Valley Forge saw the first official celebration of Washington’s birthday

This happened on Sunday, February 22, 1778. The bountiful fields of Chester, Montgomery, and Bucks counties had produced great crop yields, but local farmers, millers, and merchants much preferred to smuggle their goods into British-occupied Philadelphia in exchange for pound sterling and sometimes even gold as opposed to the nearly worthless Continental scrip. This leads to the shortage of food in the camp at Valley Forge. A week before the date, the camp’s larders had run out of food, and seven days with no rations had not only again raised the prospect of famine but had lent the winter cantonment the trappings of a refugee camp.

Nonetheless, that evening as Washington, his wife Martha, and his closest aids choked down a meager supper of spoiled meat and hickory nuts, a fife and drum corps from Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia regiment appeared outside the small farmhouse that Washington used as his headquarters to serenade him with an impromptu birthday concert. During the whole preparation for the birthday celebration, Washington retired to bed. Martha Washington even managed to scrape up 15 shillings with which to thank the bandleader. However, when he awoke and experience the celebration, Washington feared that the tribute was too reminiscent of the British custom of military bands honoring the king on his birthday.