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Researched and written by Thomas E. Baker, Park Historian, 1991

About midday on June 2, 1791, an impressive white coach and four, a
baggage wagon, and a group of outriders clad in red and white livery
clattered up New Garden Road, and in a cloud of swirling red dust
ascended the hill where the town of Martinville, seat of government for
Guilford County, North Carolina, stood. Never, not even in the memorable
days of March 1781 when this same hamlet, then known as Guilford Court
House, had witnessed and lent its name to one of the Revolutionary War's
fiercest battles had Guilford Court House/Martinville seen such an array
of horseflesh and equipage, or of prominent personages. One occupant of
the coach was well known to the crowds gathered in the two streets of
Martinville: Alexander Martin, Governor of North Carolina, local
property owner turned developer, and sometimes resident of this very
small village that was, in fact, his namesake. But the crowds gathered
in Martinville that day had not turned out to see their neighbor Alex
Martin. They had come for a glimpse of the other passenger, the owner of
this sumptuous piece of rolling stock that he had referred to as his
"chariot", and whose initials "GW" were emblazoned on the carriage
doors.

George Washington, commander-in-chief of America's forces in the
Revolutionary War, first president of the United States, and already
well on his way to his ultimate folk status as Father of His Country had
arrived in Martinville on the last leg of an 83-day tour of the southern
states. Early in his first term, President Washington had decided that
he would visit each state in the young nation so that he could see with
his own eyes the country and its resources, and judge "the temper and
disposition of its inhabitants toward the new government." Because North
Carolina had been one of the holdout states that initially refuse to
ratify the Constitution, he was particularly interested in seeing
evidence of the "disposition toward the new government" of North
Carolina's citizens. It was also believed that these visits by the
nation's greatest hero would help alleviate doubts about the widsom of
vesting power in a centralized government.

This trip, in reality the last segment of America's first political
junket, had begun when Washington left Philadelphia on March 21, 1791.
After an extended stay at Mount Vernon, the President rode south through
the coastal regions of the Carolinas and Georgia, before returning along
a more westerly inland route. Along the way he made laconic diary notes
about things he had seen and done, and places where he ate and slept. A
planter at heart, he made frequent notations about the quality of
farmland he passed. In cities like Wilmington, Charleston and Savannah
he was received royally with cannon salutes, fulsome welcoming
addresses, lavish dinners and gala balls, following which he invariably
made careful diary notes of the number of ladies who had danced in his
honor. Between cities he ate and slept in public houses, most of which
he described as being of "indifferent" quality, like any other
eighteenth-century traveler. Undoubtedly his most uncomfortable night
came early in his trip when ferrying across Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis,
Maryland, his hired craft became stuck on a sandbar, and he was forced
to sleep wearing his greatcoat and boots in a berth that was a foot too
short for him.

Old soldier that he was, Washington also stopped at most of the
important Revolutionary War battle sights in the South. In fact, like a
soldier he referred to his itinerary as his "line of march"; and the
Revolutionary War veterans who flocked to see him along his way referred
to themselves as "reporting to headquarters." These battlefield
excursions held great interest for the General, because they enable him
to see sites that he had known previously only through the reports of
his officers; and allowed him to make jugments about the strategy and
tactics of his subordinates and their adversaries. In this way he saw
the remains of British and American fortifications around Charleston and
Savannah, and the battlefields of Camden and Hobkirk's Hill. And in this
way he planned to see the battlefield of Guilford Court House.

Washington apparently planned to arrive at Martinville on the afternoon
of June 1, spend the following day of rest from travel conferring with
Governor Martin and seeing the Guilford Court House battlefield, then
departing early on June 3. When he reached Salem on May 31, however, he
received a message that Governor Martin was riding from his plantation
"Danbury" in Rockingham County, and would like to confer with the
President in Salem on June 1. On receiving this message Washington noted
in his diary: "I resolved to await his arrival at this place instead of
halting a day at Guilford as I had intended."

The Moravians at Salem were anxious to impress the President, and they
made his stay very pleasant. His arrival was heralded by "several
melodies" played by the trumpets, french horns, and trombones of
Moravian musicians. He was housed at Salem Tavern where, at his request,
his meals were served with musical accompaniment. The Moravians recorded
that the next day he toured "the various things especially the
water-works and its use." A formal welcoming address attesting to "the
loyal attitude of the Brethren in Wachovia toward the Government of
these states" was presented, and the President responded "in favorable
terms." The Moravians noted that many people from the surrounding area
came to see the President, and he "gladly gave them an opportunity to
fulfill their desires." They also observed that he was "particularly
pleasant to the children." Toward evening Governor Martin arrived and he
and the President attended a "song service", and were then lulled to
sleep by "wind instruments...heard sweetly beside the tavern." As was
his wont, the President set out early the next morning. According to his
diary entry for June 2:

> *In company with the Governor I set out by 4 O'clock for Guilford\[.\]
> Breakfasted at one Dobsons at the distance of eleven miles from Salem
> and dined at Guilford 16 miles further where there was a considerable
> gathering of people who had received notice of my intention to be
> there today and came to satisfy their curiosity...*

It is likely that President Washington responded to the crowd's interest
just as he had at Salem "gladly \[giving\] them an opportunity to
fultill their desires."

