George Weedon (1734 - 1793)

Born 1734 in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Catherine (Gordon) Weedon — married 10 Apr 1764 in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Virginia

Died 23 Dec 1793 at about age 59 in Fredericksburg, Rockbridge, Virginia, United States

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Biography

Brigadier General George Weedon served with Continental Army Generals during the American Revolution.

George Weedon is Notable.

Early Life

George Weedon was born in 1734 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He was the son of George Weedon and Sarah Gray. ^[1] He was born after his father died; after his mother re-married in 1740 to William Strother, he had several half-siblings.

French and Indian War Service

He served with George Washington's Virginia Regiment during the French and Indian War. One of his first duties was to recruit men for the regiment; after this success, he was commissioned as an ensign on 14 Sept 1755. He was promoted again on 26 Jul 1757, to the rank of lieutenant. A third promotion in 1762 elevated him to captain. While serving at isolated outposts in Virginia and Pennsylvania, he met Hugh Mercer. ^[2] Hugh would later become a business partner and family member as he married George's sister-in-law, Isabella.

Marriage and Family

George married Catharine Gordon on 10 Apr 1764 in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, VIrignia. He and his new wife took over management of a tavern (known as the Rising Sun) in Fredericksburg, Virginia, that had previously belonged to her parents. A traveling Englishman remarked that Weedon was "very active and zealous in blowing the flames of sedition," on the eve of the Revolutionary War.

Hugh Mercer became his brother-in-law when Hugh married Catherine's sister Isabella Gordon. George and Catherine did not have any children; however, he and Catherine took care of Hugh and Isabella's five children after Hugh was killed at the Battle of Princeton.

Revolutionary War Service

The Virginia Convention appointed George Weedon Lieutenant Colonel of the 3rd Virginia Regiment on January 12, 1776, which the Continental Congress ratified on February 13 (one day later). The unit was instrumental in protecting Virginia from attacks led by Lord Dunmore during the summer. Following the promotion of the commander of the 3rd Virginia Regiment, Weedon was promoted to the rank of Colonel and placed in command of the regiment on August 13, 1776. The unit marched northward and joined George Washington's main force in New York a month later. After the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776, Weedon had the honor of conducting the prisoners of war to Philadelphia.

General Washington appointed him acting Adjutant-General of The United States Army, from February 20 1777 to April 19 1777 (when Col Morgan Connor was appointed to the position). Next, he was promoted to Brigadier General of the Continental Army. After many weeks working with George Washington, Weedon observed, "no other man but our present General,… could have supported himself under the many disappointments and disgraces he was subjected to from this singular system of carrying on a war against the most formidable enemy the world." He participated in the Battles of Brandywine, and Germantown.

At Valley Forge, Weedon commanded a brigade in Nathanael Greene's division. His brigade included Stewart's 13th Pennsylvania Regiment along with the 2nd, 6th, 10th, and 14th Virginia regiments.

In the spring of 1778, he left active service following a reorganization of the seniority of Virginia generals by Congress. General Weedon was moved to fourth in seniority, below a fellow general whom he outranked. Disgruntled, he submitted his resignation, which was accepted by Congress, with the stipulation that he retain his commission and could be recalled at any time. He returned to his wife and family in Fredericksburg, once again taking up tavern keeping.

He resumed the command of a brigade in mid-1780, taking charge of the Virginia Militia and spearheading recruitment and obtaining supplies in 1781. ^[3]His bridgade assisted the Marquis de Lafayette's division of light infantry operating in Virginia. During the Yorktown campaign, Weedon commanded a force of Virginia militia at Gloucester Point, successfully blocking an escape route for Lord Cornwallis.

Weedon resigned his Continental commission June 11, 1783.

George Washington's Opinion on Brig. Gen. Weedon as an officer

While President in 1792, George Washington described Weedon as "Not supposed to be an Officer of much resource though not deficient of a competent share of understanding; rather addicted to ease & pleasure; & no enemy it is said to the bottle; never has had his name brot forward on this acct." ^[4]

Civic Service

Following the conclusion of the American Revolution, George returned to Fredericksburg, serving as a councilman from 1782 to 1787. He became Mayor in 1785.

Member of the Freemasons

He was among the visitors from the Lodge at Port Royal who joined in the festivity at Fredericksburg on St.John's Day in June 1757. Ten years later, having become a resident at Fredricksburg, he "desired to be excused as a member" in the Port Royal Lodge and affiliated with the one in which George Washington had been a member. He was Master of the Lodge in 1783 through 1786. ^[5]

He may have been influential in revitalizing the Lodge, which probably had not flourished during the war years, when the members were otherwise occupied, at work and at refreshment. There was a significant assembly at Fredericksburg on September 9, 1783, when the sister Lodges at Alexandria and Port Royal joined the local Brethren on the occasion of"fixing at the market house a grand keystone and plate of silver incribed in testimony of the revival of Masonry and our intention to fix our covenant there." George Weedon presided at the ceremony and afterwards at the Rising Sun.

