George Washington, Namesake of our Round Table

August 2018


McBurney Recommendation:  New Revolutionary War Exhibit at Smithsonian
We have some terrific new Revolutionary War museums at Yorktown and Philadelphia, but we also have an even closer exhibit in Washington, D.C., at least until next July.  An exhibit on “The American Revolution: A World War” just opened at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. There is also a website showing some of the artifacts.  This exhibit focuses on the siege of Yorktown which, when we count sailors as well as troops on land, involved more Frenchmen than Americans.  Among the items on display are paintings of The Siege of Yorktown and The Surrender of Yorktown (see excerpt below), both from 1786, and a Charles Wilson Peale portrait of George Washington from the early 1780s. All three originally hung in the Comte de Rochambeau’s chamber as a reminder of his partnership with the American general. This is the first time the canvases have been together in more than two centuries.  Shown in the exhibit is another early artistic celebration of the Franco-American alliance: a French porcelain figurine from the 1780s of King Louis XVI and diplomat Benjamin Franklin. For the website, go to this link (and click on topics on the left side of the webpage):  http://americanhistory.si.edu/american-revolution