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diff --git a/old/12300-0.txt b/old/12300-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..648bbe7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12300-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9612 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of The True George Washington, by Paul Leicester Ford + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: The True George Washington + +Author: Paul Leicester Ford + +Release Date: May 8, 2004 [eBook #12300] +[Most recently updated: January 23, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: John R. Bilderback and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON *** + +[Illustration] + + + + +The True George Washington + +by Paul Leicester Ford + + +Author of “The Honorable Peter Stirling” +Editor of “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson” and +“The Sayings of Poor Richard” + + + + +“That I have foibles, and perhaps many of them, I shall not deny. I +should esteem myself, as the world would, vain and empty, were I to arrogate +perfection.” +—_Washington_ + +“Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in +malice.” +—_Shakespeare_ + + +1896 + +BY +J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY + +_Tenth Edition_ + +Electrotyped and Printed by J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S.A. + + +THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED +TO +WILLIAM F. HAVEMEYER, + + + + +IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE INDEBTEDNESS OF THE AUTHOR TO HIS COLLECTION +OF +WASHINGTONIANA. + + +Contents + + Note + CHAPTER I.—FAMILY RELATIONS + CHAPTER II.—PHYSIQUE + CHAPTER III.—EDUCATION + CHAPTER IV.—RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX + CHAPTER V.—FARMER AND PROPRIETOR + CHAPTER VI.—MASTER AND EMPLOYER + CHAPTER VII.—SOCIAL LIFE + CHAPTER VIII.—TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS + CHAPTER IX.—FRIENDS + CHAPTER X.—ENEMIES + CHAPTER XI.—SOLDIER + CHAPTER XII.—CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER + INDEX + + + + +List of Illustrations with Notes + + +MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON. By JAMES SHARPLESS +Painted for Washington in 1795, and presented by him to Nelly (Calvert) +Stuart, widow of John Parke Custis, Washington’s adopted son. Her son +George Washington Parke Custis, in whose presence the sittings were +made, often spoke of the likeness as “almost perfect.” + + +MEMORIAL TABLET OF LAURENCE AND AMEE WASHINGTON, IN SULGRAVE CHURCH, +NORTHAMPTONSHIRE +The injury of the effigy of Laurence Washington and the entire +disappearance of the effigy of Amee antedate the early part of the +present century, and probably were done in the Puritan period. Since +the above tracing was made the brasses of the eleven children have been +stolen, leaving nothing but the lettering and the shield of the +Washington arms. + + +BETTY WASHINGTON, WIFE OF FIELDING LEWIS +Painted about 1750, and erroneously alleged to be by Copley. Original +in the possession of Mr. R. Byrd Lewis, of Marmion, Virginia. + + +JOHN AND MARTHA CUSTIS +Original in the possession of General G.W. Custis Lee, of Lexington, +Virginia. + + +MINIATURE OF ELEANOR PARKE CUSTIS +From the miniature by Gilbert Stuart, in the possession of her +grandson, Edward Parke Lewis Custis, of Hoboken, New Jersey. + + +FICTITIOUS PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON +The lettering reads, “Done from an original Drawn from the Life, by +Alex’r Campbell of Williamsburg in Virginia. Published as the act +directs 9 Sept’r 1775 by C. Shepherd.” It is the first engraved +portrait of Washington, and was issued to satisfy the English curiosity +concerning the new commander-in-chief of the rebels. From the original +print in the possession of Mr. W.F. Havemeyer, of New York. + + +COPY SHEET FROM YOUNG MAN’S COMPANION +The sheet from which Washington modelled his handwriting, and to which +his earliest script shows a marked resemblance. From the original in +the possession of the author. + + +LETTER TO MRS. FAIRFAX +Showing changes and corrections made by Washington at a later date. +From original copy-book in the Washington MSS. in the Department of +State. + + +PORTRAIT OF MARY PHILIPSE +From the original formerly in the possession of Mr. Frederick Philipse. + + +PORTRAIT OF MARTHA CUSTIS +Alleged to have been painted by Woolaston about 1757. It has been +asserted by Mr. L.W. Washington and Mr. Moncure D. Conway that this is +a portrait of Betty Washington Lewis, but in this they are wholly in +error, as proof exists that it is a portrait of Mrs. Washington before +her second marriage. + + +SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON HILLS +Made by Washington as a boy, and one of the earliest specimens of his +work. The small drawing of the house represents it as it was before +Washington enlarged it, and is the only picture of it known. Original +in the Department of State. + + +MOUNTAIN ROAD LOTTERY TICKET +From the original in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. + + +FAMILY GROUP +Painted by Edward Savage about 1795, and issued as a large engraving in +1798. The original picture is