This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. This July 4th at Lowe's, get up to 45% off select major appliances. Plus, save $80 on a select Charbroil Performance Series gas grill.
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For details. I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people.
If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.
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Was his mobile headquarters, private office, and sleeping quarters during the Revolutionary War? The original 14 by 23 foot hand sewn marquee tent is now carefully preserved and permanently displayed. in Philadelphia. Here to tell the story is Ashley Lubinsky, a frequent contributor here on Our American Stories. Inside the Museum of the American Revolution, among artifacts that define the founding of the United States, there is an object that appears almost too fragile to carry the weight of that history.
It's made of a linen canvas. It's light and colored. Weathered and uneven in tone, and its surface is marked by creases that speak to repeated folding and transport. And when fully assembled, this structure forms an elongated oval that's approximately 14 feet wide and over 20 feet long. And it's supported by wooden poles and stabilized by a network of ropes and stakes.
Essentially, this item has no real embellishments to distinguish it as an object of status. And at first glance, you might think this is simply a tent, also known as a marquee tent. But instead of housing a wedding venue or an outside event, it is a symbol of American military and political history. This was not a shelter built for anonymity, it was actually a headquarters. The Continental Army, under the command of General Washington, was not a standing force with a stable infrastructure that we think of kind of with the military today.
Actually, when Washington took over, As commander of the army towards the beginning of the war, he basically encountered a hot mess and had to turn a bunch of young men that were not soldiers into soldiers and was massively, massively under-resourced. And the military was kind of a mobile unit that moved frequently in response to British operations.
So campaigns would stretch across multiple colonies, supply lines were definitely inconsistent, and the idea of a permanent headquarters was not really available. And in this environment, you see leadership not really being tied to a fixed location like you sometimes see today. Leadership traveled. With the man. And Washington's tents became kind of a portable command center that could be erected wherever the army halted and then dismantled just as quickly when it moved.
So earlier in the war, Washington used other tents. They were simpler tents, but by the winter of 1777 into 1778, during and after the encampment of Valley Forge, it became clear to Washington that something more durable and functional was necessary. And the marquee tent that survives today was designed to serve as both an office and a personal headquarters, separating kind of administration functions from the more informal spaces used for dining and social interaction. This tent had a bedchamber, it had a central office/slash meeting room, and a rear storage area that was also doubled as a servant's area. And within its canvas walls, Washington conducted the daily business of command.
So when he was drafting correspondence to Congress, issuing orders to officers, reviewing intelligence reports, and meeting with members of his staff, it was here in that tent that the strategy was shaped.
So not in isolation, but kind of in constant negotiation with the realities of the war with their supply shortages, massive issues often in troop morale, and the movement of British forces. What's interesting though about the structure of the tent is this elongated oval, and the oval form of the tent has led many people to describe it as the first oval office, which is a comparison that is not merely symbolic. Like its modern counterpart, the space functioned as a center of decision-making where military authority intersected with kind of broader political considerations. And Washington's role was not just limited to battlefield command, he was also responsible for maintaining the legitimacy of the continental cause, a lot of weight on his shoulders. And the tent, therefore, was not just that place of command, it was a space where the principles that would later define American executive leadership were tested in real time.
The physical characteristics of the tent kind of reflect the demands placed upon it. It was designed to be assembled and disassembled repeatedly and probably often quickly. The canvas had to withstand all kinds of weather, from summer heat to heavy rain to snow in the winter. And the structure had to remain stable under tension, so ropes and stakes were used to basically secure it against wind. Over the course of the war, this tent accompanied Washington through many campaigns, appearing wherever the Continental Army established its temporary lines.
And in this way, it became a constant in an otherwise shifting landscape, which is a recognizable center of authority that reinforced Washington's presence among his troops. After the war, the parts of the tent that survived did not immediately become a museum object. Instead, its pieces went to Mount Vernon during kind of a private preservation period in the tent's history, retained by the family of Martha Washington and then passed down through the Curtis and Lee families. And that's an important thing to note because this tent was used heavily during the Revolution, but it also had to survive through many wars after that, just in terms of preservation. And so when the tent initially transferred hands into kind of the museum world, there was a lot of conservation that was done around it.
There was a conservator named Virginia Whelan who dedicated more than 500 hours to conserving this tent. And she used a thread that was thinner than human hair in order to repair. the different parts of the tent that were Torn, or even just completely separated. And then they also use digital inkjet printers to recreate tiny amounts of new fabric to match the original. After the war, the pieces of the tent went to Mount Vernon and were retained by the family of Martha Washington.
But then there's this other little kind of Side history, which is that it ended up being passed down to General Robert E. Lee and his wife Mary Custis Lee. And they were the stewards of that tent for a long time. In May of 1861, Union troops actually occupied Arlington House, which was the home of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his wife.
And the Washington relics, including the tent, were found in the house and later taken to Washington, D.C. And for a time the federal government held on to the tent and they displayed it, and it was not until 1901, so long after Grant's presidency, that President McKinley ordered the relics returned to the Lee family. In 1909, the Lee family sold the tent to Reverend W. Herbert Burke for $5,000. And the reason that they sold it to him was to benefit the home for needy Confederate women.
And it eventually then became the centerpiece artifact at the Museum of the American Revolution. When you look back at military artifacts, You know that rifles, uniforms battlefield monuments often dominate the narrative. But this canvas structure represents something a little bit less visible, but equally or maybe more consequential. It marks the place where command was exercised not through permanence, but through presence. And where leadership was defined not by the strengths of walls, but by the ability to operate without them.
And where, long before there was a formal seat of executive power, there was a tent that was portable, fragile, and essential that held the army together. and with it, the possibility of a nation. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler. And a special thanks to Ashley Lubinsky. She's the former co-host of Discovery Channel's Master of Arms, and she's a frequent contributor here on Our American Stories.
And she's bringing us this object series, which will continue with many more fascinating stories like this one, George Washington's Wartent. And it's so emblematic of Washington himself and how he held the nation together. He was the authority. He did give legitimacy to the Continental Army. And I love what Ashley said.
This wasn't about a building and permanence. This was about presence, and this general was a present general. The story of the first Oval Office, the story of George Washington's war tent. here. on our American stories.
This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a Camp Miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances by major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Block Party tickets now for $17.76 at America250.org/slash LA.
It's America's 250th, but you deserve some presents too. Simon Malls, mills, and premium outlets have can't-miss sales July 3rd to 5th. Join Simon Plus, our new rewards program, for free and get 2.5 times the points in addition to extra savings, cashback, and offers that also work at shopsimon.com. Grab the fam, head to a Simon Center, and make it a day for the book. It's a celebration thing.
Sign up today at SimonPlus.com. Rewards program terms apply. See SimonPlus.com for details. Paramount Plus is now the home of all your BET favorites. What?
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