By the seventeenth edition, another Weemsian fable was added: General Washington praying in the Valley Forge snow.12 According to Weems’s story, “in a dark natural bower of ancient oaks,” Washington was discovered praying aloud, “on his knees at prayer.”13 The story was repeated and reprinted with no regard for truth; its proliferation accelerated during the nation’s religious revival from 1820 to 1860.
