Weeping and Mourning: Funeral Dirges in Honor of General Washington

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON died on the morning of December 14, I799 at Mount Vernon.' News of his death traveled slowly, and it was not until the end of the following week that black-bordered obituaries began to appear in American newspapers. On December 28 the Courier of New Hampshire recorded a sentiment which was to be echoed in many other newspapers and broadsides during the following weeks:How shall we express our grief on this distressing event; with what language shall we give vent to the full feelings of our hearts ... we are overwhelmed with grief.Yet the American people did find words and actions to express the depth of their sorrow, and the outpofiring of public sentiment which followed the official announcement was both swift and intense. In the two months following the General's death, memorial tributes of various sorts appeared in a seemingly endless flow, quickly plunging the young republic into an orgy of weeping and mourning.Over three hundred eulogies were published in separate editions and those considered most inspiring were then reprinted in special memorial collections.2 : Scribner, 1957), pp. 617-34. This same source includes an interesting "Comparative Critique of Washington's Last Illness" printed as Appendix VII-2, pp. 637-47 and a short discussion of memorials held in Washington's honor as Appendix VII-3, pp. 648-53. WEEPING AND MOURNING 283 testimonial broadsides were printed, including a special group of "Lady Washington Laments." Most of these were relatively short strophic poems fashioned as highly stylized laments or apotheoses to death.8 Some cursed the "cruel and relentless" death that deprived them of "Columbia's favorite son," while others assumed a more metaphysical posture. Although generally strained in style, some of the Washington memorial lyrics managed to rise above cliche and achieved poetic originality of a rather lofty order.' Memorial hymns and odes crowded American newspapers and dozens of 'A detailed account of the final days of Washington can be found in John Alexander Caroll and Mary White Ashworth, First in Peace, Vol. VII of Douglass Southall Freeman's George Washington (New YorkThe most prolific poet of memorial lyrics was the Reverend George Richards of Portsmouth, who published three books of memorial poems, the largest of which was printed by Charles Peirce in January, I8oo.5 Peirce also printed a miscellaneous collection of twelve elegies under the title Hymns and Odes composed on the Death of Gen. George Washington,6 which served as the poetic source for several musical compositions, including works