Goodwill fund brings to light a fragment of George Washington’s tent

The history buff acquired a tent fragment on the online site of the second-hand shop that was part of one of the tents used by George Washington in the Revolutionary War. Moore paid $1,700 for the scrap. It could Tens of thousands of dollars.

The tent fragment was marked in the listing as Washington property, which Moore first discovered in 2022. An attached written note said the tent was part of an exhibit commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Virginia. Moore was skeptical, aware of the high number of fakes on the market, but after taking a closer look, he decided to take the risk.

He was confident enough to offer $1,700, but said he didn’t dare tell his wife – so he hid the fragment in their house. She has since forgiven him.

After winning the auction, Moore contacted the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia the following February to determine if the fragment was genuine. And it turned out to be genuine. More specifically, it appeared to be part of the dining tent that Washington used. (The rest of the tent is in the Smithsonian collection but is not currently on display.)

Moore has since loaned the tent section to the Museum of the American Revolution, which exhibited it in February of this year. (The museum has a ongoing exhibition on Washington’s war tents.)

While the idea of ​​cutting up a piece of history like Washington’s tent is unthinkable today, 200 years ago a man named George Washington Parke Custis (the father of Martha Washington’s great-granddaughter) began cutting out pieces of Washington’s tent as souvenirs, connecting people directly to history. This fragment was later cut out, but museum officials suspect it may have been for the same reason.

The fragment will remain at the Philadelphia Museum until January 5, 2025, when it will be returned to Moore, the only known private owner of a portion of one of Washington’s tents in the United States.