A Great American Literary Manuscript: the Complete Conclusion, Signed and Dated, of Book 4 of Washington Irving’s The Life of Washington

He states his goal and strategy in writing this great work, this being the conclusion as sent to the printer

 

Other manuscripts of Washington Irving are unsigned and fragmentary and situated in the middle of other sections, making this unique in our experience. It is signed, complete as a section, and a great summation of Irving’s work and intent.

 

Washington Irving, Literary Giant and First American Professional Author & Biographer

For Washington Irving, telling the story of George Washington was a lifelong passion. Irving’s mother named the future writer after Washington and took the boy to the hero’s first inauguration in 1789, where the President supposedly blessed him. It is said among the first things Irving ever wrote was on George Washington, whose biography he hoped one day to write.

Washington Irving’s career as a writer started in journals and newspapers. He published Salmagundi (1807-08), and from 1812 -1814 was an editor of Analetic Magazine in Philadelphia and New York. In 1809 appeared Irving’s comic “A History of New York”, by the imaginary Dietrich Knickerbocker, who was supposed to be an eccentric Dutch-American scholar. The book became part of New York folklore. Irving’s success continued with “The Sketch Book”, a collection of stories that included the short stories for which he is so well known, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle”. The success of these stories allowed him to become America’s first professional writer, earning his living from the craft of literature.

In 1828 he wrote his notable biography of Columbus, “The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus,” which led the Spanish to elect him to the Royal Academy. In 1842 President John Tyler appointed him Ambassador to Spain, and he served in that position until 1845.

After returning from Spain, Irving researched and wrote his great 5 volume magnum opus, his immortal “The Life of George Washington”, which was published from 1855-59. He died just a few months later. It is perhaps the first great American biography and he the first prominent American biographer. As such it deserves a place in the literary history of the United States.

Irving’s Assessment of Washington and the Revolution: The Complete Original Manuscript For the Concluding Remarks of Volume 4

Washington: “He fought for a cause, but not for personal renown.”

Here he provides his assessments of Washington the man, Washington the leader, the Revolutionary War and the American cause. It is a virtual guide on how to view these, full of insights and valuable perspectives.

Autograph Manuscript Signed of this entire conclusion, at once both literary and biographical, sent by Irving to Putnam and retained by the latter. “In the volumes here concluded, we have endeavored to narrate faithfully the career of Washington from childhood, through his early surveying expeditions in the wilderness, his diplomatic mission to the French posts on the frontier, his campaigns in the French war, his arduous trials as commander-in-chief, throughout the Revolution, the noble simplicity of his life in retirement, until we have shown him elevated to the presidential chair, by no effort of his own, in a manner against his wishes, by the unanimous vote of a grateful country. The plan of our work has necessarily carried us widely into the campaigns of the Revolution, even where Washington was not present in person; for his spirit pervaded and directed the whole, and a general knowledge of the whole is necessary to appreciate the sagacity, forecast, enduring fortitude, and comprehensive wisdom with which he conducted it. He himself has signified to one who aspired to write his biography, that any memoirs of his life, distinct and unconnected with the history of the war, would be unsatisfactory. In treating of the Revolution, we have endeavored to do justice to what we consider its most striking characteristic; the greatness of the object and the scantiness of the means. We have endeavored to keep in view the prevailing poverty of resources, the scandalous neglects, the squalid miseries of all kinds, with which its champions had to contend in their expeditions through trackless wildernesses, or thinly peopled regions; beneath scorching suns or inclement skies; their wintry marches to be traced by bloody foot- prints on snow and ice; their desolate wintry encampments, rendered still more desolate by nakedness and famine. It was in the patience and fortitude with which these ills were sustained by a half-disciplined yeomanry, voluntary exiles from their homes, destitute of all the “pomp and circumstance” of war to excite them, and animated solely by their patriotism, that we read the noblest and most affecting characteristics of that great struggle for human rights. They do wrong to its moral grandeur, who seek by commonplace exaggeration, to give a melodramatic effect and false glare to its military operations, and to place its greatest triumphs in the conflicts of the field. Lafayette showed a true sense of the nature of the struggle, when Napoleon, accustomed to effect ambitious purposes by hundreds of thousands of troops, and tens of thousands of slain, sneered at the scanty armies of the American Revolution and its “boasted allies.” “Sire,” was the admirable and comprehensive reply, ”it was the grandest of causes won by skirmishes of sentinels and outposts.”

“In regard to the character and conduct of Washington, we have endeavored to place his deeds in the clearest light, and left them to speak for themselves, generally avoiding comment or eulogium. We have quoted his own words and writings largely, to explain his feelings and motives, and give the true key to his policy; for never did man leave a more truthful mirror of his heart and mind, and a more thorough exponent of his conduct, than he has left in his copious correspondence. There his character is to be found in all its majestic simplicity, its massive grandeur, and quiet colossal strength. He was no hero of romance; there was nothing of romantic heroism in his nature. As a warrior, he was incapable of fear, but made no merit of defying danger. He fought for a cause, but not for personal renown. Gladly, when he had won the cause, he hung up his sword, never again to take it down. Glory, that blatant word, which haunts some military minds like the bray of the trumpet, formed no part of his aspirations. To act justly was his instinct, to promote the public weal his constant effort, to deserve the “affections of good men” his ambition. With such qualifications for the pure exercise of sound judgment and comprehensive wisdom, he ascended the presidential chair.

“There for the present we leave him. So far our work is complete, comprehending the whole military life of Washington, and his agency in public affairs, up to the formation of our Constitution. How well we have executed it, we leave to the public to determine; hoping to find it, as heretofore, far more easily satisfied with the result of our labors than we are ourselves. Should the measure of health and good spirits, with which a kind Providence has blessed us beyond the usual term of literary labor, be still continued, we may go on, and in another volume give the presidential career and closing life of Washington. In the meantime, having found a resting-place in our task, we stay our hands, lay by our pen, and seek that relaxation and repose which gathering years require. Sunnyside, 1857. W. I.”

Other manuscripts of Washington Irving are unsigned and fragmentary and situated in the middle of other sections, making this unique in our experience. It is signed, complete as a section, and a great summation of Irving’s work and intent.