Married to U.S. Senator Ralph Izard of Charleston, Alice DeLancy Izard had 14 children, seven of which survived into adulthood. In 1798 she wrote a letter to George Washington imploring him to create a separate Corps of Engineers so her son, also named George, could serve his country and his engineering career. She asks him to "forgive the solicitations of maternal tenderness in favor of a worthy object" and tells him to burn the letter if it is too forward a request. The Army Corps of Engineers was established in 1802, only four years after her plea.
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