'THE WASHINGTON ELM IS DEAD'
Cambridge, Massachusetts (JFK+50) On August 14, 1923, the Associated Press reports "the Washington elm* is dead!"
According to a front-page story in The Evening Star, Dr. C.S. Sargent, director of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University made the announcement of the "official demise of the famed tree beneath which (George) Washington took command of the Continental Army" in a letter to Mayor Edward W. Quinn of Cambridge.
Dr. Sargent wrote...
"All signs of life have now gone from the Washington Elm. It can be cut down at any time."
*The Washington Elm was located on Cambridge Common in Massachusetts. It lived 210 years. The legend, undocumented, is that General Washington took command of the US Army under this tree. When it died in 1923, it was cut up into 1000 pieces & distributed to the states.
SOURCE
"Washington Elm, Famed In History, Dead; Faces Ax," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., August 14, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