Death and burial

After many years of suffering from gout, Weedon died at his home in Fredericksburg, Virginia two days before Christmas, 1793. He was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Fredericksburg, Virginia. ^[6]

Research Notes

Although he is named as a founding member and/or president of the Virginia State Order of the Cincinnati on various websites, I have checked The American Revolution Insititute and the Society of the Cincinnati; he is not included on their lists of members or officers. I have removed the Order of the Cincinnati section from this profile due to a lack of evidence of his membership. Laura E 01:51, 7 April 2021 (UTC)

Sources

1. ↑ Ward, Harry M., Duty, Honor, or Country: General George Weedon and the American Revolution (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1979), p 1, n.1.
2. ↑ Brigadier General George Weedon in American Battlefield Trust accessed 6 Apr 2021 Brigadier General George Weedon in American Battlefield Trust website
3. ↑ "Thomas Jefferson to George Weedon, 28 July 1780," George Weedon Papers, American Philosophical Society. See footnote to "Thomas Jefferson to Daniel Morgan and Other Late Commanding Officers of the Virginia Line, 28 July 1780," The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Vol. 3, 18 June 1779?-?30 September 1780, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1951), 514 accessed 6 Sept 2021 Mount Vernon website; Thomas Jefferson to George Weedon 28 Jul 1780
4. ↑ “Memorandum on General Officers, 9 March 1792,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-10-02-0040. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 10, 1 March 1792 – 15 August 1792, ed. Robert F. Haggard and Mark A. Mastromarino. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2002, pp. 74–79.]
5. ↑ Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge # 4 website accessed 6 Apr 2021. List of past masters in the 1700s include George Weedon 1783-1786 George Weedon, Master of George Washington's Lodge
6. ↑ George Weedon memorial in FindAGrave website accessed 6 Apr 2021. Memorial # 21499. George Weedon Memorial at FindAGrave Memorial includes photo of gravestone.

See Also

George Washington's Masonic Lodge, Fredericksburg, Virginia

List of Adjutants General of the U.S. Army

Yorktown

Hatch, Charles E. "Gloucester Point in the Siege of Yorktown 1781." The William and Mary Quarterly 20, no. 2 (1940): 265-84. Accessed April 7, 2021. doi:10.2307/1922681. Gloucester Point in the Siege of Yorktown 1781

Weedon's Tavern historical marker

The Sentry Box House

Washington Papers. This website contains correspondence from George Washington to various subordinate officers of the Continental Army, including Brig. Gen. George Weedon.

1. "Memorandum, 3 September 1755," Founders Online, National Archives. Source: The Papers of George Washington: Colonial Series, Vol. II, 14 August 1755-15 April 1756, ed. W.W. Abbot (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 14-5. 3 Sept 1755 Memorandum
2. See note 1, "Enclosure I: List of Junior Officers in the Virginia Regiment, 12 June 1757," Founders Online, National Archives. Source: The Papers of George Washington: Colonial Series, Vol. IV, 9 November 1756-24 October 1757, ed. W.W. Abbot (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1984), 205-6. List of Junior Officers, 1757
3. "General Orders, 13 January 1777," The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, Vol. VIII, 6 January?-?27 March 1777 (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998), 55.
4. "To George Washington from Brigadier General George Weedon, 13 April 1778," Founders Online, National Archives. Source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series: Vol. XIV, 1 March 1778?-?30 April 1778(Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2004), 503-58.

George Weedon profile at Mount Vernon website

See for example, [March 1769], The Diaries of George Washington, Vol. II, 14 January 1766-31 December 1770, ed. Donald Jackson (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 131-6. See for example, [March 1769], The Diaries of George Washington, Vol. II, 14 January 1766-31 December 1770, ed. Donald Jackson (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 131-6.

Smyth, J. F. D. A Tour in the United States of America: Containing an Account of the Present Situation of that Country. . ., Vol. II (London: G. Robinson, 1784.), 151.

Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789, Vol. IV, ed. Worthington C. Ford (Washington, D.C., G.P.O., 1906), 132. Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress

Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789, 141. Library of Congress, Journals of the Continental Congress

"George Weedon to John Page, 15 April 1777," George Weedon Papers, Chicago History Museum.

Virginia Gazette & General Advertiser (Richmond, Va.), 25 December 1793.

Active and Zealous by James R. Case

"Francis Fauquier to George Weedon, 22 May 1762," printed in Greene, Katherine G. Winchester, Virginia, and Its Beginnings, 1743-1814 (Strasburg, Va.: Shenandoah Publishing house, 1926), 343 A Guide to the Revolutionary War Collections, University of Virginia library

https://www.jstor.org/stable/4242398?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

George Weedon Wikipedia page

George Weedon Wikidata page