Remembering Valley Forge

As Rector of All Saint’s Church in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Burk first called for a monument to George Washington’s memory in a 1903 speech at Valley Forge. Within a few years, Burk founded both the Washington Memorial Chapel (still a fixture on the landscape of the National Historical Park) and the Valley Forge Museum of American History.

His first major acquisition for the museum he envisioned was the sleeping and office tent, or marquee, used by General Washington during the Revolutionary War. Following the death of Martha Washington in 1802, the marquee and other military field equipment passed down through the Custis and Lee families. In addition to the marquee tent and associated poles, ropes, tent pins, and other components, Burk acquired one of two leather portmanteaus or cases that were part of the General’s wartime baggage. 

Shortly after completing the purchase of the marquee and transporting it to Valley Forge in 1909, Rev. Burk learned of the existence of another significant Washington-associated object from the Revolutionary War: the so-called Commander in Chief’s Standard. [See above image: objects on display at the Valley Forge Historical Society, including Washington's standard.] This thirteen star flag with a blue silk field descended in the family of Washington’s sister, Betty Washington Lewis. Among her sons (Washington’s nephews) were an officer in the Commander in Chief's Guard and two private secretaries who served at Mount Vernon and in Philadelphia during Washington’s presidency and retirement.