52nd Annual Delaware Show

Memorial Chapel (still a fixture within Valley Forge National Historical Park) and the nascent Valley Forge Museum of American History. He did so through irrepressible enthusiasm, impressive fund-raising skills, and not a little derring-do. Burk’s first major acquisition for the museum he envisioned was the sleeping and office tent, or marquee, used by General Washington during the Revolutionary War (fig. 1) . In addition, he acquired one of two leather portmanteaus, or cases, that were part of the general’s wartime baggage. Following the death of Martha Washington, in 1802, the marquee and other elements of the general’s military field equipment passed to George Washington Parke Custis (1781–1857), Martha’s grandson through her first marriage, and the builder of Arlington House outside Washington. D.C.; to his daughter Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee (1808–1873), who married future Confederate General Robert E. Lee in 1831; and finally to their daughter, Mary Custis Lee (1835–1918). Burk and Mary Lee agreed on the terms of acquisition in 1907, and on August 20, 1909, the marquee was placed on public display in the new Washington Memorial Chapel. Among the thousands who contributed toward its purchase, the eminent American artist and illustrator Howard Pyle made the journey to Valley Forge from his Wilmington, Delaware, home with his wife, Anne, and son Godfrey (fig. 2). Shortly after the installation of the marquee at Valley Forge, Rev. Burk learned of another significant Washington-associated object from the Revolutionary War: the so-called commander in chief ’s standard (fig. 3) . This thirteen-star flag with a blue silk field descended in the family of Washington’s sister, Betty Washington Lewis. Among her sons were an officer in Washington’s Life Guard and two private secretaries who served at Mount Vernon and in Philadelphia during Washington’s presidency and retirement. The standard has recently been conserved and prepared for exhibition through a generous grant from the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution and its Color Guard. Among Burk’s other important additions to the collection are a pair of silver camp cups from a set of twelve Washington commissioned from Philadelphia silversmith Edmund Milne in August 1777, just days before the Continental Army marched Fig. 2. Howard Pyle’s signature from the record of visitors to the Washington Memorial Chapel, September 19, 1909. Fig. 3. George Washington’s commander in chief standard. Conserved with funds provided by the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution and its Color Guard. — 25 —