William Rush (1756—1833)

by William Rush (1756—1833)

North American white pine; 54.6 x 40 x 38.1 cm (21 1/2 x 15 3/4 x 15 in.) Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT.

by William Rush (1756—1833)

Terra cotta; 18 3/4 x 15 1/2 x 12 1/2 in. (47.625 x 39.37 x 31.75 cm). Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA.

by William Rush (1756—1833)

Terracotta; 19 x 14 3/4 x 11 1/4 in. (48.26 x 37.465 x 28.575 cm). Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA.

by William Rush (1756—1833)

Pine; painted white. Independence National Historical Park, Portrait Collection (Second Bank of the United States), Philadelphia, PA.

by William Rush (1756—1833)

Terra cotta. Museum of the American Revolution, Philadelphia, PA.

by William Rush (1756—1833)

Bronze, stone base; 22 x 17 x 11 in. (55.9 x 43.2 x 27.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY.

by William Rush (1756—1833)

Terra cotta; painted white. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA.

Known as the Pine Knot Portrait.

by William Rush (1756—1833)

Bronze; H: 60 m.; W: 47 m.; D: 26 m. Musée franco-américain du château de Blérancourt, Picardy, France.

by William Rush (1756—1833)

Terra cotta; 21 x 18 3/4 x 11 1/4 in. (53.34 x 47.625 x 28.575 cm). Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA.

by William Rush (1756—1833)

Wood with paint. The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA.

Washington’s courage thrilled his men. But he was not an enlisted man’s general. He did not interact personally with them, and would not let his officers do so either. Officers under his command who supped or slept in enlisted men’s headquarters were routinely punished. To Washington’s mind, discipline and hierarchy were central to maintaining unit cohesion and integrity. No warm, outgoing person, notes one historian, Washington bound men to him by his own sense of justice and dedication. Yet how his troops viewed him, and in what ways their opinions may have changed over time, is uncertain. Although nineteenth-century history books and old soldiers’ memoirs resonate with references to the commander-in-chief’s inspirational presence, diaries and other accounts written in wartime rarely mention him.

Edward G. Lengel
General George Washington: A Military Life (2005)