Event
Choosing a Commander: Myths & Realities Behind the Continental Congress’s Decision to Make George Washington the General
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Longfellow Carriage HouseDates & Times
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Description
Speaker: J.L. Bell
This July brings the 250th anniversary of General George Washington’s arrival in Cambridge, the result of momentous decisions by the Continental Congress. More than a quarter-century later, John Adams wrote a dramatic account of that choice, which became the standard source on the event. But Adams’s version is not supported by contemporaneous documents, and people pushed back against it at the time. In this talk, Bell sifts the evidence to explore the real politicking behind the Congress’s choice.
J. L. Bell maintains Boston1775.net. He is the author of The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War and a book-length study for the National Park Service of Gen. Washington’s work in Cambridge.
This annual event is made possible by the Friends of the Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters.
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