Happy Birthday, George

We joined the celebration today remembering February 1777 when George really was there and he celebrated his birthday.He turned 46 here.  Did you know that Martha joined him every winter? George would get settled for the winter and then Martha would join him. During the whole war George only went to Mount Vernon once on the way to Yorktown. Mount Vernon was named for a British General.

Well, the first thing the children did today was inlist in the army. I have their enlistment papers and their pay. They signed up for three years. The only medical check they needed was to make sure they had at least a tooth on the top and bottom.

After that they got their weapons and began learning marching and maneuvering drills according to General Von Steuben's training manual.

They marched them up a hill and then marched them back down the hill. Then General Washington reviewed the troop's progress.

Then we sang Happy Birthday and had some cake. There was a cake there made from Martha's recipe.

We then went to a reenactment and tried to stay warm at the fire. It wasn't near as cold as it was in 1777.

It was a fun activity and fits as we are studying American History. Last week as we got ready we started reading some books about George Washington so that hopefully we had a bit of understanding before today. We did learn that he was born on February 11 but that year they adjusted the calendar and was it became February 22.