TDIH: Revolutionary War Thanksgivings

George Washington supported public displays of gratitude as a vital part of a well-functioning army.

At about this time in 1941, the fourth Thursday in November officially becomes a national holiday. You may know about modern Thanksgiving Day celebrations, but did you know that thanksgiving also played an important role in the American Revolution?

Indeed, as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, George Washington fully supported public displays of gratitude as a vital part of a well-functioning army.

The events of October 1777 were a case in point. Americans won an important victory at Saratoga, and Washington promptly credited Divine Providence.

“Let every face brighten, and every heart expand with grateful Joy and praise to the supreme disposer of all events, who has granted us this signal success,” Washington’s General Orders of October 18 declared. “The Chaplains of the army are to prepare short discourses, suited to the joyful occasion . . . .”

Washington further ordered that cannon be fired in celebration.

The Continental Congress soon followed Washington’s lead, recommending that an official day of thanksgiving be observed on December 18.

John Trumbull's depiction of the surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga.

General Washington ensured that his soldiers would participate.

“[I]t is the indispensible duty of all men,” he ordered, “to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligations to him for benefits received . . . . It is therefore recommended by Congress, that [December 18] be set apart for Solemn Thanksgiving and Praise, that at one time, and with one voice, the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor . . . .”

France allied with Americans several months later, prompting more calls for thanksgiving.

“It having pleased the Almighty ruler of the Universe,” Washington’s General Orders of May 5, 1778, declared, “propitiously to defend the Cause of the United American-States and finally by raising us up a powerful Friend among the Princes of the Earth . . . it becomes us to set apart a day for gratefully acknowledging the divine Goodness . . . .”

He didn’t stop there. Washington’s General Orders contain six paragraphs detailing the actions that he wished Brigades and Chaplains to take, along with instructions for special marches and cannon discharges.

As if that weren’t enough, Washington and the Continental Congress called for more than just days of thanksgiving: They also called for days of “Fasting Humiliation and Prayer” when the going got rough.

“Congress having been pleased,” Washington ordered in April 1781, “to set apart and appoint Thursday the 3d of May next for fasting humiliation and prayer the General enjoins a strict obedience to it in the Army . . . .”

The final years of the war in the South had been rough. But Americans won our war for independence several months after he wrote these words. A few years after that, our Constitution was established.

Our country was new, and Washington soon called for its first official day of thanksgiving.

Americans, Washington declared, owe thanks to “that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be” and should “unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks . . . for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence . . . .”

Many Presidents issued calls for days of thanksgiving in the years that followed, of course, but it would be nearly two centuries before this week’s national holiday was established.

Naturally, that is a story for another day.

For further reading, check out my book with Joseph C. Smith, Jr.:
Under God: George Washington and the Question of Church and State