Chapter 27: The Myth of the Valley Forge Prayer. Speaking from a purely human secular standpoint, George Washington was one of the greatest men of all time. Without George Washington, there might not have been a United States, at least not as we know it. Washington kept the American Revolution alive during the most discouraging of times, and he shrewdly chose a strategy of guerrilla warfare that enabled the colonists to defeat the experienced, well-trained British Army.
Washington's greatest act as general was to step down from his command at the end of the war. This noble act surprised even George III of England. Upon hearing that Washington was planning to resign his commission and turn all power back to the Continental Congress, the king exclaimed, "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world." Because of his noble actions, the American people placed their complete trust in Washington as someone who would not abuse a position of power.
That is why the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 chose him to preside over the convention. When those delegates described the powers and functions of the president, they assumed that Washington would be the first president. As the first president of the United States, Washington set many precedents for all future presidents.
It was he who decided how the president should dress, how others should address him, what kind of house the president should live in, and myriads of other conventions that we take for granted today. One of the few conventions that Washington sought to establish, but was not successful, was that the president should be above politics. He wanted a country without political parties, and he personally tried to stay above politics. But that can't be said about the presidents who followed him.
Among the greatest actions Washington performed as president was to step down voluntarily after two terms in office. The Constitution set no term limits for the president. Given Washington's popularity, he could have easily stayed in office for the rest of his life. But he realized that a president who served for life would eventually destroy American democracy. So he unselfishly stepped down from office, setting a precedent that no American president had the boldness to break until Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In fact, after Roosevelt died, the people of the United States amended the Constitution to limit all future presidents to two terms. Washington set another important precedent by not trying to establish a ruling dynasty. Although he had no son to succeed him in office, he did have various relatives he could have promoted as his handpicked successors. But he chose not to. As a result of Washington's example, America has never been ruled by family dynasties.
Because Washington was such a great man, humanly speaking, I understand why Christians look for reasons to claim him as one of their own. But where was Washington spiritually? One of the most vivid mental images millions of people have of George Washington is his kneeling in prayer in the snow at Valley Forge. Most of us have seen copies of the famous painting made in 1975 by the artist Arnold Friberg portraying this scene.
However, in college, my American history professor taught us that Washington was actually a deist. So for many years, I didn't know what to think about the Valley Forge scene. When I began my research for this book, that was one of the first things I wanted to get to the bottom of: which was the real Washington, the man in earnest prayer, or the deist? To find the answer, I started reading Washington's diary. It's easy for persons in high office to put on a religious facade.
They can add a little spiritual dressing to their letters and speeches to make a good impression on others. But a personal journal? Ah, that's different. In a diary, a person makes a private record of his true inner feelings and the things that he considers important. So I dove into Washington's diary with the eagerness of a single-minded sleuth. After I had spent countless hours reading Washington's diary, I realized I had found no references to prayer or to the Bible anywhere.
I found no spiritual reflections at all. In fact, there's a complete absence of any references to God or to Jesus Christ in Washington's diary. Furthermore, his diary reveals that during the period between the end of the Revolution and his presidency, Washington rarely even attended church. And when he did go to church, he never mentions in his diary what the sermon was about, nor does he reflect on that day's worship.
Washington's diary reveals a man who had no close relationship with God at all, a man whose spiritual life was quite dry, regardless of what he may have said in speeches. I want to show you some typical entries from Washington's diary so that you can see what I mean. Here are some characteristic entries from various Sundays before he became president. Sunday, July 16, 1786. Mercury at 78 in the morning, 86 at noon, and 84 at night. Very little wind at any time in the day, but very hot. Dr.
Crake came here in the forenoon, dined, and returned afterwards. Sunday, July 23, 1786. Mercury at 74 in the morning, 80 at noon, and 80 at night. Clear and pleasant till about 4 o'clock when the wind, which had been pretty fresh from the southwest, died away and it turned warm. Mr. Powell, Mr. Porter, and Miss Ramsey and Miss Crake came here to breakfast from Alexandria and returned again after dinner. Sunday, December 2, 1787. Thermometer at 48 in the morning, 60 at noon, and at night.
