Father's comments centered on the five visits that George Washington made to the State of Rhode Island. He began with a funny story about the French troops that landed in Newport Harbor in 1780. Much to the chagrin of the American officials they didn't stay very long in Narragansett Bay but sailed to Boston where they camped on the Common. John Hancock was governor at the time and Hancock mansion stood facing the Common on Beacon Street. The governor was very much aware that high ranking French officers, our guest and helpers, were just below his home. He and Mrs. Hancock decided that it would be a fine gesture of hospitality to invite them to dinner. They were immediately faced with a dilemma what would they serve to please the French palate. The cook was consulted and she sent two of her children down to check on the lifestyle of the troops. They went down to Quincy Lake in Boston Common, which was officially called the Frog Pond, and saw the sailors catching frogs, but did not see them eating them. They ran back and reported to their mother who gave them orders to go down and bring some back for dinner. She had no idea how to cook them so she made a basic chowder and thew in the frogs. She carefully dropped a frog in the bottom of each bowl. As the officers were spooning away commenting how delicious the soup was, one of them hit something hard in the bottom of his bowl. He lifted the spoon up very gingerly trying not to cause an incident and a tiny foot emerged. This was too much for his curiosity and he picked it up by the leg and exclaimed "mon Dieu, voila une grenouille!" The poor governor was beside himself with embarrassment.

Washington was not a proud man but he was a man of high moral character who insisted on proper respect. When the second Continental Congress made him Lieutenant General he was styled "Your Excellency", which he did not think pompous. When elected president in 1789 a committee, which included Benjamin Franklin asked him how he wanted to be addressed. George asked for a few days to think it over then decided that "Your High Mightiness" would do. Franklin knew Washington and replied "the committee thinks that "Mr. President" will do. And so it has been Mr. President to this day.

The second visit was in April 1776 during the War. He was then Lieutenant General, his permanent rank during the War. Rhode Island Lt. Governor Nicholas Cook heard that the battle to get the British out of Boston had ended and invited him to come to Providence. Washington stayed at Sayles Tavern on the Providence/Pawtucket line. The governor at that time was Stephen Hopkins who was in Philadelphia at the second Continental Congress helping to draw up the Declaration of Independence. His daughter Ruth entertained Washington and his retinue.

Washington returned to Rhode Island again in March of 1781 to meet Lafayette and Rochambeau in Newport to plan the battle of Yorktown that would be the last battle of the War. Again the problem of rank came up. The French officers were four-star generals and Washington as Lieutenant General had only three stars. The American army did not have a four-star rank. The fact that their commander had a lower rank also embarrassed the French. The officers took the matter into their own hands and petitioned His Majesty King Louis who created Washington a Marshal of France with five stars. He was also presented with the powder blue uniform and baton of a marshal and in that uniform presided at the meetings in the State House, now called Colony House, in Washington Square, where the battle of Yorktown was planned.

The Constitution of the United States was adopted in 1787 but Rhode Island would have nothing to do with it. We did not send anyone to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia nor would we sign it then, nor have we ever signed it. Our 17th century charter enshrined at the State House reads "to hold forth a lively experiment that a flourishing civil state may stand with full liberty and religious concernments". There are no definitive answers to what we were for those two and a half years between the time New Hampshire became the ninth state and the Constitution became the law of the land in 1790 when we finally came around to adopting it. The other states were outraged at Rhode Island those independent scoundrels in that tiny corner of the world defying the other twelve states! We declared ourselves independent of Great Britain two months before the rest of the colonies but continued to operate under the Royal Charter.

Washington would not condone our obstinacy. He refused to visit until we finally decided to adopt the Constitution in the fall of 1790. In August of that year he spent four days here. He brought his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson with him and they were entertained at a party at the Newport State House.

The question of rank still plagued Washington even after his presidency. He had resigned his commission after the Revolutionary War but in 1798 with a threat of war against Great Britain, President John Adams re-appointed him with three stars. By this time he had reluctantly relinquished his title of commander-in-chief since he was 54 years old and not in battle condition.

At the end of WWI a grateful Congress for his service in France and Belgium gave General John J. Pershing (Blackjack) a title. He was already a four-star general so they gave him permission to design his own uniform and insignia with as many stars as he desired. He took the U.S. insignia off the collar and replaced it with the great seal of the U.S. but died a four-star general and General of the Army. He outranked George Washington! Rumbles began to be heard from Mount Vernon. There were those who remembered Washington's life-long desire for tangible recognition from the United States for his service to his country. In 1944 during WWII President Roosevelt created a five-star rank for General of the Army for Eisenhower and MacArthur and five-star Admiral of the Fleet for Halsey, King and others. Five stars, two more than for Washington! More rumbles from Mount Vernon! Happily on Washington's 250th birthday in 1982, the Congress of the United States posthumously conferred upon Washington the title of General of the Armies of the United States and awarded him SIX stars.
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