now in the possession of Mr. William F. +Havemeyer, of New York. + + +DINNER INVITATION +The official invitation while President, from the original in the +possession of the author. + + +DANCING AGREEMENT +This gives only the first few names, many more following. The original +was formerly in the possession of Mr. Thomas Biddle, of Philadelphia. + + +BOOK-PLATE OF WASHINGTON +This is a slight variation from the true Washington coat of arms, the +changes being introduced by Washington. From the original in the +possession of the author. + + +SURVEY OF WAKEFIELD +Washington’s birthplace. The survey was made in 1743, on the property +coming into the possession of Augustine Washington (second) from his +father, with the object of readjusting the boundary-lines. Original in +the possession of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New York. + + +WASHINGTON FAMILY BIBLE +This record, with the exception of the interlined note concerning Betty +Washington Lewis, is in the handwriting of George Washington, and was +written when he was about sixteen years old. Original in the possession +of Mrs. Lewis Washington, of Charlestown, West Virginia. + + +MINIATURE OF MRS. WASHINGTON +By an unknown artist. From the original in the possession of General +G.W. Custis Lee, of Lexington, Virginia. + + +EARLIEST AUTOGRAPH OF WASHINGTON +On a fly-leaf of the volume to which this title belongs is written, +“This autograph of Genl. Washington’s name is believed to be the +earliest specimen of his writing, when he was probably not more than 8 +or 9 years of age.” This is a note by G.C. Washington, to whom +Washington’s library descended. Original in the possession of the +Boston Athenaeum. + + +RULES OF CIVILITY +First page of Washington’s boyish transcript, written when he was about +thirteen years of age. Used here by courtesy of Mr. S.M. Hamilton and +“Public Opinion,” who are preparing a fac-simile edition of the entire +rules. + + +LIFE MASK BY HOUDON +Taken by Houdon in October, 1785. From the replica in the Historical +Society of Pennsylvania. + + +TITLE-PAGE OF JOURNAL OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1754 +Of this first edition but two copies are known. From the original in +the Lenox Library. + + +PRESIDENTIAL HOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA +Philadelphia offered to furnish the house for the President during the +time Congress sat in that city, but Washington “wholly declined living +in any public building,” and rented this house from Robert Morris. +Though it was considered one of the finest in the city, Washington +several times complained of being cramped. + +[Illustration: SHARPLESS MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON, 1795] + + + + +Note + + +In every country boasting a history there may be observed a tendency to +make its leaders or great men superhuman. Whether we turn to the +legends of the East, the folk-lore of Europe, or the traditions of the +native races of America, we find a mythology based upon the acts of man +gifted with superhuman powers. In the unscientific, primeval periods in +which these beliefs were born and elaborated into oral and written +form, their origin is not surprising. But to all who have studied the +creation of a mythology, no phase is a more curious one than that the +keen, practical American of to-day should engage in the same process of +hero-building which has given us Jupiter, Wotan, King Arthur, and +others. By a slow evolution we have well-nigh discarded from the lives +of our greatest men of the past all human faults and feelings; have +enclosed their greatness in glass of the clearest crystal, and hung up +a sign, “Do not touch.” Indeed, with such characters as Washington, +Franklin, and Lincoln we have practically adopted the English maxim +that “the king can do no wrong.” In place of men, limited by human +limits, and influenced by human passions, we have demi-gods, so +stripped of human characteristics as to make us question even whether +they deserve much credit for their sacrifices and deeds. + +But with this process of canonization have we not lost more than we +have gained, both in example and in interest? Many, no doubt, with the +greatest veneration for our first citizen, have sympathized with the +view expressed by Mark Twain, when he said that he was a greater man +than Washington, for the latter “couldn’t tell a lie, while he could, +but wouldn’t” We have endless biographies of Franklin, picturing him in +all the public stations of life, but all together they do not equal in +popularity his own human autobiography, in which we see him walking +down Market Street with a roll under each arm, and devouring a third. +And so it seems as if the time had come to put the shadow-boxes of +humanity round our historic portraits, not because they are ornamental +in themselves, but because they will make them examples, not mere +idols. + +If the present work succeeds in humanizing Washington, and making him a +man rather than a historical figure, its purpose will have been +fulfilled. In the attempt to accomplish this, Washington has, so far as +is possible, been made to speak for himself, even though at times it +has compelled the sacrifice