Clear, mild, and pleasant in the morning with but little wind and that's southerly. About 11 o'clock it shifted to northwest and blew pretty fresh but not cold. At home all day, Mr. G.W. Lewis and George Steptoe Washington, who with Mr. William Booth came here yesterday to dinner, returned this afternoon to their respective homes.
In case you're wondering whether I have selectively picked various entries from Washington's diary to show his lack of spiritual interest, I encourage you to satisfy yourself by personally reviewing his diary. The Library of Congress makes it available electronically for free. Where did the Valley Forge story originate? From reading Washington's diary, I could clearly see that he was not a man of prayer or of serious spiritual reflection. It's hard to picture him praying in the snow at Valley Forge.
So I began digging to find the source of that story. Did Washington mention it in a letter to someone? Did his soldiers witness it? Did Washington confide the incident to his wife? Well, when I dug to the bottom of the matter, I discovered that the source of the story was Parson Weems. He's the same man who invented the story about little George Washington and the cherry tree. Parson Weems was an itinerant book peddler and occasional preacher who had never even met Washington.
In his book, A History of the Life and Death: Virtues and Exploits of General George Washington, Parson Weems writes, "In the winter of '77, while Washington, with the American Army, lay encamped at Valley Forge, a certain good old Quaker, of the respectable family and name of Potts, if I mistake not, had occasion to pass through the woods near headquarters.
Treading in his way along the venerable grove, suddenly he heard the sound of a human voice, which, as he advanced, increased on his ear, and at length became like the voice of one speaking much in earnest. As he approached the spot with a cautious step, whom should he behold in a dark natural bower of ancient oaks, but the commander-in-chief of the American armies, on his knees at prayer?
Motionless with surprise, Quaker Potts remained at the place till the general, having ended his devotions, arose, and with a countenance of angelic serenity, retired to headquarters. Quaker Potts then went home and, on entering his parlor, called out to his wife, 'Sarah, my dear Sarah, all's well, all's well. George Washington will yet prevail.' 'What's the matter, Isaac?' she replied. 'Thee seems excited.' 'Well, if I seem excited, 'tis no more than what I really am. I have this day seen what I never expected.
Thee knows that I always thought that the sword and the gospel were utterly inconsistent, and that no man could be a soldier and a Christian at the same time. But George Washington has this day convinced me of my mistake.' Potts then related what he had seen and concluded with his prophetic remark, 'If George Washington is not a man of God, I am greatly deceived. And still more shall I be deceived if God does not, through him, work out a great salvation for America.' The Unreliability of Weems.
So the story of the prayer at Valley Forge began with Parson Weems, and Weems isn't a credible source whatsoever. As I said, he didn't personally know George Washington, and he doesn't claim to have been an eyewitness to the Valley Forge prayer. Furthermore, Weems didn't write his biography until George Washington had died. Therefore, no one could authenticate or disprove his various stories by asking Washington himself. Weems was a popular bookseller and writer, and none of his books reflect scholarly research.
He fills his biography of Washington with glittering language, apocryphal stories, and false assertions. For instance, Weems attempts to portray Washington as a deeply religious man in contrast to other men around him, such as Alexander Hamilton. Because he did little or no research, Weems assumed that Alexander Hamilton was not a believer because Hamilton died in a duel.
There was the gallant General Hamilton, also a gigantic genius, a statesman fit to rule the mightiest monarchy, a soldier fit to stand by Washington and give command. But alas, for lack of religion, see how all was lost. Preferring the praise of man to the praise which cometh from God, and pursuing the phantom honor up to the pistol's mouth, he is cut off at once from life and greatness and leaves his family and country to mourn his hapless fate.
It's amazing that a biographer could amass so many historical errors in so few sentences. For one thing, Hamilton was a lieutenant colonel, not a general. Second, during the later years of his life, Hamilton was far more spiritually inclined than Washington. His participating in a duel had nothing to do with a lack of religion. He certainly was not pursuing honor when he chose to accept Burr's challenge to a duel.
To a large degree, he was purposefully laying his life on the line to stop Burr's political ambitions, which Hamilton saw as a threat to the new nation. Here is another false claim Weems made in his biography of Washington. The Reverend Mr.
