These stories about George Washington seem to have come from the imagination of Rev. Mason Locke Weems in 1800. Yet the US put this scene on a postage stamp, and President Reagan called it the "most sublime picture in American history ... we must also seek help from God, our Father and Preserver." Is there any evidence that these events actually happened? Or are they pure fiction?
2007-03-13 08:33:53 · 7 answers · asked by fra59e 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
The cherry tree incident is almost certainly a legend. The prayer in the snow at Valley Forge, on the other hand, while probably legendary as well, at least has some hearsay testimony to back it up.
Scroll down to the part about the Rev. Nathaniel Randolph Snowden's diary:
http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/washington/prayer.html
http://www.nps.gov/archive/vafo/treese/treese1a.htm
2007-03-13 08:59:02 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A famous 1866 engraving depicts Washington praying at Valley Forge. In 1918, the Valley Forge Park Commission declined to erect a monument to the prayer because they could find no evidence that the event had occurred. In contrast, the Valley Forge Historical Society published an article in 1945 reviewing this issue and concludes that there is abundant evidence demonstrating that Washington was a prayerful and privately religious man although the second hand accounts of the tradition "lack ... the authentication with which the historian seeks to monument his recordings in all the solemnity of established fact.
He didn't cut the tree completely just hacked it up so badly he killed it, according to an eye witness, from the biography, The Life of George Washington by Parson Weems , 5th edition. He did directly interview people who had known George as a child.
P.S. he did not have wooden teeth they were made of bone or ivory
2007-03-13 08:49:49 · answer #2 · answered by Tapestry6 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
KJ: We arent God to return to a decision who decrease the cherry tree! DPM Najib Abdul Razak: i comprehend the tree however the tree wasnt mine. the photograph with me smiling next to the tree.. Ask Ginduras, he's familiar with, that only photoshop! Khir Toyo: Whoever decrease that cherry tree, im gonna gv him/her a latest. Penyapu. Saifool: Who 'decrease' my Tree? Yeah, i comprehend, the single speaking bout the DNA.
2016-09-30 21:10:50 · answer #3 · answered by riopel 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the cherry tree no. but kneeling in prayer at valley forge yes : )
2007-03-13 09:15:01 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Cherry Tree and he had wooden teeth
2007-03-13 08:41:31 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
does it really matter? it makes for a good story anyway.
2007-03-13 08:42:35 · answer #6 · answered by tomhale138 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
They are now considered by most historians to be fictitious.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/gw/gwmoral.html
2007-03-13 08:37:42 · answer #7 · answered by KCBA 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