of literary form, in the hope that his own +words would convey a greater sense of the personality of the man. So, +too, liberal drafts have been made on the opinions and statements of +his contemporaries; but, unless the contrary is stated or is obvious, +all quoted matter is from Washington’s own pen. It is with pleasure +that the author adds that the result of his study has only served to +make Washington the greater to him. + +The writer is under the greatest obligation to his brother, Worthington +Chauncey Ford, not merely for his numerous books on Washington, of +which his “Writings of George Washington” is easily first in importance +of all works relating to the great American, but also for much +manuscript material which he has placed at the author’s service. +Hitherto unpublished facts have been drawn from many other sources, but +notably from the rich collection of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New +York, from the Department of State in Washington, and from the +Historical Society of Pennsylvania. To Mr. S.M. Hamilton, of the former +institution, and to Mr. Frederick D. Stone, of the latter, the writer +is particularly indebted for assistance. + + + + +THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON + + + + +I +FAMILY RELATIONS + + +Although Washington wrote that the history of his ancestors was, in his +opinion, “of very little moment,” and “a subject to which I confess I +have paid very little attention,” few Americans can prove a better +pedigree. The earliest of his forebears yet discovered was described as +“gentleman,” the family were granted lands by Henry the Eighth, held +various offices of honor, married into good families, and under the +Stuarts two were knighted and a third served as page to Prince Charles. +Lawrence, a brother of the three thus distinguished, matriculated at +Oxford as a “generosi filius” (the intermediate class between sons of +the nobility, “armigeri filius,” and of the people, “plebeii filius”), +or as of the minor gentry. In time he became a fellow and lector of +Brasenose College, and presently obtained the good living of Purleigh. +Strong royalists, the fortunes of the family waned along with King +Charles, and sank into insignificance with the passing of the Stuart +dynasty. Not the least sufferer was the rector of Purleigh, for the +Puritan Parliament ejected him from his living, on the charge “that he +was a common frequenter of ale-houses, not only himself sitting dayly +tippling there … but hath oft been drunk,”—a charge indignantly denied +by the royalists, who asserted that he was a “worthy Pious man, … +always … a very Modest, Sober Person;” and this latter claim is +supported by the fact that though the Puritans sequestered the rich +living, they made no objection to his serving as rector at Brixted +Parva, where the living was “such a Poor and Miserable one that it was +always with difficulty that any one was persuaded to accept of it.” + +Poverty resulting, John, the eldest son of this rector, early took to +the sea, and in 1656 assisted “as second man in Sayleing ye Vessel to +Virginia.” Here he settled, took up land, presently became a county +officer, a burgess, and a colonel of militia. In this latter function +he commanded the Virginia troops during the Indian war of 1675, and +when his great-grandson, George, on his first arrival on the frontier, +was called by the Indians “Conotocarius,” or “devourer of villages,” +the formidable but inappropriate title for the newly-fledged officer is +supposed to have been due to the reputation that John Washington had +won for his name among the Indians eighty years before. + + +[Illustration: TABLET TO LAURENCE WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY IN +SULGRAVE CHURCH] + + +Both John’s son, Lawrence, and Lawrence’s son, Augustine, describe +themselves in their wills as “gentlemen,” and both intermarried with +the “gentry families” of Virginia. Augustine was educated at Appleby +School, in England, like his grandfather followed the sea for a time, +was interested in iron mines, and in other ways proved himself far more +than the average Virginia planter of his day. He was twice +married,—which marriages, with unconscious humor, he describes in his +will as “several Ventures,”—had ten children, and died in 1743, when +George, his fifth child and the first by his second “Venture,” was a +boy of eleven. The father thus took little part in the life of the lad, +and almost the only mention of him by his son still extant is the one +recorded in Washington’s round school-boy hand in the family Bible, to +the effect that “Augustine Washington and Mary Ball was Married the +Sixth of March 17-30/31. Augustine Washington Departed this Life ye +12th Day of April 1743, Aged 49 Years.” + +The mother, Mary Washington, was more of a factor, though chiefly by +mere length of life, for she lived to be eighty-three, and died but ten +years before her son. That Washington owed his personal appearance to +the Balls is true, but otherwise the sentimentality that has been +lavished about the relations between the two and her influence upon +him, partakes of fiction rather than of truth. After his father’s death +the boy