George Washington

The father of our country was an ally to gays during the Revolutionary War.

By Victoria A. Brownworth - Philadelphia Gay News

George Washington

The father of our country was an ally to gays during Revolutionary War

According to research, George Washington had a gay-friendly attitude more open to what would be considered a "modern," 21st-century perspective on life, love and sexuality than might be presumed in the post-Puritan 18th-century colonies.

At the time, homosexuality was punishable by imprisonment, castration and even death throughout the colonies. But Washington's stance was noticeably — even dramatically — relaxed in comparison to many of his cohorts.

As his letters and diaries affirm, Washington was above all a pragmatist. That made him a superb military strategist and also increased his wealth as a Virginia landowner long before he headed the Continental Army or became the first president.

Washington's views on democracy, liberty and the "pursuit of happiness" were straightforward. His letters, diaries, military papers and conversations with friends and colleagues of his era were all succinct: He believed in freedom with discipline; he was left-leaning, but no anarchist. He looked the other way on matters that may have otherwise raised eyebrows when it was the pragmatic thing to do.

One of the issues was homosexuality in the military.

Strength of purpose

It's impossible to overstate the impact Washington had on both the founding of the nation and winning of the Revolutionary War. Part of Washington's genius as a strategist was his ability to rally troops — literally. All the documentation from the era states that without equivocation that Washington inspired tremendous loyalty in all levels of his military.

By all accounts, a man's man, Washington was superb at all kinds of sport. Considered the best horseman of his time — Jefferson wrote extensively about Washington's prowess — and one of the strongest men any of his compatriots had ever met, his feats of strength were regularly recorded.

That personal strength combined with a strength of purpose and integrity. It's what drew other men to him and what made him a great leader.

Washington's letters state that he was less than thrilled with marital life and preferred the company of men — particularly the young Alexander Hamilton, who he made his personal secretary — to that of women.

His concern for his male colleagues clearly extended to their personal lives. This was especially true of Hamilton, who he brought with him to Valley Forge, giving Hamilton a cabin to share with his then-lover, John Laurens.

Washington himself had married late for the time — at 28 — and to a wealthy widow, Martha Custis. They raised her two children from her first marriage, but had no children of their own. (Washington was thought to be sterile either from a bout of smallpox or a fever in childhood.)

Washington's letters make clear that while he cared deeply for Martha and her children, there was no passion between them. Nor are there records of Washington's dalliances with other women.

Washington's passion was reserved for his work and for the men with whom he served closely, notably Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette.

Historians assert that passionate same-sex friendships were normative in the 18th century, though punishable by law.

However, as historian Kai Wright noted in Soldiers of Freedom, the military was often more advanced on social issues than civilian life and cited the desegregation of the military on race and gender as examples. Washington's laissez-faire attitude toward homosexuality at Valley Forge fits that construct. Washington was a gay-friendly pragmatist who put the importance of the revolutionary struggle above the concerns of civilian life.

While some have tried to make the case for Washington being gay given his special friendships, there's nothing in his papers that could be considered proof. Nevertheless, Washington was certainly gay-friendly.

George Washinton

An early DADT policy

The most succinct evidence for this was Washington's clear Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy when it came to same-sex coupling among his regiments at Valley Forge.

Gay historian Randy Shilts made the case for Washington's ever-pragmatic as well as compassionate approach to same-sex relationships in Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military.

Shilts detailed how Washington merely signed the order for discharge of a soldier caught in flagrante with another soldier. He suggested that if Lt. Col. Aaron Burr had not forced the issue, the soldier might have remained at Valley Forge instead of being the first documented case of a discharge for homosexuality in the Continental Army on March 15, 1778 at Valley Forge.

The soldier was court-martialed by Burr, but that was the extent of it. Washington did not flog him, imprison him or as Jefferson had required as part of Virginia law as punishment for sodomy, have him castrated. Washington could also have had the soldier executed, but instead the soldier just walked away.

When Lt. Gotthold Frederick Enslin was drummed out of the corps for homosexuality it seems that Washington signed the order for discharge more because the case involved fraternization below rank. According to military documents, Enslin was caught having sexual relations with Pvt. John Monhart by Ensign Anthony Maxwell.

At Valley Forge, soldiers of similar rank shared cabins. Maxwell went to Burr, his commanding officer, with the accusation. Enslin denied it and accused Maxwell of slander. Burr then court-martialed Maxwell for the slander of a senior officer, but in the course of the proceedings, determined it was Enslin who was lying. Maxwell was found not guilty and, 11 days later, Enslin was court-martialed and found guilty of sodomy and perjury against Maxwell.

Monhart was neither court-martialed nor discharged.

That Washington looked the other way with same-sex couples is most obvious in his dealings with Maj. Gen. Frederich Wilhelm von Steuben, the Prussian military genius he enlisted to help strategize at Valley Forge. Von Steuben arrived at the encampment with his young French assistant, Pierre Etienne Duponceau, who was presumed to be his lover, in tow.

Von Steuben's relationship with Washington was close and there were no conflicts with Washington over von Steuben's sleeping arrangements with his young Frenchman. Because von Steuben's English was limited, but his French was perfect, Washington assigned his own secretary and one of his aides-de-camp to von Steuben.

Who were the men? Lt. Col. Alexander Hamilton and Lt. Col. John Laurens, who shared a cabin at Valley Forge at Washington's bequest. And as historian Jonathan Katz detailed, Hamilton and Laurens were lovers.

Washington, who had to have known the nature of their relationship due to his own closeness with Hamilton, situated the two together at Valley Forge and then connected them with von Steuben and Duponceau — a gay foursome working directly with the leader of the Continental Army.

Washington obviously considered morale needed to be upheld in what was inarguably the most horrific battle station in U.S. military history, the winter at Valley Forge. Allowing men their one solace — each other — made sense from a general's point of view. The less miserable the soldiers, the better they would fight. If keeping each other warm in the bone-crushing cold and abject misery made life somewhat more bearable, then Washington had no issue with ignoring homosexuality in his ranks.

Discharge for disguised solider

It's also a matter of record that Washington honorably discharged a passing woman, Deborah Sampson, who served in the Continental Army disguised as a man, Robert Shurtlieff.

Sampson, who was alleged to have had relationships with other women during her time in the Continental Army, was wounded several times. In order to maintain her "male" identity, she carved a musket ball out of her own thigh with a penknife and sewed the wound herself with her sewing kit rather than have her gender revealed to an Army medic.

Prior to her service in the Continental Army, Sampson had been arrested in church for dressing like a man — and was arrested for the same "crime" after the war. So Sampson's case and Washington's involvement was particularly telling. In other instances women had been arrested and court-martialed for trying to serve as men in the Army.

Over the decades of his military service, Washington spent his most emotional and life-altering time with other men. He certainly knew of the relationships between Hamilton and Laurens, von Steuben and Duponceau and yet brought none of them up on charges.

Washington didn't just look the other way but specifically sought to help these gay soldiers. This is irrefutable proof — in Washington's own records and that of others — that the father of our country was gay-friendly toward his key military personnel at the most pivotal point in American history.

Washington didn't think morale suffered with gay soldiers serving under him or even as his key strategists. Rather, he saw these men for their value to him and to the nation. -E

Victoria A. Brownworth is the author and editor of nearly 30 books, including Too Queer: Essays from a Radical Life and Coming Out of Cancer: Writings from the Lesbian Cancer Epidemic. She founded Tiny Satchel Press which specializes in books for LGBT youth and youth of color.