, is painful to humanity, dispiriting to themselves, and discouraging to every Officer. It makes every pretension to the preservation of cleanliness impossible, exposes them to a variety of disorders, and abates, or destroys that Military pride, without which nothing can be expected from any Army.97
Congress’ inability to meet these needs that were already evident in the summer meant that the sufferings of the coming winter at Valley Forge were inevitable.
At any rate, the profoundly patient, sacrificial, and ultimately loyal character that Washington had developed among his soldiers required a national character in return. Nothing less than gratitude and justice by Congress and the American people would be commensurate with such heroic sacrifice. Thus, Washington wrote to Theodorick Bland on April 4, 1783: “We have now a National character to establish; and it is of the utmost importance to stamp favourable impressions upon it; let justice then be one of its characteristics, and gratitude another.”98
Washington was concerned for many things as a General—food, soap, clothing, shelter, munitions, just payment for his men, and the blessings of heaven. As we contemplate Washington’s words and place them in his historical circumstances, it occurs to us that a man so concerned for righteousness in his army, and for military chaplains to lead his men in seeking the blessings of heaven, just might have been a praying man himself. We intend to consider the debate over Washington’s prayer at Valley Forge in a subsequent chapter, and when we do, we will further describe the magnitude of the sufferings of the neophyte American Army that shivered and starved in the frigid hills outside of British-occupied Philadelphia in that winter of despair in 1777-1778.
CONCLUSION
We close this chapter with an interesting contrast of Washington with Napoleon. This was made in 1932 on the bicentennial of Washington’s birth, by Noel Porter, Arch Deacon of California, when he wrote:
Finally Washington manifested the spirit of the Cross of Jesus Christ—the spirit of self sacrifice and unselfish service. During the time Washington lived there was another great general in the person of Napoleon. Napoleon was a great military genius, but Washington was a greater man. France can never repay Napoleon for rescuing her from the hands of the despoilers; yet while he waded through the seas of blood he thought only of a crown and a bauble for his son. Washington waded through blood and hunger and privation for his country’s sake and when it was done he asked no reward save to be left alone in his Virginia farm. Napoleon asked for a crown and received nothing; Washington asked for nothing and received a crown.99
A selfless soldier, committed to his calling, strategically minded, fearless in battle, concerned for the welfare of soldiers and civilians alike, trusting in the hand of Providence in all of these characteristics, Washington determined the ideal mold for generations of soldiers to come.
