| There are so many interesting bits of
historical trivia waiting to be found in old
books. This officer in the American Revolution
was said to be one of the two handsomest men in
the Revolutionary Army; a distinction he shared
with Colonel William Smith Livingston (his second
cousin).
He was a close friend of General Washington,
and since his legs were "an exact pattern of
General Washington's", and since
"General Washington's time was so taken up
with public affairs", at General
Washington's request Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge
"posed for the lower part of the famous
portrait of Washington by Trumbull".
After the American Revolution, Colonel
Benjamin Tallmadge married a daughter of a signer
of the Declaration of Independence, had seven
children and 23 grandchildren, became a
successful merchant and bank president, and was a
representative in the U.S. Congress for 16 years.
Of his 23 grandchildren, 16 were either
granddaughters, or grandsons with surnames other
than Tallmadge. Those 16 grandchildren could have
eight or so generations of descendants by now.
Most of those Tallmadge descendants with
different surnames are probably unaware that they
have any Tallmadge ancestry at all, and yet, one
of their Tallmadge ancestors was General George
Washington's body-double.
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