Antiques collector Richard “Dana” Moore had a habit of scrolling through Goodwill’s online thrift store, and one day in 2022, the history buff came across an item that piqued his interest.
A post in the Historical Documents section included an image of a framed item that purportedly contained a portion of George Washington’s tent, with a note that the tent was on display at the World’s Fair commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in the Virginia colony.
“I thought, ‘No way,’ so I was a little surprised,” Moore told CNN.
Moore was skeptical of the offer and initially refrained from bidding for two weeks.
“There’s a lot of fake stuff out there,” he added. “There’s always stuff that looks like the real thing but isn’t.”
Moore said upon closer inspection of the torn bill, it appeared to have aged over the years, with pieces measuring more than four inches wide and five inches long.
“I jumped in with both feet and said, ‘OK, go ahead and make a bid,'” he said.
Moore told CNN that he bid just over $1,700 on the artifact and won. He initially hid it from his wife, Susan Bowen, in their home, but she now says he thought his bid was a huge success. The artifact was confirmed to be part of Washington’s dining tent, and Moore estimates it’s worth tens of thousands of dollars.
This relic will be exhibited in the museum
Moore contacted the American Revolutionary War Museum in Philadelphia in February of last year, knowing that the museum had Washington’s sleeping and working tent in its collection.
Exhibit curator Matthew Sukik told CNN the museum is excited but first needs to confirm that the fragment is part of Washington’s war tent. Moore agreed to send the artifact to the museum so conservators can examine the weave of the fabric.
“What’s really interesting about this piece is that it still has some red wool trim on the edge, which indicates that it was likely cut from the edge of the roof of a dining tent,” Skitch said.
The museum hasn’t yet determined which gap the fragment fills, but the binding and hand-sewn linens make it likely to be authentic, and a note that accompanied the fragment also matches the period.
Once the museum was certain the fabric was authentic, they were excited to put it on display alongside other exhibits around Washington’s bedroom and Oval Office tent.
“This one is so interesting because it came from an unexpected place,” Skitch said. “You wouldn’t expect to find a historical treasure like this in a place like this, but this isn’t the first historical treasure found via Goodwill.”
The fragment was loaned by Moore and made public display in February of this year as part of the museum’s temporary exhibition, “Witness to a Revolution: The Improbable Journey of Washington’s Tent.” The fragment will remain on display at the museum until January 5, 2025, at which point it will be returned to Moore.
The dining tent that housed Moore’s fragments is now housed at the Smithsonian Institution and is not open to the public.
The tent fragment was accompanied by a note identifying it as having been taken from George Washington’s tent, which was on display in 1907.
Courtesy of Dana Moore & Museum of the American Revolution, via CNN New Source
A symbol of Washington’s leadership
According to the museum, George Washington’s Tent is about 250 years old and was used during the Revolutionary War, housing a bedroom and study where Washington led meetings, strategized, and wrote letters.
Over the years, the tent became a symbol of Washington’s leadership and the founding of the nation after the Revolutionary War.
The fragment was likely cut by a man named John Barnes, who had seen a dining tent on display at the Jamestown Exposition in Norfolk, Virginia, which had been loaned to him by Mary Custis Lee, a great-granddaughter of Washington’s wife, Martha.
Lee’s father, George Washington Parke Custis, later owned the Revolutionary War tent and frequently used it as a venue for events. 200 years ago, he began cutting up pieces of George Washington’s tent and selling them as souvenirs.
“George Washington Parke Custis saw tents as a way to connect people to the past, and that may have been the thinking behind it in 1907 when this dining tent was cut away,” Skic said.
There are pieces that are said to have been cut by Parke Custis.
But Skitch said there’s still a lot that can be learned from the fragment, particularly about who Burns was as the note’s author.
Today, Moore is the only known private owner of a part of the Washington Tent; all the others are in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution and other museums.
Moore said knowing he bought the piece gives him chills at night. For him, it’s not about money or prestige: It’s about “breaking away from British rule and the beginnings of our country.”
“That’s the history behind it. Can you imagine the information and the words that were spoken in that tent?” Moore asked rhetorically.
Moore and his wife visited the museum earlier this month and said they were moved by the artifacts.
“I’ve never had such thrills in my life,” he said. “We were both overjoyed. I still can’t believe it.”
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