The venerable Fraunces Tavern still stands on the corner of Broad and Pearl Streets, site of General George Washington's farewell speech to his officers, December 4, 1783. It was a scene of sorrow and open weeping among the men waiting for him. One, Major Benjamin Talmadge, wrote "the simple thought that we were then about to part from the man who had conducted us through a long and bloody war, and under whose conduct the glory and independence of our country had been achieved, and that we should see his face no more in this world, seemed to me utterly insupportable."
After shaking hands and embracing each man his emotions too strong to speak further words, Washington left the Tavern.
With a company of light infantry and a prodigious crowd silently following he walked silently to the wharf to board a barge to carry him across the Hudson. Again Tallmadge wrote "As soon as he was seated the barge put off into the river, and when out in the stream, our great and beloved General waved his hat and bid us a silent adieu." He would continue to Annapolis by December 23 to resign his Commission as Commander in Chief.
The venerable Fraunces Tavern still stands on the corner of Broad and Pearl Streets, site of General George Washington's farewell speech to his officers, December 4, 1783. It was a scene of sorrow and open weeping among the men waiting for him. One, Major Benjamin Talmadge, wrote "the simple thought that we were then about to part from the man who had conducted us through a long and bloody war, and under whose conduct the glory and independence of our country had been achieved, and that we should see his face no more in this world, seemed to me utterly insupportable."
After shaking hands and embracing each man his emotions too strong to speak further words, Washington left the Tavern.
With a company of light infantry and a prodigious crowd silently following he walked silently to the wharf to board a barge to carry him across the Hudson. Again Tallmadge wrote "As soon as he was seated the barge put off into the river, and when out in the stream, our great and beloved General waved his hat and bid us a silent adieu."
He would continue to Annapolis by December 23 to resign his Commission as Commander in Chief.