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Six weeks after Great Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War and acknowledging the independence of the United States of America, the Continental Congress passed a resolution asking the states to set aside a day for Americans to give thanks to God for this providential outcome.

"And whereas," says this resolution approved on Oct. 18, 1783, "in the progress of a contest on which the most essential right of human nature depended, the interposition of Divine Providence in our favour hath been most abundantly and most graciously manifested, and the citizens of these United States have every reason for praise and gratitude to the God of their salvation. Impressed, therefore, with an exalted sense of the blessings by which we are surrounded, and of our entire dependence on that Almighty Being from whose goodness and bounty they are derived, the United States Congress assembled, do recommend it to the several States to set apart the second Thursday in December next, as a day of Public Thanksgiving, that all the people may then assemble to celebrate with grateful hearts and united voices the praises of their Supreme and All bountiful Benefactor, for his numberless favors and mercies."

Before that recommended day of Thanksgiving arrived, the last British troops deployed in a U.S. city evacuated Manhattan on Nov. 25, 1783. Gen. George Washington then marched his triumphant army down the length of that liberated island.

Nine days later -- on Dec. 4, 1783 -- Washington gathered his officers in Fraunces Tavern at the southern end of Manhattan. One of those in attendance that day was the 29-year-old Benjamin Tallmadge -- who was born on Long Island in 1754, graduated from Yale in 1773, and joined the Continental Army in 1776.

Washington, according to the Mount Vernon website, had named Tallmadge his director of military intelligence in 1778.

In a memoir he wrote at the request of his children, Tallmadge described the profoundly emotional meeting Washington held with his officers at Fraunces Tavern and what that Founding Father said there.

"At 12 o'clock the officers repaired to the Fraunces Tavern, in Pearl Street, where Gen. Washington had appointed to meet them, and to take his final leave of them," wrote Tallmadge. "We had been assembled but a few moments when His Excellency entered the room. His emotion, too strong to be concealed, seemed to be reciprocated by every officer present. After partaking of a slight refreshment, in almost breathless silence, the General filled his glass with wine, and turning to the officers, he said:

"'With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.'"

Tallmadge than noted: "After the officers had taken a glass of wine, Gen. Washington said: 'I cannot come to each of you, but shall feel obliged if each of you will come and take me by the hand.'"

All the officers then did as Washington had asked.

"Such a scene of sorrow and weeping I had never before witnessed, and hope I may never be called upon to witness again," wrote Tallmadge.

"The simple thought that we were then about to part from the man who had conducted us through a long and bloody war, and under whose conduct the glory and independence of our country had been achieved, and that we should see his face no more in this world, seemed to me utterly insupportable," he wrote. "But the time of separation had come, and waiving his hand to his grieving children around him, he left the room, and passing through a corps of light infantry who were paraded to receive him, he walked silently on to Whitehall, where a barge was in waiting.

"We all followed in mournful silence to the wharf, where a prodigious crowd had assembled to witness the departure of the man who, under God, had been the great agent in establishing the glory and independence of these United States," wrote Tallmadge.

"As soon as he was seated," wrote Tallmadge, "the barge put off into the river, and when out in the stream, our great and beloved General waived his hat, and bid us a silent adieu."

Two-hundred-and-forty-two years after those British forces evacuated Manhattan, the United States of America remains a free and independent country.

And we still ought to be giving thanks to those brave and wise Americans who fought to win that freedom and then set up a constitutionally limited government that has maintained that freedom to this day.

To find out more about Terence P. Jeffrey and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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