The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1903-07-19
WHERE GEO. WASHINGTON SPENT JULY, US

Cambridge, Mass, July 1S.-During the
short period between the closing of Har-
ward University for the summer and the
opening of the summer school that trans
forms the neighborhood Of Harvard
Square from a city of undergraduates to
one of teachers and other adult students
gathered from all parts Of the country
not one of the older buildings seems to
settle down more contentedly in its vaca-
ton quiet than the old wooden house that
was erected something over 175 years ago
as home for the college presidents. The
old house has special right to its re-
miniscent mood just at this season. for 1t
was in July, 1775, that the presence oil
General washington made 1t the tenn
porary headquarters Of the new born
American army. 1t was here indeed that
the American revolution received lts
first impress as an organized military re-
sistance.
Wadsworth House, as the first head
quarters of the American army, Is now
called in honor of the first Harvard pres
ident who occupied 1t, was known orlgl-
nally simply as the presidents house. IL
was built In 1925 less than year after
the general court of Massachusetts had
voted to allow the corporation OF the
college. just struggling out OF the dlfn-
culties of its first century the sum OIL
1000 pounds to be used in building a
handsome wooden dwelling house, barn,
and outbuildings "for the reception and
accommodation of the Reverend the Pres
ident of Harvard college for the time be-
ing" But 5000 even in those days was
not altogether sufficient for the purpose
and the corporation was compelled 10
add another $4,000 before its new presi-
dent had an official roof to shelter him.
',The presidents house to dwell in" says
an entry In President Wadsworths Book
Relating to College Affairs" and old Ms
volume now preserved In the Harvard
library, was raised May "a, 1925 No life
was lost nor person hurt in raising II;
thanks be to God for his preserving good
ness. In We Evening, those who raised
We House had Supper in We Hail. after
which we sang we first stave or staff In
We 1877 Psalm"
Even after 1t had been raised" how
ever, It was far from finished and the
| college appealed to the general court for
/ for an addition to the original 1000
pounds President Wadsworth, so said
the petitioners, can nowhere hire con-
venient house for himeself and his fam
lily is divided, some dwelling in one house
| end some in another" In fact winter
found the house unfinished and another
! entry in President Wadsworth's diary
| tells us that In October some Of
our family lodged in We House built for
| We President. Nov at night was We
first time that my wife and l lodged
| there. The House was not half finished
within" Nor was 1t wholly finished
within till 1727 when the amount neces-
sary to complete 1t was paid out of the
/ college treasury.
Naturally however, 1t is the military
| history that clusters about the old gam
brel-roofed structure that gives it its
| greatest interest to the modern visitor
and the mind goes back although not
| very easily, to the hot July days when
| Cambridge was a fortified camp and the
walls of the old house, echoing to the
| voice of Washington and his generals
| heard the beginning of the plans that
were to result in the evacuation of Bos-
| ton and the first victory of American mil
| itary strategy, carefully considered and
worked out in detail, over the British
| forces The college itself had temporarily
disbanded. not to reassemble until after
| the military occupation of Cambridge and
| every available building had been turned
| into a barracks for the colonial troops
| OF these buildings Massachusetts, Hall
/ and Wadsworth House are still standing
| and Of the two the latter, although less
/
| most varied history. For many years. In
deed. II was the one Harvard building
| into which every student entered during
| every year of his college existence, not
| for the sake of historical associations but
| in orded to pay his bills at the Bursar' s
| office Then, also, II served for many
| years as the official residence OF the va
| rious famous clergymen who have con-
| Quoted services in the Harvard chapel
| a. cd wi
name of Phillips Brooks as well as that
of General Washington.
| At the beginning of the revolution the
presidents house, as it was called, was
| the first place chosen by the Provincial
| Congress. then sitting at WATERFOWL.
| Mass, as General Washington's head
! quarters. Later the headquarters of the
army were removed TO the old Vassall
mansion, now best known as the Long
fellow house and not only larger but fur
| Their removed from the guns of the enc
my. During the period of Washington's
| occupancy. as the story was often told
by member of the American Medical
Staff, the house narrowly escaped de-
| struction by a bomb that was thrown
| from the British entertainments on Copp S
Hill and, fell. with the fuse still burning.
into what Is now Harvard Square and
| very near the generals quarters. A SOL
der stamped on the burning fuse and put
it out at the risk of his own life. Who
the soldier was has never come down in
history but the story was told years af-
terward to President Quincy of Harvard,
by one of the men whose spurs had
many times clinked over the threshold
of the presidents house during that STIR
ring two or three weeks of its history.
| Washington's removal to the Vassall
mansion took place about the middle OF
July. The actual part of Wadsworth
House in making American military his
tory lies therefore between the arrival
Of General Washington in the afternoon