Results of the Condition Survey of George Washington's Sleeping Tent Exterior
Visitors to historic sites of the Revolutionary War period often hear that Washington slept here. The guide is usually talking about a house, such as the Potts’ House here at Valley Forge. General Washington did use this building as his headquarters during most of the six-month encampment of 1777-1778. Where did he sleep when he first arrived at Valley Forge, or during each year’s military campaign season, with frequent moves? As with all military officers, throughout much of the war he slept, worked, and dined in large, sturdy, cloth tents. Known as “marquees,” they received hard use.
One marquee that was likely still in use at the end of the war came down through the Washington family. In the early 20th century, a descendent sold pieces of the multi-part marquee to several historic organizations. Today, the Smithsonian Institution displays the exterior of the dining tent; Colonial National Historical Park owns the interior of the dining tent roof, the interior of the sleeping tent, and the poles of the sleeping tent; the Mount Vernon Ladies Association has the linen door to the sleeping tent and other pieces; and the American Revolution Center (formerly the Valley Forge Historical Society) owns the exterior of the sleeping tent; the poles of the dining tent; and a portmanteau.
In 1978, at the request of the Valley Forge Historical Society, a National Park Service conservation team studied, cleaned, and stabilized the sleeping tent exterior and built a special climate-controlled room in which to display the tent at the Valley Forge National Historical Park Welcome Center. In 2004, through a Save America’s Treasures grant, the National Park Service funded a conservation condition survey of the sleeping tent that included a textile analysis of the fabric and a study of the history of Washington’s tentage. The fabric analysis and study produced surprising results.
It had been assumed that the marquee pieces displayed at Valley Forge, Colonial, and the Smithsonian were those made early in the Revolution by Plunkett Fleeson, a Philadelphia upholsterer and merchant. If this were true, the Fleeson marquees could have been those used here at Valley Forge during the encampment.