passed most of his time at the homes of his two elder brothers, +and this was fortunate, for they were educated men, of some colonial +consequence, while his mother lived in comparatively straitened +circumstances, was illiterate and untidy, and, moreover, if tradition +is to be believed, smoked a pipe. Her course with the lad was blamed by +a contemporary as “fond and unthinking,” and this is borne out by such +facts as can be gleaned, for when his brothers wished to send him to +sea she made “trifling objections,” and prevented his taking what they +thought an advantageous opening; when the brilliant offer of a position +on Braddock’s staff was tendered to Washington, his mother, “alarmed at +the report,” hurried to Mount Vernon and endeavored to prevent him from +accepting it; still again, after Braddock’s defeat, she so wearied her +son with pleas not to risk the dangers of another campaign that +Washington finally wrote her, “It would reflect dishonor upon me to +refuse; and _that_, I am sure, must or _ought_ to give you greater +uneasiness, than my going in an honorable command.” After he inherited +Mount Vernon the two seem to have seen little of each other, though, +when occasion took him near Fredericksburg, he usually stopped to see +her for a few hours, or even for a night. + +Though Washington always wrote to his mother as “Honored Madam,” and +signed himself “your dutiful and aff. son,” she none the less tried him +not a little. He never claimed from her a part of the share of his +father’s estate which was his due on becoming of age, and, in addition, +“a year or two before I left Virginia (to make her latter days +comfortable and free from care) I did, at her request, but at my own +expence, purchase a commodious house, garden and Lotts (of her own +choosing) in Fredericksburg, that she might be near my sister Lewis, +her only daughter,—and did moreover agree to take her land and negroes +at a certain yearly rent, to be fixed by Colo Lewis and others (of her +own nomination) which has been an annual expence to me ever since, as +the estate never raised one half the rent I was to pay. Before I left +Virginia I answered all her calls for money; and since that period have +directed my steward to do the same.” Furthermore, he gave her a +phaeton, and when she complained of her want of comfort he wrote her, +“My house is at your service, and [I] would press you most sincerely +and most devoutly to accept it, but I am sure, and candor requires me +to say, it will never answer your purposes in any shape whatsoever. For +in truth it may be compared to a well resorted tavern, as scarcely any +strangers who are going from north to south, or from south to north, do +not spend a day or two at it. This would, were you to be an inhabitant +of it, oblige you to do one of 3 things: 1st, to be always dressing to +appear in company; 2d, to come into [the room] in a dishabille, or 3d +to be as it were a prisoner in your own chamber. The first you’ld not +like; indeed, for a person at your time of life it would be too +fatiguing. The 2d, I should not like, because those who resort here +are, as I observed before, strangers and people of the first +distinction. And the 3d, more than probably, would not be pleasing to +either of us.” + +Under these circumstances it was with real indignation that Washington +learned that complaints of hers that she “never lived soe poore in all +my life” were so well known that there was a project to grant her a +pension. The pain this caused a man who always showed such intense +dislike to taking even money earned from public coffers, and who +refused everything in the nature of a gift, can easily be understood. +He at once wrote a letter to a friend in the Virginia Assembly, in +which, after reciting enough of what he had done for her to prove that +she was under no necessity of a pension,—“or, in other words, receiving +charity from the public,”—he continued, “But putting these things +aside, which I could not avoid mentioning in exculpation of a +presumptive want of duty on my part; confident I am that she has not a +child that would not divide the last sixpence to relieve her from real +distress. This she has been repeatedly assured of by me; and all of us, +I am certain, would feel much hurt, at having our mother a pensioner, +while we had the means of supporting her; but in fact she has an ample +income of her own. I lament accordingly that your letter, which +conveyed the first hint of this matter, did not come to my hands +sooner; but I request, in pointed terms, if the matter is now in +agitation in your Assembly, that all proceedings on it may be stopped, +or in case of a decision in her favor, that it may be done away and +repealed at my request.” + +Still greater mortification was in store for him, when he was told that +she was borrowing and accepting gifts from her neighbors, and learned +“on good authority that she is, upon all occasions and in all +companies, complaining … of her wants and difficulties; and if not in +direct terms, at least by strong innuendoes, endeavors to excite a +belief that times are much altered, &c., &c., which not only makes +_her_ appear in an unfavorable point of view, but _those also_ who are +connected with her.” To save her feelings he did not express the “pain” +he felt to her, but he wrote a brother asking him to ascertain if there +was the slightest basis in her complaints, and “see what is necessary +to make her comfortable,” for “while I have anything I will part with +it to make her so;” but begging him “at the same time … to represent to +her in delicate terms, the impropriety of her complaints, and +_acceptance_ of favors, even when they are voluntarily offered, from +any but relations.” Though he did not “touch upon this subject in a +letter to her,” he was enough fretted to end the renting of her +plantation, not because “I mean … to withhold any aid or support I can +give from you; for whilst I have a shilling left, you shall have part,” +but because “what I shall then give, I shall have credit for,” and not +be “viewed as a delinquent, and considered perhaps by the world as [an] +unjust and undutiful son.” + +In the last years of her life a cancer developed, which she refused to +have “dressed,” and over which, as her doctor wrote Washington, the +“Old Lady” and he had “a small battle every day.” Once Washington was +summoned by an express to her bedside “to bid, as I was prepared to +expect, the last adieu to an honored parent,” but it was a false alarm. +Her health was so bad, however, that just before he started to New York +to be inaugurated he rode to Fredericksburg, “and took a final leave of +my mother, never expecting to see her more,” a surmise that proved +correct. + +Only Elizabeth—or “Betty”—of Washington’s sisters grew to womanhood, +and it is said that she was so strikingly like her brother that, +disguised with a long cloak and a military hat, the difference between +them was scarcely detectable. She married Fielding Lewis, and lived at +“Kenmore House” on the Rappahannock, where Washington spent many a +night, as did the Lewises at Mount Vernon. During the Revolution, while +visiting there, she wrote her brother, “Oh, when will that day arrive +when we shall meet again. Trust in the lord it will be soon,—till when, +you have the prayers and kind wishes for your health and happiness of +your loving and sincerely affectionate sister.” Her husband died “much +indebted,” and from that time her brother gave her occasional sums of +money, and helped her in other ways. + +Her eldest son followed in his father’s footsteps, and displeased +Washington with requests for loans. He angered him still more by +conduct concerning which Washington wrote to him as follows: + +“Sir, Your letter of the 11th of Octor. never came to my hands ’till +yesterday. Altho’ your disrespectful conduct towards me, in coming into +this country and spending weeks therein without ever coming near me, +entitled you to very little notice or favor from me; yet I consent that +you may get timber from off my Land in Fauquier County to build a house +on your Lott in Rectertown. Having granted this, now let me ask you +what your views were in purchasing a Lott in a place which, I presume, +originated with and will end in two or three Gin shops, which probably +will exist no longer than they serve to ruin the proprietors, and those +who make the most frequent applications to them. I am, &c.” + + +[Illustration: MRS FIELDING LEWIS (BETTY WASHINGTON)] + + +Other of the Lewis boys pleased him better, and he appointed one an +officer in his own “Life Guard.” Of another he wrote, when President, +to his sister, “If your son Howell is living with you, and not usefully +employed in your own affairs, and should incline to spend a few months +with me, as a writer in my office (if he is fit for it) I will allow +him at the rate of three hundred dollars a year, provided he is +diligent in discharging the duties of it from breakfast until +dinner—Sundays excepted. This sum will be punctually paid him, and I am +particular in declaring beforehand what I require, and what he may +expect, that there may be no disappointment, or false expectations on +either side. He will live in the family in the same manner his brother +Robert did.” This Robert had been for some time one of his secretaries, +and at another time was employed as a rent-collector. + +Still another son, Lawrence, also served him in these dual capacities, +and Washington, on his retirement from the Presidency, offered him a +home at Mount Vernon. This led to a marriage with Mrs. Washington’s +grandchild, Eleanor Custis, a match which so pleased Washington that he +made arrangements for Lawrence to build on the Mount Vernon estate, in +his will named him an executor, and left the couple a part of this +property, as well as a portion of the residuary estate. + +As already noted, much of Washington’s early life was passed at the +homes of his elder (half-) brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, who lived +respectively at Mount Vernon and Wakefield. When Lawrence developed +consumption, George was his travelling companion in a trip to +Barbadoes, and from him, when he died of that disease, in 1752, came +the bequest of Mount Vernon to “my loveing brother George.” To +Augustine, in the only letter now extant, Washington wrote, “The +pleasure of your company at Mount