Martha at Headquarters

When Mrs. Washington arrived, headquarters changed. Before, it was all military business—dispatches, councils, complaints about supplies. She brought order of a different kind. Dinners became occasions where officers could speak of something besides the siege. She organized the women to sew shirts for soldiers who had none. When smallpox swept through camp, she visited the sick. The general, I noticed, was calmer with her there. He still worked from dawn to midnight, but he seemed less alone in his burden.