Show Washington R Returns Returns Re Re- e turns To o Horn Hom Ou On this date of December 23 one onehundred I hundred undred and forty eight years ago George Washington handed back to the Congress his commission commission com com- com I i i mission as Commander in chief of the Revolutionary Re Army and re returned re- re turned to Mount Vernon a simple American citizen But the tho mero mere i statement nt of or that fact conveys little of the drama that lay behind his act net Only a a. few months before orge Oo Washington became a a. Me te citizen he might havo have b become come military dictator o of America and antl at nt the lifting of a a. finger He put Aide f tho the proposal in indignation but had George Washington been It other than the man ie lie was the thc history of ot the United States might t read very differently from what It f does J 4 While the surrender of Cornwallis I at Yorktown In III 1781 had virtually ended ende the Revolution in victory for tor OJ a fighting went on and Washington wished I to keep the army up to strength It was waa nevertheless a period of In a activity Ity and the thc offices and soldiers sold sold- leIs leI's had plenty of time to brood I over oYer their grievances at the bands hands of Congress Their pay was waa long longin in arrears Numbers of oC the officers offic offic- officers ers Us had sacrificed their personal persona 1 fortunes to the cause of their coun coon try And now they faced the pros- pros pact of being turned back into 1 private life lite penniless and Ignore I by a country that appeared to the then a un ungrateful This bItt bitter r sentiment reached n a J I while t. oe a army was stationed station station- ii ed Cd at Newburgh It finally took 1 in tn An nn open hint to Washington Washing Washing- I I. I ton t St et he be place himself at tit the tho Continued on last page I r. r Washington Returns Returns Re Re- turns ro i o Home c Continued 1 from page one he head he d of or this movement in iu the army arm th tho government and to t o over thus make hake him i l dictator of Amor Am Am- or erica oia ica So impoverished was the country and EO so feeble had lead become becom he and national government that nothing could have stood in ill lie Le da a of tf this tails move ha liau hau Washing Washington ton yielded Instead he indignant indignantly ly r rebuked rc his officers for this i Id cd stain on ou their patrio- patrio i ism m promised once more to stir c congress congress to take up the matter of payment 1 p and this he succeeded In January January- 1783 1763 came news that the preliminary peace treaty treat had lead been signed in Paris On April 17 Washington was informed that an agreement as for the suspension of ot hostilities had been signed In duo time thereafter came the disband disband- in In of the arm array army tre lre triumphal entry of Washington and Governor I Clinton into New York on the heels of the departing British and the famous farewell oell that the Commander Comman Comman- I der in Chief bade his faithful officers officers of of- at Tarven Im- Im afterward Washington I went nt to Philadelphia to present n ri TI ncr of or his personal expenses e during the eight y years ars of the war This business concluded Wash f. f ton left lett Philadelphia for Annap- Annap OH-J OH w ere erp Congress was then i i. There here ho arrived on December December Decem Decem- ber 20 20 and asked the president of ot ofT T Congress as ns to lo the manner in I which he ho should resign his com com- mission wat wab named lamed r i.- i. 1 the he day for tor this ny At 1 12 o'clock the l Maryland land State Stale HOlt Hoit lI v. v here Congress as in session wa l l I crowded for the occa occasion lon The ga fia H ri rigs Ull and a a. largo large part o of the m in the Hall of Congress was filk 1111 i with ladies functionaries ot or st star star- u- u und and National governments men and aud citizens i A ll newspaper of or the tho time lime th Mar Maryland land Gazette in describing tc tt titI I c cene me said Few tragedies have I ever ver drawn so many tears from s. s so 51 many man man- maneos eyes eos as the moving mo mantle manItt in which his Excellency took h l h final leave of Congress I On the next morning Washington Washingto cat gat forth from Annapolis and reached Mount l Vernon that same levelling Christmas Eve to I I there p perhaps the happiest Christmas Christmas Christ Christ- mas of his life Thus eagerly did dirt Ii the victor of the war for our In dependence forget military glon and return to the ranks of fellow citizens |