George Washington visits Mercer

By RICHARD JENKINS

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MERCER, Wis. - George Washington visited Mercer Thursday to talk about his life. Re-enactor David Best, who is from Indianapolis but has property on Pike Lake in Mercer, portrayed the nation's first president to a crowd in the Mercer Community Center.

Speaking in the first person, Best talked about Washington's life - from the beginning of his military career in the lead-up to the French and Indian War and his marriage to Martha, through the American Revolution the presidency, to retirement at Mount Vernon.

Best also talked about Washington's reluctance to lead the Continental Army or be elected president, preferring the quieter life of a farmer in retirement.

"I had been reluctant to become the commanding general of the army, because I didn't consider myself to be worthy of it. I was reluctant to become president of the United States, because I felt I was not worthy to serve as the president of the United States," he said. "The people felt otherwise."

Washington is one of three historical figures Best portrays, along with Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette. He has performed as all three for Mercer Library events.

Having extensively researched the lives of the people he is portraying, Best said he prefers to deliver his presentations without notes.

"I feel the research I've done, and the reading I've done, gives me sufficient background on the life of George Washington that I can talk about him - I can present myself as him - in what I would consider to be a pretty truthful light," Best said. "I have confidence the fact I've assembled good background information on him, I really know what kind of person he was and I hope I kind of portray that to my audience."

Following the presentation, Best told the Daily Globe he got into the re-enactments about 35 years ago. While he always loved history and wished he had majored in it, Best said he started the re-enactments when an Indianapolis women's club asked him to portray Jefferson for a Fourth of July celebration.

Best said the unique circumstances that led to the nation's founding is what attracts him to the period.

"Here were the people that had come from Britain, settled in the colonies, and simply became different people. They became different than what the English were back home," Best said. "They essentially deserved their freedom and liberty."

As for what draws him to Washington, Best said he finds Washington's life fascinating.

"He actually was a member of the elite. His father, though he wasn't vastly wealthy, was a rich man," Best said. While he had these advantages, Best said he feels Washington - due to the death of his father at a young age and not being sent to Europe for his education - likely felt inadequate when interacting with the brilliance of Jefferson and John Adams.

"Just to observe what he did with his life, under all of these circumstances - it's just a fascinating account of a man's life," Best said, discussing several ways Washington made his own way in life. "The life of George Washington is one that could be used as a role model for our young people today - to know what he accomplished under what you would have considered very difficult circumstance for him."

For anyone wanting to know more information on Washington, Best recommends a short biography, "George Washington: The Founding Father," as a good book to read.