History of America's First National Thanksgiving

YORK, Pa. — When you picture the first Thanksgiving, you probably imagine a giant roasted bird, endless side dishes, and maybe a post-dinner nap. But America's actual first national Thanksgiving proclamation looked a lot less like a banquet and a lot more like a survival test featuring a spoonful of vinegar and a heavy dose of colonial sarcasm.

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On November 1, 1777, the Continental Congress was operating out of York, Pennsylvania, having fled after the British rudely seized the capital of Philadelphia. Despite being on the run, lawmakers were in a celebratory mood. Word had just reached them that two weeks prior at Saratoga, British Gen. John Burgoyne had surrendered his entire army of roughly 5,800 men. It was the biggest American victory of the Revolutionary War thus far.

Riding that historic high, a congressional committee featuring heavy hitters like Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee drafted a proclamation. They officially recommended that all thirteen states set aside Thursday, December 18, 1777, as a day of solemn thanksgiving and praise. Notice the word solemn. This wasn't a day for gorging on stuffing; it was a strictly religious day of fasting and prayer to thank God for the success of American arms and to ask guidance for the war ahead.

General George Washington and his Continental Army dutifully observed the holiday. The only problem? They were absolutely miserable.

Fresh off bruising defeats at Brandywine and Germantown, the soldiers were freezing, ragged, and severely short of food as they marched to their winter camp. So, what did the troops eat for this historic holiday?

According to the hilariously sarcastic diary of Private Joseph Plumb Martin of Connecticut, the starving army was treated to a little rice and a single spoonful of vinegar. Martin dryly noted that it was hardly a feast suitable for the occasion, quipping that the chaplain's long-winded sermon was about the only thing they were served in plenty.

The very next day, December 19, 1777, that same hungry, vinegar-fueled army limped into a place called Valley Forge.

While Congress continued recommending days of thanksgiving throughout the war, and Washington issued one as president in 1789, it wasn't until Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it a fixed national holiday in 1863—in the middle of the Civil War—that the modern Thanksgiving was truly born.

But the next time your family burns the turkey or argues over the dinner table, remember: the government that declared the very first national Thanksgiving was hiding out, and the army celebrating it had almost nothing to eat. They gave thanks anyway—even for the vinegar!

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