Charbonneau Villager February 2026 9
Civic Affairs
■ From Page 8
Clark’ s slave York, and our gifted translator and guide Sacajawea, with whom I corresponded, both voted. They chose to cross the mighty Columbia River to set up camp on the Oregon side, at a place called Fort Clatsop. That’ s where they were on Christmas Day that year.”
“ George might have a few things to say about Winter river crossings,” smirked the man with the mustache.
“ Words, even formed by you Twain, can’ t begin to describe the harshness— bitter, cold and desperation of that Christmas Night in 1776,” said George Washington.“ My chief of staff, Henry Knox, described it best in saying that it was done‘ with almost infinite difficulty.’ Victory or death it was, with gale force icy sleet slicing into men and horses. What a scene. We knew what was at stake. We were losing our strength and spirit. Men were retreating to their farms and families.
“ At Trenton, we were up against mercenary Hessians fighting for the British. We needed a win, not so much for territory, but for morale,” Washington continued.“ As you all know so well, we won that battle, and those in the days after. The men began believing we could keep on winning if we kept up the fight. It took longer than expected, and all the way back to our Virginia, wouldn’ t you know, Thomas.”
Abe spoke up,“ look who the storm brought in,” addressing Ben Franklin as he crossed the threshold. The dinner guests rose in mass, shaking his hand in welcome.
“ Greetings men, the invitation for tonight was late reaching me, as I’ ve been back and forth across the ocean,” Franklin said.“ I’ ve been conducting research on how hydrological currents affect weather. Most interesting, I must say. Look at this menu, pommes frites, macaroni and cheese, ice cream. It seems that Thomas is sharing his love of French food by opening his pantry to us.”
“ Gentlemen, all this talk about our great nation’ s founding makes me think back to the 1887 Constitutional Convention. Remember what I said when I was asked what kind of government America would end up with?‘ A republic, if you can keep it.’ Not since Abe’ s time has it been so tested. Let’ s hope our constitutional democracy is up to the challenge it faces these days,” said Benjamin Franklin, the only person who signed all of the founding documents giving birth to America.
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