The White Way: The Commander-in-Chief, Tired From the Wars, Rides Home on Christmas Eve to a Festive Mount Vernon.. by Bradford, Ralph - 1955

Washington, DC: [Judd & Detweiler, Inc.], 1955. Second/Limited Edition. Hardcover. Good. 40 pages, boards somewhat worn. 1500 copies of this Second Edition have been printed. These are the imagined musings of George Washington as he rode from Annapolis to Mount Vernon on Christmas Eve, 1783, having resigned his commission as General of the Continental armies the day before at the Maryland State House. Bradford (1892-1981) was a lecturer, writer, and business organization consultant. His writings included poetry, fiction, and socio-economic essays Washington resigned as commander-in-chief once the Treaty of Paris was signed, and he planned to retire to Mount Vernon. The treaty was ratified in April 1783, and Hamilton's Congressional committee adapted the army for peacetime. Washington gave the Army's perspective to the committee in his Sentiments on a Peace Establishment. The Treaty was signed on September 3, 1783, and Great Britain officially recognized the independence of the United States. Washington then disbanded his army, giving an eloquent farewell address to his soldiers on November 2. On November 25, the British evacuated New York City, and Washington and Governor George Clinton took possession. After leading the Continental Army for 8½ years, Washington bade farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern in December 1783 and resigned his commission days later, refuting Loyalist predictions that he would not relinquish his military command. In a final appearance in uniform, he gave a statement to the Congress: "I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my official life, by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them, to his holy keeping." Washington's resignation was acclaimed at home and abroad and showed a skeptical world that the new republic would not degenerate into chaos. The same month, Washington was appointed president-general of the Society of the Cincinnati, a hereditary fraternity, and he served for the remainder of his life. Washington wrote: I am not only retired from all public employments but I am retiring within myself, and shall be able to view the solitary walk and tread the paths of private life with heartfelt satisfaction ... I will move gently down the stream of life, until I sleep with my fathers. George Washington Letter to Lafayette February 1, 1784. Washington was longing to return home after spending just ten days at Mount Vernon out of 8+1 2 years of war. He arrived on Christmas Eve, delighted to be "free of the bustle of a camp and the busy scenes of public life". He was a celebrity and was fêted during a visit to his mother at Fredericksburg in February 1784, and he received a constant stream of visitors wishing to pay their respects to him at Mount Vernon.