GFS grad's new book reveals nasty side of U.S. 'father'

Posted 4/27/17

GFS alumna Erica Armstrong Dunbar’s recently published book, “Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge,” shows an ugly side of George Washington: …

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GFS grad's new book reveals nasty side of U.S. 'father'

Posted

GFS alumna Erica Armstrong Dunbar’s recently published book, “Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge,” shows an ugly side of George Washington: how hard he worked to circumvent the law and retain his slaves.[/caption]

By Bob Fles

Ed. Note: The much-anticipated Museum of the American Revolution opened to the public on April 19 at 101 S. 3rd St. in Old City.

Shakespeare conjures up three eerie witches in “Macbeth.” These “unholy sisters” make a revolting potion of used body parts, dead animals, poisonous plants and more. Macbeth himself gulps it down (while the audience gags) so he can learn the future. Which of course he misunderstands, leading him to ruin.

It seems to me we’re doing our best these days to cook up our own venomous, potentially fatal stew. Nasty talk radio, fake news, alt facts, unfacts posing as facts, non-stop news shows seeking ever scarier conflicts every hour, insult-mania, extremist blogs, virtually uncontrolled social media — Shakespeare’s demonic drink chokes us. Every assertion is extreme. Every claim is way out there. The battle lines are drawn. The weapons are drawn. So-and-so is a hero or a villain. Balanced viewpoints and recognition of some validity in your opponent’s viewpoint are things of the past.

How like a cold draft of clear water instead of a disgusting witches’ brew it is, then, to come across two fine books that serve up a little nuance, both books about George Washington. The Atlas supporting on his mighty shoulders our new Museum of the American Revolution; nothing negative here, we hope?

David McCullough’s acclaimed “1776” is a paean to Washington. McCullough shows the indispensability of Washington in the first faltering efforts to form a national army and take on the British (and their Hessian mercenaries) — JV vs. the Varsity. 1776 saw a few successful Continental battles and maneuvers (mainly retreats and escapes). But it mostly saw an army reeling from birth pangs, a superior opponent, harsh weather, hopelessly inadequate equipment and supplies and a virtually complete lack of trained military leadership, not to mention roughly half of the colonial population helping the enemy and undercutting the American rebels.

Yet somehow, through it all, what carried the day was the unyielding determination of George Washington to make the revolution work. He never succumbed to the self-doubts plaguing him, the pessimism surrounding him and the often-justified criticisms hurled at him. He preached and personified perseverance. He never gave up on himself, on the inexperienced leaders he groomed, on his struggling army or on the future, no matter how bleak the prospects for success.

Still, despite his deep admiration for Washington’s leadership, McCullough qualifies his perspective. Washington had his faults and made his mistakes. McCullough shows how the General’s inexperience as a military commander and strategist led him into foolish decisions, how pure luck or dumb British decisions repeatedly saved the rag-tag Continental army from obliteration and how Washington’s considerable vanity could hamper his strategizing.

The Father of Our Country? The indispensable leader in the long struggle to salvage the revolution? Absolutely, McCullough says. But his portrait also reveals the flaws and mistakes of the great man — a hero as imperfectly human as any.

Just how imperfectly human Washington was leaps from virtually every page of the second book about him. Erica Armstrong Dunbar’s title for her recently published book says it all: “Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge.”

Dunbar (a graduate of Germantown Friends School and Penn) shows how President and Mrs. Washington always brought slaves with them from Mt. Vernon to their New York City and Philadelphia residences. How assiduously Washington worked to retain his slaves (to circumvent laws that freed slaves six months after their owners brought them north, he would track the time, then send his slaves out of state briefly before bringing them back for another six months). How Martha Washington planned to give her “property,” her personal slave, Ona Judge, to her granddaughter as a wedding present. How the courageous Ona escaped one evening via the Delaware River while the Washingtons dined. And, above all, how “relentlessly” the President pursued Ona not only for the rest of his presidency but also for the rest of his life — and how crafty and devious his legal and sometimes illegal pursuit of her was, so that his public image would not be tarnished.

There’s not much to admire about the Father of Our Country in this story. Yet Dunbar’s portrait of Washington is not solely negative. She recognizes the steadfast leadership he provided at a perilous time, the importance of his image as a strong, virtuous leader for the fledgling country, and the extent to which he, along with other Founding Fathers and early presidents, was a product of his Southern culture and its justifications for slavery.

How refreshing that both McCullough’s and Dunbar’s wonderful books can explore different parts of the story of George Washington and provide strikingly varied perspectives on him — and at the same time they both circle around their subject to view him from all angles, strike a balance and provide subtlety and complexity where lesser writers would oversimplify and only praise or condemn.

Robert Fles is a retired teacher and administrator at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy and a former long-time resident of Chestnut Hill currently living in Blue Bell.

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