Lee Massey, long rector of Washington's parish and from early life his intimate, has frequently assured me that he never knew so constant an attendant at church as Washington, and his behavior in the house of God, added my Reverend friend, was so deeply reverential that it produced the happiest effects on my congregation and greatly assisted me in my moralizing labors. No company ever withheld him from church. I have often been at Mount Vernon on the Sabbath morning when his breakfast table was filled with guests.
But to him, they furnished no pretext for neglecting his God and losing the satisfaction of setting a good example. For instead of staying at home out of false complacency to them, he used constantly to invite them to accompany him. And while he resided in Philadelphia as president of the United States, his constant and cheerful attendance on divine service was such as to convince every reflecting mind that he deemed no reception so honorable as that of his almighty Maker.
No pleasure is equal to those of devotion, and no business a sufficient excuse for neglecting his supreme benefactor. However, Washington's diary reveals just the opposite to be true. It reveals that during the years between the end of the Revolution and the beginning of his presidency, Washington attended church only occasionally. When he had guests on Sunday, he spent the entire morning with them. Even after he became president, Washington's diary reveals that he still missed church frequently.
Unrealistic portrayal of Quakers. Weems' story has another problem. In fact, the moment I read this story, I knew it was fictitious. Why? Because Weems' portrayal of the Quaker, Isaac Potts, isn't even remotely realistic. Like Isaac Potts, I too am a non-resistant kingdom Christian. And I know that non-resistant Christians don't think and act in the manner that Potts has portrayed. Weems assumed that Quakers don't go to war because they think there are no praying men in the army.
But that isn't at all why we non-resistant Christians don't go to war. We kingdom Christians are well aware that through the centuries, many praying men have gone to war and have even led armies in the name of Christ. The reason we don't go to war is because Jesus says, "I tell you not to resist an evil person," and because he commands us, "Love your enemies." Matthew 5:39-44. Furthermore, our non-resistance is part of our whole way of life and belief system.
We feel that renouncing non-resistance is tantamount to denying Christ. Non-resistant Christians will typically go to prison and endure torture and even accept death rather than go to war. None of us would drop our deeply held convictions so flimsily as Isaac Potts supposedly did in this story. Putting the final nails in the coffin. Probably because of the story published by Parson Weems about Washington praying at Valley Forge, a person wrote to Dr. William White about Washington's prayer habits. Dr.
White, an Episcopalian bishop, served as the chaplain of the Continental Congress during the Revolution and as minister at Christ Church in Philadelphia during Washington's presidency. He was also the first chaplain of the United States Senate. The correspondent asked Bishop White if George Washington ever knelt in prayer at church. He also asked him if he knew what Washington's religious beliefs were. Here is Bishop White's reply concerning George Washington.
"His behavior in church was always serious and attentive, but as your letter seems to intend an inquiry on the point of kneeling during the service, I owe it to the truth to declare that I never saw him in the said posture. Although I was often in company with this great man and had the honor of dining often at his table, I never heard anything from him which could manifest his opinions on the subject of religion.
Within a few days of his leaving the presidential chair, our vestry waited on him with an address prepared and delivered by me. In his answer, he was pleased to express himself gratified by what he had heard from our pulpit, but there was nothing that committed him relatively to religious theory." In the Episcopal Church, it has always been the custom to kneel for prayer.
The Book of Common Prayer used in Episcopalian worship for over 300 years specifically directs the congregation to kneel during prayer, saying, "The priest, standing reverently before the holy table, shall say the Lord's Prayer and the collect prayer following, the people kneeling." If Washington refused to kneel for prayer in church where it was expected, is it believable he could have knelt in the freezing snow to pray at Valley Forge?
Furthermore, Washington rented the Isaac Potts house and lived in it during the winter of 1777-1778 when his army was encamped at Valley Forge. So why would he have gone in the freezing snow to pray when he could have much easier prayed in his own bedroom? Another problem with Weems' story is that some researchers have reported that Isaac Potts didn't live in the vicinity of Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-1778. He owned a house there, but he rented it out to Deborah Hewes and later to Washington.
The truth is that the story about Washington's prayer at Valley Forge was a pious figment of Parson Weems' imagination. There's no credible evidence that it really happened, and it contradicts everything else we know about Washington. It's just like Weems' story of little George Washington and the cherry tree. As much as I admire George Washington from a human perspective, I have to say that he exhibited no more genuine trust in God than did most of the other colonists.