At 11 p.m. on Christmas Day, 1776, George Washington and some of his troops boarded boats and crossed the ice-choked Delaware River to launch an attack on roughly 1,400 Hessian soldiers quartered at Trenton, New Jersey. Rain, sleet, and snow lashed the Americans, and a nor’easter buffeted them with fierce winds. Three hours behind schedule, and lacking the full complement of his troops, Washington marched his men 10 miles to Trenton, attacked the sleeping Hessians, and won an overwhelming victory, one of minor strategic importance but which delivered a huge boost to American morale.
Few of us would choose to spend Christmas beset by such suffering and foul weather, yet Washington’s choice of the day itself provided a tactical advantage to the Americans. The Hessians were mostly Lutherans and Catholics, accustomed to celebrating Christmas with food and drink. The Americans were mostly Protestants who abjured those celebrations. To them, Christmas was just a day like any other, and they caught their enemy off-guard and sleeping.
Winter Holiday Trials
In “George Washington at Christmas,” the curators of Mount Vernon report some of Washington’s other holiday experiences. On Christmas Eve, 1740, for example, the Washington home near Virginia’s Fredericksburg burned, and 8-year-old George and his family spent an unpleasant Christmas Day in an unattached kitchen. Thirteen years later, serving with the Virginia militia on that state’s western frontier, he and other troops found themselves on Christmas Eve at a place called Murdering Town, where they skirmished with Indian allies of the French. In the winter of 1777 to 1778, Washington and his army wintered at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, which remains famous in our history for the sickness, frigid weather, and death that afflicted that company.
In October 1781, Washington’s forces defeated Lord Cornwallis and his army at Yorktown, but a Christmas which should have been filled with joy was marred by the death of Martha Washington’s son from a previous marriage, 26-year-old John Parke Custis. “Jacky,” as he was called, caught the fever prevalent at Yorktown and died in early November.
Throughout the war, Martha spent a part of each winter with her husband in camp, running the household, entertaining visitors and officers, and lifting the morale of the entire army. These reunions of husband and wife ran from February to June, thereby omitting the Christmas season. Yet whenever they were together at Christmas, whether in New York or Philadelphia while Washington was serving as president or at their beloved home of Mount Vernon, George and Martha celebrated the day and the season. Like so many Virginia planters, they were Anglicans, a church which, unlike its more austere Protestant cousins, had not abandoned its pre-Reformation Yuletide customs.
18th-Century Celebrations
We should bear in mind that an 18th-century Christmas in America was a much more subdued affair than it is today. Decorated trees, Santa Claus, the lavish gift-buying, holiday cards, secular songs, stockings hung by the chimney—these were innovations of the next two centuries. And unlike today, the holiday festivities came not before Christmas, but during the 12 days from Christmas Day to Epiphany. In fact, Martha and George deliberately selected January 6, Epiphany itself, or as some called it, Twelfth Night, for their wedding, to take advantage of the balls, banquets, and parties that traditionally marked that day.
When at Mount Vernon, Washington often spent the holiday fox hunting, entertaining visitors, and writing letters. Though normally a man who kept careful track of his money, in 1787 Washington paid a man 18 shillings to bring a camel to Mount Vernon, where a number of guests had arrived for Christmas. Today, the Mount Vernon staff still bring a “Christmas Camel” to the estate during the holidays.
Both as president and as private citizen, George, along with his wife Martha, invited friends and relatives to join them for the 12 days of Christmas. They loved dance, music, and parties, all of which were embellished by Martha playing the hostess and overseeing the preparation of food and drink. Customary beverages served up for guests would have included a wintertime staple, eggnog made robust with liquor, and the brandy-laced “cherry bounce,” which was George’s particular favorite. Dinners typically consisted of such foods as oysters, herring or rockfish, beef or ham, preserved fruits and vegetables, and pies, pastries, and nuts.
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One popular culinary centerpiece for Christmas at the Washingtons was Yorkshire Christmas Pie. Using a recipe from Hannah Glasse’s “The Art of Cookery,” Martha and the kitchen help would have required hours to prepare these massive, ingredient-rich chicken and turkey dishes. In 1786, one of Washington’s former wartime aides, David Humphreys, wrote that he regretted being unable to join the party at Mount Vernon and “not have the felicity of eating Christmas Pie.” Washington responded by noting they could have used Humphreys’s “aid in the Attack of Christmas Pyes … on which all the company … were hardly able to make an impression.”
“Unless some one pops in, unexpectedly,” wrote Washington in July 1797, “Mrs. Washington and myself will do what I believe has not been [done] within the last twenty years by us, that is to set down to dinner by ourselves.” In these words speaks a man appreciative of some time alone with his wife. He undoubtedly relished the Christmas of 1798 for the same reason, a relatively quiet occasion at Mount Vernon that he shared with Martha. George Washington died the following year, just 11 days before Christmas.
This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.