Vernon always did, and always will +afford me infinite satisfaction,” and signed himself “your most +affectionate brother.” Surviving this brother, he left handsome +bequests to all his children. + +Samuel, the eldest of his own brothers, and his junior by but two +years, though constantly corresponded with, was not a favorite. He +seems to have had extravagant tendencies, variously indicated by five +marriages, and by (perhaps as a consequence) pecuniary difficulties. In +1781, Washington wrote to another brother, “In God’s name how did my +brother Samuel get himself so enormously in debt?” Very quickly +requests for loans followed, than which nothing was more irritating to +Washington. Yet, though he replied that it would be “very inconvenient” +to him, his ledger shows that at least two thousand dollars were +advanced, and in a letter to this brother, on the danger of borrowing +at interest, Washington wrote, “I do not make these observations on +account of the money I purpose to lend you, because all I shall require +is that you return the net sum when in your power, without interest.” +Better even than this, in his will Washington discharged the debt. + +To the family of Samuel, Washington was equally helpful. For the eldest +son he obtained an ensigncy, and “to save Thornton and you [Samuel] the +expence of buying a horse to ride home on, I have lent him a mare.” Two +other sons he assumed all the expenses of, and showed an almost +fatherly interest in them. He placed them at school, and when the lads +proved somewhat unruly he wrote them long admonitory letters, which +became stern when actual misconduct ensued, and when one of them ran +away to Mount Vernon to escape a whipping, Washington himself prepared +“to correct him, but he begged so earnestly and promised so faithfully +that there should be no cause for complaint in the future, that I have +suspended punishment.” Later the two were sent to college, and in all +cost Washington “near five thousand dollars.” + +An even greater trouble was their sister Harriot, whose care was +assumed in 1785, and who was a member of Washington’s household, with +only a slight interruption, till her marriage in 1796. Her chief +failing was “no disposition … to be careful of her cloathes,” which +were “dabbed about in every hole and corner and her best things always +in use,” so that Washington said “she costs me enough!” To her uncle +she wrote on one occasion, “How shall I apologise to my dear and +Honor’d for intruding on his goodness so soon again, but being sensible +for your kindness to me which I shall ever remember with the most +heartfelt gratitude induces me to make known my wants. I have not had a +pair of stays since I first came here: if you could let me have a pair +I should be very much obleiged to you, and also a hat and a few other +articles. I hope my dear Uncle will not think me extravagant for really +I take as much care of my cloaths as I possibly can.” Probably the +expense that pleased him best in her case was that which he recorded in +his ledger “By Miss Harriot Washington gave her to buy wedding clothes +$100.” + +His second and favorite brother, John Augustine, who was four years his +junior, Washington described as “the intimate companion of my youth and +the friend of my ripened age.” While the Virginia colonel was on the +frontier, from 1754 to 1759, he left John in charge of all his business +affairs, giving him a residence at and management of Mount Vernon. With +this brother he constantly corresponded, addressing him as “Dear Jack,” +and writing in the most intimate and affectionate terms, not merely to +him, but when John had taken unto himself a wife, to her, and to “the +little ones,” and signing himself “your loving brother.” Visits between +the two were frequent, and invitations for the same still more so, and +in one letter, written during the most trying moment of the Revolution, +Washington said, “God grant you all health and happiness. Nothing in +this world could contribute so to mine as to be fixed among you.” John +died in 1787, and Washington wrote with simple but undisguised grief of +the death of “my beloved brother.” + +The eldest son of this brother, Bushrod, was his favorite nephew, and +Washington took much interest in his career, getting the lad admitted +to study law with Judge James Wilson, in Philadelphia, and taking +genuine pride in him when he became a lawyer and judge of repute. He +made this nephew his travelling companion in the Western journey of +1784, and at other times not merely sent him money, but wrote him +letters of advice, dwelling on the dangers that beset young men, though +confessing that he was himself “not such a Stoic” as to expect too much +of youthful blood. To Bushrod, also, he appealed on legal matters, +adding, “You may think me an unprofitable applicant in asking opinions +and requiring services of you without dousing my money, but pay day may +come,” and in this he was as good as his word, for in his will +Washington left Bushrod, “partly in consideration of an intimation to +his deceased father, while we were bachelors and he had kindly +undertaken to superintend my Estates, during my military services in +the former