Throughout the eight-year war for independence, officers were separated from their spouses for months at a time. However, during long periods of encampment, officer's wives would often come to spend time with their husbands. These elite women did not need to stay to the rear of the columns of soldiers. They came to spend time with their spouses in the comforts of what would many would term luxurious. "The generals' wives would spend their time at the winter encampments in the most comfortable housing the army could find, there they would serve as hostesses at dinner parties for the officers and attend social events planned by other generals' wives and daughters" (Berkin, 68). Most importantly, they were seen as important morale boosters.
A general's wife lifted the morale of her husband, his officers, and his troops. She represented the prosperous and genteel life that officers were fighting to defend--and that many soldiers hoped would be theirs if America won its independence. Her presence, even under privileged conditions, was a declaration that everyone, even wealthy wives and mothers, was willing to make sacrifices for the Revolution" (Berkin, 68).
Martha Washington went to visit her husband for one simple reason: "[if] he will send for me . . . I must go." She was a dedicated wife and wanted to abide by her husband's wishes. Martha ended up traveling thousands of miles, over eight long years, to be with her husband during the winter encampments. She did not complain, but said only, "I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may be." Martha became a fixture in the encampments over the course of the Revolutionary War.
Mercy Otis Warren wrote of Martha Washington saying: The complacency of her manners speaks at once of the benevolence of her heart, and her affability, candor and gentleness, qualify her to soften the hours of private life, or to sweeten the cares of the hero, and smooth the rugged pains of war" (Loane, 29). |
While at the encampments Martha Washington’s duty was to entertain officers and visit other elite camp followers. She held dinner parties and balls to keep the officers' spirits high. Conversely, Martha was also often found sitting quietly knitting or sewing for her husband or troops.
Sadly, while she was holding these parties, American soldiers were starving and in tattered uniforms.
For soldiers, Valley Forge was a place of deprivation--of shoddy shoes, meager food, and sparse clothing. But at headquarters some elegant meals were being served, and at the officers' quarters ladies and gentlemen gathered in the evenings over a dish of tea or coffee to raise their voices in song" (Loane, 20). Thinking of the social hierarchy of the 1700's, how can you compare the disparity of the situation between the soldiers and officers at the encampments?
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The young Caty Greene loved to visit her husband, Nathanael Greene, at the encampments. He adored her and called her his "dear Angel" and therefore welcomed her with open arms when she arrived. Caty "welcomed the war as an opportunity for adventure, friendships with prominent women and the attention and companionship of young officers closer to her age" (Berkin, 74). Even when Nathanael sent her away, she soon found reasons and ingenious ways to be with her brigadier general husband. She faced open water, threat of capture, rutted roads, and shabby inns just to be with him and enjoy the intense social life the winter encampments provided.
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Lucy Flucker Knox and General Henry Knox were an example of a true love relationship. Lucy desperately loved her husband and wrote him letters describing how lonely she was when he was away.
Read the letter below, how does Lucy describe her desperate loneliness? What does she do to try to keep herself busy? What does she expect him to buy for her? How does she try to make him feel guilty if he doesn't buy the item?
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Gilder Lehrman Institute
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As for the Loyalist side, they rarely brought their wives with them to the winter camps from across the ocean. Some Hessian leaders were the exception. Baroness Frederika Charlotte Riedesel was one of the women who left her home in Europe with her small children at the request of her husband, Baron Fritz Riedesel.
Frederika was a seasoned camp follower. Her father had been a career soldier and she had been on the battlefield from the time she was a little girl. But it did not make her experience in the American colonies any less harrowing. After many separations and reunions, the Baroness finally settled for a while in New York where the British were trying desperately to hold onto the area. She was "painfully aware of the conditions of the troops, for many of the officers had come begging a meal from her since the battle at Freeman's farm" (Berkin, 85). While there, a battle ensued where the British soldiers were forced to frantically abandon the city and move northward. "Fredrika was forced to move quickly in order to follow the departing troops. Fearing the slightest sound would alert the enemy to her flight, she stuffed a cloth in the mouth of one of her daughters to stifle the girl's crying" (Berkin, 86). During this retreat, General Burgoyne, in charge of the British movement, lingered to drink and eat and enjoy other leisurely moments when he should have advanced. Frederika was so enraged she confronted the General by reminding him that his men were starving. She wrote, "It was impossible to keep silent when I saw so many brave men in want of everything" (Berkin, 86). |
Fredrika showed her courage on more than one occasion. For example, at the battle of Saratoga, she bravely took charge of a house filled with frightened women, children, and wounded soldiers as the house came under attack. At one point, the Baroness was taken prisoner and she and her children were held captive for four years. Eventually, she was exiled from the country with her husband, Baron Fritz Reidesel.
Before she left, the Baron and Fredrika reviewed the troops under his command for one last time. When they arrived in the camp, the men greeted Frederika von Reidesel with military honors. Startled, she observed that 'we German women were not accustomed to such distinctions.' But an English officer replied that his men would never forget what she had done for their sick and wounded comrades at Saratoga. In their minds, the general's wife was as much a war hero as her husband" (Berkin, 91). |
Although they had every comfort at home, genteel women who followed the army still sacrificed time with their family and friends to support their spouses who were busily fighting or preparing for the war. "Rather than the pots and pans that enlisted men's wives brought to the camp, these privileged women brought with them whatever small symbols of gentility they could, including chocolate and coffee, and candlesticks and curtains" (Berkin, 2018).