A Checklist of Funeral Dirges in Honor of General Washington

Abstract

Often in history the death of a prominent leader has provoked a national mourning in which people of divergent political, religious, and artistic persuasions unite to pay homage to a common hero. Commemoration of the death becomes a focal point not only of national sorrow but also of national pride, and a concentrated effort is made to solemnize the occasion through various types of memorial tributes. The occasional pieces that writers, artists, and musicians contribute to such memorial repertories provide valuable documents of contemporaneous taste and often are helpful in estimating cultural development. Among the most lavish and well-documented displays of public mourning experienced in the early years of our country was the commemoration of the death of our first president. George Washington died at Mount Vernon on the morning of 14 December 1799, but it was not until over a week later that obituaries began to appear in United States newspapers. The American people responded to the news of Washington's death with an intense expression of exaggerated sentiment. In the weeks that followed the public announcement, memorial tributes of various kinds appeared in a continuous stream. Hundreds of eulogies, hymns, and odes were circulated through black-bordered broadsides and published in newspapers and special anthologies. Book dealers advertised subscriptions to authentic biographies and collections of Washington's letters to Congress. In newspapers, factual reporting of Washington's last illness and the text of his will were sandwiched in with advertisements of memorabilia