General Artemus Ward
I came across Samuel Ward (Rhode Island delegate to the Continental Congress) in 1776, by David McCullough. There are Wards deep in my family tree, which I was completely incurious about. Now that I’ve been bitten by the genealogical bug, I’m suddenly interested.
I quickly got lost and gave up.
The end.
A few days and 33 pages later…
Artemus Ward showed up.
According to McCullough he was a “striking contrast” to my man, General Charles Lee. Ward was a “heavy-set, pious-looking Massachusetts farmer.” His resume also included shopkeeper, justice of the peace, and military service (he was a veteran of both the French and Indian Wars).
Lee privately called him a “fat, old church warden” with “no acquaintance whatever with military matters.”
Until Washington arrived in Boston and took command in July 1775, Artemus was running the show. Yeah, that’s right. I’m tangentially related to the original commander-in-chief.
The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington, by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch
About Artemus
Earned two degrees from Harvard
Quite a contrast to the constantly cursing general pictured above, Artemus freaking volunteered to help them put a bleeping stop to “swearing and cursing” at Harvard
Allied with Samuel Adams for two decades, starting with opposition to the Royal Governor Francis Bernard. They eventually split over relations with France.
Didn’t love disciplining troops or exerting authority, preferring instead to get consensus
While talked about as being “old”, George Washington was only five years younger
He and Washington never really clicked
Check out the Artemus chapter here for more.
Voila!
It’s a lot, right? Can you even find the General…? Keep scrolling and I’ll make it easier..
See?
We both roll up to William Ward, Sr. (1603 - 1687) and his unknown wife!
Dang it.
I thought I read that John Adams mentioned in his diary that he’d preferred General Artemus Ward to George Washington. And another distant relative, Ebenezer Rockwood, Esq., was mentioned in John Quincy Adams’ diary.
I made this little motion graphic to show the guys in my family tree who were featured in the diaries of other guys in my family tree.
Kinda cool… I thought.
You can see the reference to Ebenezer Rockwood in JQA’s diary here.
But, dang it, I don’t have know if John Adams said what he said about Artemus in his diary or not. My little motion graphic was for nothing. And not only that, but John Quincy Adams mentions Artemus Ward in his diary. (See?)
Let’s just pretend this part didn’t happen.
Except I do still need to point out what Adams said — diary or no diary. Apparently, he and most of the Continental Congress delegates preferred Ward over Washington as commander-in-chief! 🤯They went with Washington because he was a Southerner and they thought it would help with “national unity.” This was perhaps why Ward and Washington weren’t best buds.
In any case…
There are several more mentions of Artemus coming up in 1776; maybe I’ll have more doodles of my very distant cousin to add later.
For additional genealogical shenanigans….
I found another one