“I THANK YOU MOST SINCERELY FOR YOUR POLITE NOTICE OF ME, IN THE ELEGANT LINES YOU ENCLOSED…IF YOU SHOULD EVER COME TO CAMBRIDGE, OR NEAR HEADQUARTERS, I SHALL BE HAPPY TO SEE A PERSON SO FAVORED BY THE MUSES.” FROM GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON
Phillis Wheatley was always a supporter of the Revolution and the new American nation. One of her first poems celebrated the Boston Massacre in 1770, which took place near her home.
Now a free woman, Phillis wrote a poem to honor General George Washington, Commander of the Continental Army in the fight for freedom from Britain. She believed that victory for the colonies over British rule would bring freedom for all enslaved blacks.
On October 26, 1775, she sent the poem with a letter to the General at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The letter reads:
“I have taken the freedom to address your Excellency in the enclosed poem and entreat your acceptance though I am not insensible of its inaccuracies. Your being appointed by the Grand Continental Congress to be Generalissimo of the armies of North America, together with the fame of your virtues, excite sensations not easy to suppress. Your generosity, therefore, I presume, will pardon the attempt.
“Wishing your Excellency all possible success in the great cause you are so generously engaged in, I am, Your Excellency’s most humble servant,
Phillis Wheatley”
General Washington wrote back to thank her for the poem. He invited Wheatley to visit him at his headquarters.
“February 28, 1776”
“Miss Phillis,
“Your favor of the 26th of October did not reach my hands till the middle of December. Time enough, you will say, to have given an answer ere this. Granted.
But a variety of important occurrences, continually interposing to distract the mind and withdraw the attention, I hope will apologize for the delay and plead my excuse for the seeming but not real neglect.
I thank you most sincerely for your polite notice of me, in the elegant lines you enclosed. And however undeserving I may be of such encomium and panegyric, the style and manner exhibit a striking proof of your poetical talents, in honor of which, and as a tribute justly due to you, I would have published the poem, had I not been apprehensive that, while I only meant to give the world this new instance of your genius, I might have incurred the imputation of vanity. This and nothing else, determined me not to give it place in the public prints.
If you should ever come to Cambridge, or near headquarters, I shall be happy to see a person so favored by the Muses and to whom nature has so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations.
I am, with great respect, your obedient humble servant,
George Washington.”
According to historian Benson J. Lossing, Phillis Wheatley came to his Cambridge headquarters to visit General Washington. “She passed half and hour with the commander in chief,” he wrote, “from whom and his officers, she received marked attention.”
General Washington overcame his fear of appearing vain to secure the publication of Wheatley’s poem. It appeared in the VIRGINIA GAZETTE in March 1776.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GEORGE WASHINGTON
BY PHILLIS WHEATLEY, 1775
Celestial choir! enthron'd in realms of light,
Columbia's scenes of glorious toils I write.
While freedom's cause her anxious breast alarms,
She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.
See mother earth her offspring's fate bemoan,
And nations gaze at scenes before unknown!
See the bright beams of heaven's revolving light
Involved in sorrows and veil of night!
The goddess comes, she moves divinely fair,
Olive and laurel bind her golden hair:
Wherever shines this native of the skies,
Unnumber'd charms and recent graces rise.
Muse! bow propitious while my pen relates
How pour her armies through a thousand gates,
As when Eolus heaven's fair face deforms,
Enwrapp'd in tempest and a night of storms;
Astonish'd ocean feels the wild uproar,
The refluent surges beat the sounding shore;
Or thick as leaves in Autumn's golden reign,
Such, and so many, moves the warrior's train.
In bright array they seek the work of war,
Where high unfurl'd the ensign waves in air.
Shall I to Washington their praise recite?
Enough thou knw'st them in the fields of fight.
Thee, first in peace and honours,—we demand
The grace and glory of thy martial band.
Fam'd for thy valour, for thy virtues more,
Hear every tongue thy guardian aid implore!
One century scarce perform'd its destined round,
When Gallic powers Columbia's fury found;
And so may you, whoever dares disgrace
The land of freedom's heaven-defended race!
Fix'd are the eyes of nations on the scales,
For in their hopes Columbia's arm prevails.
Anon Britannia droops the pensive head,
While round increase the rising hills of dead.
Ah! cruel blindness to Columbia's state!
Lament thy thirst of boundless power too late.
Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side,
Thy ev'ry action let the goddess guide.
A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine,
With gold unfading, WASHINGTON! be thine.
Posted By: Richard Kigel
Thursday, December 31st 2009 at 11:56AM
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