With the British evacuation of New York complete and the Treaty of Paris signed, George Washington gathered his officers at Fraunces Tavern to say goodbye. Raising a glass, he told them he could not go through the crowd to take each hand without embracing them all. He then resigned his military commission days later, stunning contemporaries who expected him to seize power instead.
The scene at Fraunces Tavern, a narrow brick building near the tip of Manhattan, was thick with emotion rarely associated with the stoic commander. Washington had led these men through eight years of war, defeat, near-mutiny, and eventual victory. Now, with independence secured, he called his officers together for a final toast and, according to eyewitness accounts, wept openly as he embraced each one in turn—Henry Knox reportedly first.
Washington's choice to walk away from power at this moment stunned European observers accustomed to victorious generals crowning themselves. King George III himself reportedly said that if Washington relinquished command and returned to private life, he would be 'the greatest character of his age.' Washington did exactly that, resigning his commission to Congress in Annapolis less than three weeks later.
The farewell became a foundational myth of American civic virtue: the citizen-soldier who fought not for personal glory but for a republic, then voluntarily gave up his sword. Fraunces Tavern still stands today, preserved as a museum, its Long Room the site of one of the new nation's most quietly radical acts.