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The bonds of fellowship between members transcend such rituals and formalities. Through the Society, we meet as friends and happily introduce one another to new people, new places, and new experiences.
This issue of Cincinnati Fourteen is all about introductions. We start with the six new General Officers. Three of us are new to general office, and the veteran officers may not be as familiar to you as they ought to be. We begin with short sketches, interviews, and personal reflections we hope will make the General Officers better known. The first is about our new president general, Pless Lunger, an extraordinary effective leader who often does his best work behind the scenes. You may not know him, but you’ve come in contact with his work. Indeed you’re in contact with it now: as assistant secretary general, Pless was responsible for the redesign of Cincinnati Fourteen in this large, handsome format, and he has played a major role in most of the innovations since. Don’t expect him to rest on his laurels. He will move us ahead and introduce new ideas and make sure they succeed.
Our new vice president general, like Pless, has been involved in the leadership of the General Society for a long time—and we have no leader more sensible, determined, or committed than he is. That combination, of prudence and daring, is the right combination for our time, when the Society is committed to a major public mission. We can’t be timid about our work. At the same time we need to do it sensibly, finance it carefully, and execute it well.
Our new secretary general, Joel Daves, and our new treasurer general, Frank Grimball, are both deeply commit- ted to the mission of the American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati, which is at the heart of our shared work. So is our new assistant treasurer general, Rob Turnbull. We’re pleased to introduce the three of them to you as well. Frank, Rob and I are new to general office, but not new to the work at hand.
Long ago, I was the Society’s first American Scholar to go to France, so I have a particular fondness for our French and American exchanges program, which introduces young Americans to France and young French men and women to America in a very special way. In this issue we hear from Hubert de La Jonquière and George Habersham Grealy about their experiences this summer.
History has the power to introduce us to unfamiliar people and circumstances and reveal stories we didn’t know, or even imagine. In this issue, Chip Bragg (one of our most dependable and interesting contributors) introduces us to Dr. Peter Fayssoux, a Continental Army physician taken prisoner at Charleston in 1780. Dr. Fayssoux was outspoken advocate for his fellow prisoners and suffered, as William Moultrie observed with no small degree of irony, for being“too faithful to his friends.” Dr. Fayssoux also happens to be the propositus of Bob Davidson,
a former president of the Georgia Society.
Portraits introduce us to historical figures in a more imme- diate way that any words can. Our Society has a rich and growing collection of portraits of Revolutionary War sol- diers and members. Our curator, Emily Parsons, shows off two new ones in this issue—the first of the familiar Admiral de Grasse and the other of the unfamiliar Admiral John Cumming Howell. You probably have never “met” the chil- dren of Admiral de Grasse, including his son and successor, Auguste. We’re happy to introduce them to you. We also have the opportunity to introduce you to Marine Lieutenant Jabez Smith, Jr., who made the ultimate sacrifice in the Revolutionary War. He happens to be the propositus of Glenn Hennessey, who designs this very magazine.
Our cover portrays the one man who needs no introduction in our Society. We all know how important George Washington was to the great accomplishments of the American Revolution. For our independence, our republican form of government, our national identity, and the ideals that have defined our nation for nearly 250 years, we owe more to George Washington than to any other person. Yet too few of our countrymen understand those achievements. It’s our job to introduce those achievements to a new century of Americans. Ensuring that our countrymen appreciate General Washington and Admiral de Grasse and barely known revolutionaries like Dr. Peter Fayssoux and Lieutenant Jabez Smith, is the great work of the American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati.
William Postell Raiford
Assistant Secretary General