George Washington's belt is still one of the most extraordinary cultural relics in the War of Independence. Just as the nameless Virginians led the rebellion against Britain, the pink and blue ribbon became one of the earliest symbols in America. However, for some reason, window sash languishes in a relatively unknown environment and has been confined to the back room and dusty archives for decades-until now. On a warm day in September, I met Philip Meade, a historian and curator of the American Revolution Museum, at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After years of historical confusion, this belt appeared in Peabody's file. After years of research, Meade can't wait to revisit this relic. Washington spent 3 shillings and 4 pence on this belt in July 1775. He used it as part of the color coding system to distinguish officials. According to Meade's research, Washington himself recorded in his diary that he bought "a ribbon to show his difference". He chose blue to evoke the traditional color of Whigs in England, which was the ideological mode of revolutionaries preparing for the transatlantic uprising. The condition of the belt itself is unbelievable. Sunlight and oxygen will gradually weaken the vitality of the ribbon, but the unique folds on the fabric match the ribbons worn by Washington in some contemporary general paintings. Despite the erosion of history, there are still brown sweat stains on the belt, which is a symbol of Washington's perseverance on the battlefield. This is one of the most precious personal relics of the future president. But it was not until 20 1 1 that Meade stumbled upon the ribbon and the object almost disappeared. How can something so important disappear for centuries? Historical records about Washington uniforms rarely mention gift belts. Is someone, even Washington himself, trying to cover up its historical heritage? "
Not quite right. Historians believe that Washington probably stopped wearing Moi ribbons soon after he bought them, because he was uneasy about the similarity between the belts and the decorations of British and French officers. The belt looks too much like a symbol of rank and nobility, because its purpose is to bring democracy to the mainland army. Although this ribbon played a formal military role, showed Washington's authority to his army and put him in a favorable position in diplomacy with other countries, even in the eyes of his French allies, it was too arrogant for future democracy. Shortly after Washington stopped wearing a belt in 1779, Marquis de Barbé-Marbois, a French officer who had assisted the mainland army, said in a letter: "(His uniform) is very similar to his soldiers." . Meade said, "in the past, on solemn occasions ... he wore a big blue ribbon, but he has given up this secret difference." "
Washington himself, like other colonists, is discovering what this new country will mean. "This kind of decoration is pretentious for everyone, except the highest-ranking aristocrats. He insisted on a lofty standard completely opposite to the revolution. Dean and researcher of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, PM? 979- 13- 10/5876 1)
Meade said that it is not clear how widely this view spread in the colonies, but the relationship between France seems to make Washington more and more uneasy, especially considering that after the war there were rumors that he had won the rank of marshal of the French army. Washington finally gave up, even at the ceremony, and changed it into a pair of epaulettes.
But although Washington gave up the belt, because of the ideological conflict it represented, the belt itself seems to have disappeared from sight, rather than an accidental design. Washington awarded the golden belt to Charlie Wilson Pierre, a legendary artist who is famous for his excellent portrait of the leader of the Revolutionary War. Pierre painted many portraits of generals wearing belts, including an iconic portrait of 1776 commissioned by john hancock. But Pierre was never exhibited in his Philadelphia Museum of the same name, and then all the general historical paintings disappeared, including Pierre's portrait 1784.
According to Charles Coleman Sellers, a descendant of Pierre and a scholar, the painter "never thought of putting it in a natural history museum." An English tourist soon visited a branch of Pierre Museum in Baltimore. He found that the ribbon was mixed with other revolutionary war relics, and it had a simple label: "Washington's Belt".
Since then, the origin of this work of art has become more confusing. After the Peale collection was dissolved in 1849, the belt and many other cultural relics were sold to the co-founders of Boston Museum, P.T.Barnum and Moses Kimball, at a sheriff's auction. After their museum burned down in 1893, kimball's family took an adventure trip to Harvard and got a series of museum loans. At some point in this process, the original pea label of the window sash was lost. It is just another ribbon in the revolutionary war.
As Meade said, the ribbon "disappeared in the sight of ordinary people" and fell into the gap of the museum's conventional anthropological exhibits. 20 1 1 He met his graduate tutor in the street, almost by accident. At that time, the famous historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich was holding a Harvard collection exhibition called "Tangible Things". The focus of this exhibition is "testing the classification hypothesis of museums". Ulrich asked her students to literally dig up Harvard's collection and look for neglected treasures, one of which was an unmarked belt. Ulrich asked if Meade had ever heard of such a skirt in an article in Washington-"Tight, like a ribbon?"
Meade was surprised: Is this the belt that Washington lost from the pea painting? He hurried to visit the exhibition, where it nestled between the Galapagos tortoises in Charles Darwin's archives and rolled into a small scroll.
Meade and T.Rose Holdcraft, the protector of Harvard University, finally confirmed the authenticity and ownership of the ribbon: it even has the same unique folds as the belt on 1776 pea. "This is a survivor who is unlikely to be ignored," Meade said.
Pierre described the symbolic work as a commemoration of Washington's victories in Trenton and Princeton. He made many replicas, most of which were full-length and set in Princeton. After years of preservation and reconstruction, this damaged ribbon will finally be exhibited at the New American Revolution Museum in Philadelphia, which opened on April 19. Today 20 17, a museum will witness the events witnessed by the window frames in Washington.
Meade said: "It is shocking to regard this object as a witness, not only in Washington, but also in so many revolutionary wars." "In the desperate days of 1776 and 12, when the army struggled to enter Trenton, it would happen at the ceremony in Washington to celebrate the French alliance around New York State, Delaware River, monmouth and Ji Gu. It witnessed some of the most difficult and famous events in the War of Independence.
With the fierce snowball war of 1775, Washington's shining blue ribbon became a small and important part in the revolutionary history. Now, after decades of obscurity, the general's lost belt has finally been properly protected and recognized.
Although the composition is different from that of George Washington in The Battle of Princeton, there are still significant similarities. 1784 On September 29th, Pell personally exhibited this work at the graduation ceremony of the University of New Jersey. (Pictures enter the public domain through the public space of Wikimedia.