Washington on Mount Rushmore/Unsplash.
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JAN. 18, 2022 | It’s surprising when it happens: you’re enjoying reading a good book, and suddenly, the author mentions someone you know well. It doesn’t happen every day.
Last week we were reading the book recommendation of today (see below), Travels with George (Washington) by Nathaniel Philbrick. And there on page 246, he’s talking with newspaperman Bill Kirby when he was with The Augusta Chronicle. He once was a city editor and editorial page editor of the Gwinnett Daily News and a colleague of mine. Bill was telling the author about the trip when Washington was in Augusta. As it turns out, Bill Kirby set Philbrick straight on what was developing as a myth around our first president.
Philbrick had developed this theory that among the entourage of Washington, though not written down anywhere by the president, included a dog. After all, Washington was known to love dogs, and Philbrick theorized that Washington had a dog along with him on the arduous trip. Philbrick had a name for the dog: “Cornwallis,” having run across an account of the dog. The name was a nod to Washington’s victory on October 19, 1781, over the British General Charles Cornwallis, who surrendered his army of some 8,000 men to General George Washington at Yorktown, giving up any chance of winning the Revolutionary War.
Kirby
But Bill Kirby put an end to the theory of a dog traveling with Washington.
As the author Philbrick understood, the only reference to a dog on Washington’s trip was an item in The Augusta Chronicle in 1892. A story reported the gravestone of Cornwallis. Beneath the stone was a small brick vault with the remains of a large dog.
This must have excited Nathanial Philbrick. But Bill asked Philbrick: “Did you notice the date of the article?” It was April 1, 1892. Yep, an April Fool’s joke! As Philbrick wrote: “Forget everything I’ve told you until now about George Washington’s dog, Cornwallis.”
By the way, on retracing Washington’s route, Philbrick and his wife, Melissa, took along their own dog on the trip!
Thank you, Bill Kirby, now retired and living in Columbus, for your contribution on setting history straight!
From Walter Geiger, editor and publisher of the Barnesville Herald-Gazette, comes this wonderment: “For the umpteenth time last week I wondered why the flags around town were at half staff. (A flag on land is at half staff. A flag on a boat is at half mast.)
“Back in the day, it was a big deal when the flags went to half staff. It required the death of a president, some great statesman, medal of honor winner or the like.
“Now the flags are at half staff more than they are at full staff. And it is hard to find out why. Local, state and federal officials can order the lowering of the flag, and do so more often, perhaps, than they should. In making the honor so easily bestowed, we have taken the honor out of it.
“So I will continue to wonder who is being honored when I see the lowered flag. I’m betting a lot of you are right there with me.”
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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