Christmas Week at Graeme Park: 1777

In the winter of 1777-78, Graeme Park was taken over by troops of the American army. Major General James Armstrong went into winter quarters here during Christmas week, 1777, and on New Year's Eve was joined by General James Potter and his brigade. At one point there were nearly 2,000 men encamped on the grounds of Graeme Park. This number, however, decreased rapidly as enlistments ran out and the men went home in the New Year. Both officers were replaced by Brigadier General John Lacey, Jr., who arrived at Graeme Park in mid-January, 1778 to find conditions here "deplorable" with the equipment scattered and the 600 green recruits who remained in camp "confused, demoralized, and leaderless." By January 24, 1778 Lacey reported that there were only seventy men left at Graeme Park. When the troops finally moved out, much to the relief of Elizabeth and Betsy Stedman, the mess they left behind was extensive. Valuable timber had been cut down to buld log huts for the men; the parlor of the Keith House had been occupied as a guardroom, and most of the furniture usually on the first floor of the house had been moved upstairs to storage rooms on the third. Elizabeth was reimbursed only ₤106.4 for 2,360 pounds of beef slaughtered, and that not unitl the end of March. How the women survived after the army left is hard to imagine, no cattle or horses were left and the stored grains and other food must have been pretty well consumed by the army.
 (From The Most Learned Woman in America: A Biography of Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson, by Anne Ousterhout and The Valley Forge Winter: Civilians And Soldiers In War By Wayne Bodle).

A Soldier's Christmas

Peace on Earth. It’s such a central message of the Christmas season, but wars don’t stop for Christmas. Nor do they prevent Christmas from being celebrated by soldiers far from home fighting for that peace. In fact, many of our beloved Christmas traditions came out of wartime celebrations. Prior to the Revolutionary War, Christmas in America was a quiet religious occasion and not celebrated with a lot of outward festivities. Many historians credit the Hessian soldiers from Germany, who fought in America alongside the British, with introducing Christmas trees to the United States.

Decorated trees were just starting to catch on when the Civil War broke out, and at least one account records Civil War soldiers as decorating their tree with “hard tack and pork” – materials they had on hand, just as they would have used popcorn, dried fruit, pine cones, and homemade paper decorations had they been celebrating at home. Our modern vision of Santa Claus also comes out of the Civil War. Cartoonist Thomas Nast used his editorial drawings to express his political opinions and his image of Santa as a jolly fat man with a white beard in a fur-trimmed suit delivering gifts to the Union soldiers is the image that caught on and remains with us today, although Santa's suit has changed from the stars and stripes of the Nast version to the red velvet we know today.

Later generations of soldiers did their best to maintain established traditions that reminded them of home, with visits from Santa, wrapped gifts arriving from loved ones, decorations, and if possible a special Christmas meal.

On Saturday, November 24, 2012 the grounds and first floor of the Keith House at Graeme Park will be open for free tours from 3:00-8:00 p.m. with soldiers representing different wars encamped on the property demonstrating how Christmas was celebrated on the battlefront during different eras throughout our history. Crafts and refreshments will be available for purchase.

Call 215-343-0965 for details. Directions are available on our website at www.graemepark.org.

Drafting the Letter

Edward Lamson Henry painted "Drafting the Letter," the painting in the above photo, in 1871. You may recognize certain elements in the room as being similar to the master bedroom in the Keith House at Graeme Park.

In fact it is based on this room - Henry painted what was called "historic fiction," so he based his paintings on real spaces but reinvented them to suit his artistic vision. An avid collector of 18th century furniture, he also envisioned the space with pieces from his collection. The subject of the painting was based on a description of an incident in Elizabeth Graeme's life that Elizabeth F. Ellet wrote about in her book, The Women of the American Revolution.

While in Philadelphia to take leave of her husband, who was embroiled in the Revolutionary War, Elizabeth stayed in the home of Charles Stedman. The Stedmans were also entertaining George Johnstone, a Commissioner sent by the British to settle the differences between England and America. Johnstone requested of Elizabeth that "should she see" General Joseph Reed that she might suggest to him that should he "conformably to his conscience and views of things" bring about the settlement of the dispute between England and her colonies that he might "command 10,000 guineas and the best post in the government." Elizabeth expressed her concerns that Reed might view this as a bribe and that were he in favor of giving up independence he would say so without personal gain, but Johnstone convinced her it was part of the normal negotiation process.

Commissioner George Johnstone

Elizabeth requested a meeting with Reed, allegedly to discuss her loyalist husband Henry's situation, and, when he mentioned having recently received a letter from Johnstone, conveyed to him the conversation she had with him, assuming the letter had similar content. Reed's indignant reply was "I am not worth purchasing; but such that I am, the King of Britain is not rich enough to do it." General Reed brought the matter to Congress, conveying both the conversation with Elizabeth and a letter he had received from Johnstone. He did keep Elizabeth's name out of it, but the details were such that in an account published in the newspapers, suspicion was immediately drawn to Elizabeth. When Elizabeth saw the article in Towne's Evening Post she immediately "drafted a letter" to General Reed complaining of having been made to look like Johnstone's pawn.

General Joseph Reed

"I find it hard, knowing the uncorruptness of my heart, to be held out to the public as a tool to the commissioners. But the impression is now made, and it is too late to recall it. How far, at this critical juncture of time, this affair may injure my property, is uncertain; that, I assure you, is but a secondary thought." The writing of this response is the subject of Henry's painting, and her fear for Graeme Park was real, as the property was confiscated due to Henry Hugh Fergusson's loyalties. The exchange with Reed, which continued on with more back and forth in the papers, left him an enemy while his position in the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council gave him great influence over her fate.