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for only two brief visits, once on his way to Yorktown and again as he traveled northward after the surrender of Cornwallis.
The first year of the Revolution, Martha joined her husband at his winter headquarters at Cambridge, Mass., bringing along her son and his bride. Food was still plentiful and Mrs. Washington arranged a Christmas dinner. She even persuaded the general to celebrate their wedding anniversary with a Twelfth Night party. But they were restrained, eschewing levity that could have been criticized as improper for the times.
In 1776, Washington led his troops across the Delaware on Christmas Day to defeat a large force of German mercenaries. The holiday won the victory for the general; according to stories, he was able to surprise the Hessian soldiers because they were celebrating around a candle-lit tree.
The next year, Washington was at Valley Forge for Christmas, his men in rags, cold and hungry and close to mutiny. Christmas dinner was cabbage, turnips and potatoes, with a little meat and fowl. There were no eggs, milk, flour, tea or coffee, no holiday breads and pastries, no grog or other spirits.
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