The First American Army - Bruce Chadwick [118]
Our spirits now were roused, we marched without delay
Through Philadelphia, Chester and Wilmington straightaway
We took our post near red clay creek, upon a pleasant field
Where we thought we would rather fight, then unto tyrants yield.
Chapter Twenty-One
PRIVATE ELIJAH FISHER JOINS WASHINGTON’s ELITE LIFE GUARD, 1778
In March 1778, Private Elijah Fisher’s luck changed. One of the men from his regiment who was a member of the “life guard” that traveled with General Washington decided to leave just as the unit was increased in size. Fisher’s colonel asked him to take his place in the elite military unit, despite his recent illness.
To be chosen for the commander’s life guard was a great honor. Washington created the unit for two reasons. First, the guard, usually accompanied by a band, had special uniforms, new hats, the best and fastest horses. They traveled with him wherever he went to create an impressive image for the commander in chief. The members of the guard were a distinguished group and had to meet specific requirements. Each had to be American, not from any foreign power aiding the army. Washington insisted that they had to be good soldiers and men of “sobriety, honesty, and good behavior . . . handsomely and well made . . . neat and spruce.” The unit originally consisted of fifty-eight infantrymen and thirty-eight cavalry, but their number grew over the years. They were their own parade and gave Washington an aura of power. Second, the guard, whose members also had to be at least five feet, ten inches in height, was there to protect him from any personal attacks as the army moved. When it rested, they camped right next to his tent or home.1
Life was good in the special unit that guarded the commander in chief, the forerunner of the secret service that protected presidents later. The commander took care of the men who served in the guard with warm clothing and ample food. “I like being there much better than being in the regiment,” Fisher said. He still experienced kidney pains.
Fisher and the personal guard were always with Washington and the experience gave Fisher a chance to see how Washington conducted himself as he met with foreign dignitaries, other generals and local ministers, farmers and merchants. He was witness to the relationship that Washington enjoyed with his wife Martha, who spent every winter of the war with the general. She, too, was protected by the life guard. Fisher knew about Washington’s close relationship with his slave servant, Billy Lee, who spent a considerable amount of time with the general, riding with him many afternoons of the war. Fisher watched as Washington inspected camps and led battles. He saw him during happy times, following a victory in a battle (Washington rarely smiled in public in order to hide his bad teeth) and he saw the flashes of anger that the general kept hidden from the army and the public, especially at Valley Forge when Washington fumed about the lack of clothing and food. Fisher also had a close-up view of the enormous respect and admiration displayed by people who came to see the commander in chief. But Fisher and the men in the life guard served to protect him, not befriend him. Fisher never indicated in his journal that he ever actually talked to Washington.
The personal guard also played a major role in all of the pomp that Washington loved to direct on special occasions. One of Washington’s lobbying efforts throughout the war was with the chiefs of various Indian tribes. He wanted their friendship in order to keep them from joining the British. Fisher and the members of the guard would witnesses the arrival of the Indian chiefs at Valley Forge. They came wearing their ornate headdresses and flowing robes for meetings and dinners to cement the friendship with the Continental Army. The guard assembled to greet visiting foreign dignitaries or rode out to greet them with the commander, music playing