by Regina Montana
Michael Grillo, as George Washington on the right; his Commander-in- Chief Guard to his left./All photos by Regina Montana
Once again this year I had the opportunity to visit the Revolutionary War reenactment at Croton Point Park, this year titled REV FEST 250. I was excited to show my two grandsons what life was like for a soldier in the Continental Army facing the British Crown forces. I was happy to find George Washington’s encampment decorated with red on the tent’s upper border. The General was standing outside with his Commander-in-Chief guard.
Michael Grillo has been donning the General’s uniform and portraying George Washington for the past 30 years, giving school presentations and taking part in war reenactments. I asked if I could take a photo of the two of them and he graciously agreed. That’s when the General looked at my 15-year-old grandson and said:
“Did you know that the first time I left my home in Mt. Vernon, Virginia in 1775 I would not return for six years? It wasn’t until 1781 when I saw my home again.”
Not remembering or even knowing many of the details about Washington’s life and times, I did some research and was helped by Mr. Grillo for this article. Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army in 1775. In a letter to his distant cousin Lund Washington he expressed frustration at the ill-equipped, poorly disciplined and ill-mannered recruits that made up the fledgling army of soldiers. He wanted desperately to return to the tranquility of Mt. Vernon, wishing he had never agreed to take command.
I was surprised when the General told me boys as young as 16 could enlist as soldiers in the Continental Army. The following day, when I returned to REV FEST to watch an actual battle reenactment between the Continental Army and the British soldiers on horses, I witnessed a very sad sight. When fired upon by the British, a few Continental Army soldiers dropped their muskets and began to run. They were immediately fired upon by their own American countrymen lined up next to them. They dropped to the ground, splayed out on the hot sunny field that afternoon while visitors watched in shock. There were other less extreme penalties for desertion like flogging, imprisonment and court martial, but on occasion deserters would be shot. Maybe these brave sons knew that they would be fired upon and only have a few moments to live. We will never know.
In his teenage years Washington worked as a land surveyor. Later in his early 20s, during the French and Indian War, he was appointed to key positions by the Governor of Virginia. As a surveyor, he often spent many days alone in the wilderness. This experience prepared him well for frontier warfare when he had to navigate rivers, forests, mountains and rugged terrain, sometimes facing hostile Indian tribes, to name just a few of the challenges it took to lead men into battle. After taking four bullets through his coat and having two horses shot from under him, he wrote the following to his brother John Augustine:
“By the All-powerful dispensation of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability of expectation.”
There were a number of credible threats to kill Washington along with one major plot during the Revolutionary War. Throughout his life he felt divinely guided and protected by Providence, his preferred usage for God or divine intervention.
In a 2020 three-part series on the History Channel entitled “Washington” I vividly recall one episode where Washington is looking out at one of the most terrifying sights he could ever have imagined. Hundreds of British war ships were amassed in New York Harbor. In the summer of 1776, after the Battle of Brooklyn, the British cornered Washington and roughly 9,000 of his men in Brooklyn Heights. He was surrounded on all sides with no clear strategy for escape and getting the troops out alive.
That’s when he made one of the most daring retreats in military history. The American troops were ferried in small boats across the East River to Manhattan in near total silence and under the darkness of night. One soldier is reported to have said, “A strong wind turned into a miraculous fog. The Lord seemed to shield us.”
When I later asked General Washington where he got his courage, he said:
“I would say that my courage came from all the hardships I suffered, from the death of my father and the death of my half-brother Lawrence who was more of a father and mentor to me than my father was.”
I wondered what advice our first President would give us today considering the division that exists across the country. At the end of his second term as President in 1796, Washington’s farewell address was published in newspapers. In it he warned of the dangers of political parties, which he called “factions.” He believed they would divide the nation, creating hatred and opening the door to foreign influence and corruption.
Passing a few exhibits before I left the park, I saw a table with a musket lying next to some implements. I asked if I could pick it up and after getting permission, I realized how big and heavy the musket was. I had never held a firearm in my life. I couldn’t imagine having to use it against a fellow countryman. I also imagined the terror a 16-year-old might have waking up each day, walking miles with his infantry, all the while knowing that day could be his last.
At another table a young woman was showing girls different cleaning implements and herbs of all kinds used as medicine, cooking, preserving food and even spiritual purposes. Then she said something that I had never heard before.
“Did you know that women and children often followed the soldiers during the war?”
Called “camp followers”, they walked for miles, often between 10 and 15 miles every day behind the troops, prepared meals, sewed and washed clothes. They did not engage in battle, but often tended to the wounded soldiers. They slept in camps and tents, sometimes even under wagons and in huts. Some were widows and nurses and others were enslaved, hoping to earn their freedom after the war was over.
Picturing this kind of hardship: sleeping in the cold with toddlers and young children squeezed next to a parent on the cold ground of a tent, walking miles while carrying one’s belongings and facing all kinds of danger, made me realize the sacrifices these early patriots endured.
Before leaving the park, I returned to the General’s tent to say goodbye and thank him for saving our country.
The impact of all I had seen and heard made me realize how much we owe these men and women, true heroes in the annals of American history, many hard-working people who had extraordinary courage and selflessness.
Regina Montana has lived in Croton since 1979. She formerly wrote for The Gazette and also ran for village trustee in the 1990s. Regina now writes picture books and nature articles for children’s magazines. Her Website is www.reginamontana.com
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Department of Clarification: The concert whose YouTube video we posted yesterday was co-sponsored by both the Lorraine Hansberry Coalition and Croton’s Arts & Humanities Advisory Council.
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A wonderful write-up. Thank you.