Harvard gave Washington an honorary degree, and Congress ordered a gold medal struck showing the goddess Liberty holding a spear and leaning on the commanding general’s shoulder as British ships receded in the distance. “Under your directions,” Hancock told him, “an undisciplined band of husbandmen in the course of a few months became soldiers.” True, he had yet to fight a battle or demonstrate particular martial competence; Boston had been “half a war,” as John Adams observed. It remained to be seen how long and how well those husbandmen would fight under Washington’s command. Among other
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