Athenaeum portrait. Oil on canvas. 121.92 x 94.3 cm • 48 x 37 1/8 in. National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian), Washington, DC; jointly owned with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.
Born: Martha Dandridge Custis.
The Continental soldier often had to provide his own eating utensils, but on occasion they came as standard issue. Maryland troops, for example, were provided a wooden trencher (plate), and bowl, as well as wooden and pewter spoons. Each man would have his knife, of course; and for quaffing his rum, cider, beer, or whiskey, a horn cup, which was extremely light compared with pewter or ceramic. Officers, as might be expected, had more refined utensils. George Washington’s mess kit, for example, was a very elaborate affair housed in a handsome fourteen-compartment wood chest lined with green wool.