General Washington’s “Order of March”

by fdrlibrary, posted in America 250, Found in the Archives

America 250 — Landmark Documents from President Roosevelt’s Early American History Collections

Follow our #America250 series of articles highlighting hundreds of remarkable historical documents, manuscripts, and rare books collected personally by Franklin D. Roosevelt. These special collections reflect Roosevelt’s abiding interests in early American history, our nation’s founding fathers, the American Revolution; and they evidence the personal importance he placed on historical preservation of American heritage. President Roosevelt donated each of these treasures to the National Archives so they would be permanently preserved and made available for public research and exhibition at the FDR Presidential Library & Museum in Hyde Park, NY.

For our next post, we are featuring another document from the Historical Manuscripts Collection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This document is a leaf from General George Washington’s 1781 orderly book; a form of administrative diary commonly used during the Revolutionary War to record orders affecting a given command. It is Washington’s handwritten “Order of March for the Right Column of the American Troops who are to move by the Right” during realignment of his forces for the campaign against General Lord (Charles) Cornwallis’s forces in Virginia. This campaign culminated in decisive victory at the Siege of Yorktown.

FDR received this document as a gift from Eleanore Bruno in January 1942. Shown here also, is her letter to the President.

In her letter, Bruno indicates the manuscript came from the papers of Major General Edward Hand, who was one of the officers mentioned in the document. She offers the leaf as a gift for President Roosevelt’s 60th birthday, along with her well wishes and gratitude for the President’s leadership “in this glorious struggle for liberty of mind and body.” This letter was written less than two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and demonstrates the shifting attitude of Americans, as they rallied to the defense of the nation, and the prosecution of the war ahead of them.

Displayed here also, purely for archival nostalgia, are FDR Presidential Library records concerning the Washington “Order of March” manuscript. One is a historical display label used in the Museum during the 1940s, and the other a catalog inventory card showing additional detail concerning the gift.

Note: The Eleanore Bruno letter featured is located within the President’s Personal File (PPF) 2195 – American Autograph Shop [Merion Station, PA]. The Washington “Order of March” manuscript is located within the Historical Manuscripts Collection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Papers.