Similarities between the Salem and Martinville visits probably end at
this point. Salem was a small (Washington estimated its population as
fewer than 200), but relatively prosperous trading community of pious
craftsmen, comfortably housed in substantial dwellings. Martinville was
an even smaller and physically less inviting village. Dominated by a
rude log courthouse bulding\* and jail, there was probably a small
mercantile establishment of some kind as well. We know there was a
coppersmith shop and that two citizens were licensed to conduct taverns
in their homes. Alexander Martin apparently owned a house about one-half
mile southeast of the courthouse, and it was in this house that the
President is said to have spent the night of June 2-3, 1791.

There was essentially no official welcome for the President in
Martinville: no artillery salutes, no formal welcoming address, no
music, and certanly no gala ball or festive dinner. Washington did note
in his diary:

> *On my approach to this place I was met by a party of light horse
> \[doubtless from the Guilford Militia\] which I prevailed upon the
> Governor to dismiss, and to countermand his orders for others to
> attend me through the state.*

Given that political sentiment in Guilford County tended to be strongly
anti-Federalist, it is tempting to assume that there was little support
for a more auspicious reception for the President. If true, this might
explain why Governor Martin chose to meet Washington in Salem, rather
than await him in the town that bore Martin's name. However, there is no
evidence to support such an hypothesis. The most probably explanation is
that Martinville was too small and lacked sufficient wealth to stage any
sort of formal welcome. In spite of its developer's amitions,
Martinville was a town that never really caught on ; and when the county
seat moved away in 1809, Martinville essentially died.

In one respect at least, Washington's visit to Martinville was
successful; he was able to tour the battlefield where his most trusted
subordinate, Major General Nathanael Greene, had waged one of the
fiercest engagements of the Revolutionary War. There is persuasive
evidence that this visit made a strong impression on Washington's
thinking about military tactics.

Nathanael Greene went to his grave believing that he had been denied an
outright victory at Guilford Court House by the cowardly behavior of the
North Carolina militia that composed the first of three American battle
lines. At the time, Greene wrtoe Governor Abner Nash of North Carolina,
"We ought to have had the victory and had your militia stood by their
officers it was certain." Washington knew of Green'es feelings, and in
his diary notes which contain his first thoughts after surveying the
battlefield indicate that he had seen nothing that would cause him to
differ with his late comrade's judgment.

> *On my way I examined the ground on which the Action between General
> Greene and Lord Cornwallis commenced \-\-- and after dinner rode over
> that where their lines were formed and the scene closed in the retreat
> of the American forces \-\-- the first line of which was
> advantageously drawn up, and had the troops done their duty properly,
> the British must have been sorely galded in their advance, if not
> defeated.*

Two years later, June 7, 1793, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson made
note of a conversation between himself and President Washington that
indicated that the old General's thinking about Guilford Court House had
matured, and that he had concluded that the battle's outcome might have
hinged upon General Greene's error in judgment rather than the
questionable behavior of the North Carolina milita.

> *In converstaion with the Presdient to-day, and speaking about General
> Greene, he said that he and General Greene had always differed in
> opinion about the matter of using Militia. Greene always placed them
> in his front; himself was of the opinion, they should always be used
> as a reserve to improve any advantage, for which purpose they were the
> finest fellows in the world. He said he was on the ground of the
> battle of Guilford, with a person who was in the action, and who
> explained the whole of it to him. That General Greene's front was
> behind a rail fence at the edge of a large field, through which the
> enemy were obliged to pass to get at them; and that in their passage
> through this they must have been torn all to pieces, if troops had
> been posted there who would have stood their ground; and that the
> retreat from that position was through a thicket perfectly secure.
> Instead of this, he posted the North Carolina Militia there, who only
> gave one fire and fell back, so that the whole benefit of their
> position was lost. He thinks that the Regulars, with their field
> pieces, would have hardly let a single man get through that field.*

President Washington's southern tour essentially ended as a public event
when he departed Martinville at 4:00 a.m. on June 3, 1791. From Guilford
County he returned to his home at Mount Vernon as expeditiously as
possible. Arriving in time for dinner on June 12. He was generally
pleased by the results of his trip; heartened by the evidence he had
seen that the people were rallying together in their support of the new
government, and with a sense that he better understood that nation's
needs and potentialities.

Governer Martin of North Carolina, on the other hand, apparently felt
somewhat insecure about North Carolina's response to the President. On
September 27, 1791 he wrote Washington:

> *I pray you to be assured that though it was not in my power to make
> great Show of parade and ostentatious Displays of Opulence in the
> State on your Reception among us, yet no persons entertained a higher
> sense of your eminent Virtures, and exalted Merit, and glow with purer
> affection for your person than the Citizens of North Carolina.*

President Washington responded in a generous letter written on November
14, 1791, that containes the clearest imaginable statement of the
purpose and results of his 1791 tour of the South.

> *I request that your Excellency will receive my thanks for the kind
> congratulations which you express on my return from my southern tour
> in perfect health; and at the same time I beg you to be assured, that
> the reception which I met with among the Citizens of North Carolina,
> as well as those of the other states which I visited, was in the
> highest degree pleasing and satisfactory. My object in that journey
> was not to be received with parade and an ostentatious display of
> opulence. It was for a nobler purpose. To see with my own eyes the
> situation of the Country, and to learn on the spot the condition and
> disposition of our Citizens. In these respects I have been highly
> gratified and to a sensible mind the effusions of affection and
> personal regard which were expressed on so many occassions is no less
> grateful, than the amrks of respect shown to my official Character
> were pleasing in public view.*
>
> *G^o^ Washington*

\* The reference to a "log" court house is conjectural. There is no
information as to what materials were used to build the original
structure. The common belief is that it was log, but the argument for a
frame structure is equally strong.