History                                                                          

This sleeping tent, or marquee, was used by George Washington and his staff as his headquarters during the American Revolution, at which time Washington served as the Commander-in-Chief of the American Continental Army. In 1776, he acquired sleeping tent and dining tent equipage which is now on exhibit at Valley Forge National Historical Park, Colonial National Historical Park, and the Smithsonian Institution. During the Valley Forge encampment, tents were his primary residence for about one week before moving his headquarters to the Isaac Potts House.  Even after this, the tents would be utilized as an outdoor extension of his headquarters.  In the sleeping tent on exhibit at Valley Forge, Washington met with significant figures from the American Revolution and issued orders which changed the course of the nation.  It is nationally significant for its association with George Washington and the American Revolution and is one of the premier objects on display at Valley Forge.

Documentation on the history of the tents from George Washington Parke Custis survives ensuring the authenticity of the tents. From his book, Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington, he wrote: “There is a most interesting reminiscence attached to the sleeping tent. The headquarters, even during the summer season, were located, in a great majority of instances, in private dwellings, the sleeping tent being pitched in the yard or very near at hand. Within its venerable folds, Washington was in the habit of seeking privacy and seclusion, where he could commune with himself, and where he wrote the most memorable of his dispatches in the Revolutionary war. He would remain in retirement of the sleeping tent some times for hours…  The objects of his seclusion being accomplished, the Chief would appear at the canvas door of the marquee with dispatches in his hand, giving which to his secretary to copy and transmit…”  Further documentation confirms the provenance and history of this tent.  An invoice in the Library of Congress indicates tents being made for Washington in Philadelphia at the beginning of the war.

After the War for Independence, Washington’s sleeping tent (at Valley Forge NHP) and dining tent (at the Smithsonian Institution) were kept at Mount Vernon and eventually purchased by George Washington Parke Custis upon the death of his grandmother, Martha.  In 1824, the tents were used at Yorktown for the celebration of the Marquis de Lafayette’s visit on the anniversary of the surrender. They remained at Custis’ home, Arlington, after his death with his daughter’s family, Mary Custis Lee. When her husband, Robert E. Lee, accepted the position as Commander of the Virginia Confederate forces, she was forced to leave Arlington and the tents behind. They were confiscated by the United States Government and placed in safe keeping with the Secretary of the Interior. In 1883, the tents were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution (National Museum).  In 1901, President McKinley ordered the return of the tents and other Washington relics to the Lee family. In 1909, Mary Lee (Robert E. Lee’s surviving child) sold part of the tent equipage to the Valley Forge Historical Society where it was on display from 1909 to 1977. In 1978 it was loaned for exhibition to Valley Forge National Historical Park. In 1955, the National Park Service purchased the remaining Washington tents and equipment stored at the Smithsonian Institution for Colonial National Historical Park.