war between Great Britain and France, that if I should fall +therein, Mt. Vernon … should become his property,” the home and +“mansion-house farm,” one share of the residuary estate, his private +papers, and his library, and named him an executor of the instrument. + +Of Washington’s relations with his youngest brother, Charles, little +can be learned. He was the last of his brothers to die, and Washington +outlived him so short a time that he was named in his will, though only +for a mere token of remembrance. “I add nothing to it because of the +ample provision I have made for his issue.” Of the children so +mentioned, Washington was particularly fond of George Augustine +Washington. As a mere lad he used his influence to procure for him an +ensigncy in a Virginia regiment, and an appointment on Lafayette’s +staff. When in 1784 the young fellow was threatened with consumption, +his uncle’s purse supplied him with the funds by which he was enabled +to travel, even while Washington wrote, “Poor fellow! his pursuit after +health is, I fear, altogether fruitless.” When better health came, and +with it a renewal of a troth with a niece of Mrs. Washington’s, the +marriage was made possible by Washington appointing the young fellow +his manager, and not merely did it take place at Mount Vernon, but the +young couple took up their home there. More than this, that their +outlook might be “more stable and pleasing,” Washington promised them +that on his death they should not be forgotten. When the disease again +developed, Washington wrote his nephew in genuine anxiety, and ended +his letter, “At all times and under all circumstances you and yours +will possess my affectionate regards.” Only a few days later the news +of his nephew’s death reached him, and he wrote his widow, “To you who +so well know the affectionate regard I had for our departed friend, it +is unnecessary to describe the sorrow with which I was afflicted at the +news of his death.” He asked her and her children “to return to your +old habitation at Mount Vernon. You can go to no place where you can be +more welcome, nor to any where you can live at less expence and +trouble,” an offer, he adds, “made to you with my whole heart.” +Furthermore, Washington served as executor, assumed the expense of +educating one of the sons, and in his will left the two children part +of the Mount Vernon estate, as well as other bequests, “on account of +the affection I had for, and the obligation I was under to their father +when living, who from his youth attached himself to my person, and +followed my fortunes through the vicissitudes of the late Revolution, +afterwards devoting his time for many years whilst my public +employments rendered it impracticable for me to do it myself, thereby +affording me essential services and always performing them in a manner +the most filial and respectful.” + +Of his wife’s kith and kin Washington was equally fond. Both alone and +with Mrs. Washington he often visited her mother, Mrs. Dandridge, and +in 1773 he wrote to a brother-in-law that he wished “I was master of +Arguments powerful enough to prevail upon Mrs. Dandridge to make this +place her entire and absolute home. I should think as she lives a +lonesome life (Betsey being married) it might suit her well, & be +agreeable, both to herself & my Wife, to me most assuredly it would.” +Washington was also a frequent visitor at “Eltham,” the home of Colonel +Bassett, who had married his wife’s sister, and constantly corresponded +with these relatives. He asked this whole family to be his guests at +the Warm Springs, and, as this meant camping out in tents, he wrote, +“You will have occasion to provide nothing, if I can be advised of your +intentions, so that I may provide accordingly.” To another +brother-in-law, Bartholomew Dandridge, he lent money, and forgave the +debt to the widow in his will, also giving her the use during her life +of the thirty-three negroes he had bid in at the bankruptcy sale of her +husband’s property. + +The pleasantest glimpses of family feeling are gained, however, in his +relations with his wife’s children and grandchildren. John Parke and +Martha Parke Custis—or “Jack” and “Patsey,” as he called them—were at +the date of his marriage respectively six and four years of age, and in +the first invoice of goods to be shipped to him from London after he +had become their step-father, Washington ordered “10 shillings worth of +Toys,” “6 little books for children beginning to read,” and “1 +fashionable-dressed baby to cost 10 shillings.” When this latter shared +the usual fate, he further wrote for “1 fashionable dress Doll to cost +a guinea,” and for “A box of Gingerbread Toys & Sugar Images or +Comfits.” A little later he ordered a Bible and Prayer-Book for each, +“neatly bound in Turkey,” with names “in gilt letters on the inside of +the cover,” followed ere long by an order for “1 very good Spinet” As +Patsy grew to girlhood she developed fits, and “solely on her account +to try (by the advice of her Physician) the effect of the waters on her +Complaint,” Washington took the family over the mountains and camped at +the “Warm Springs” in 1769, with “little benefit,” for, after ailing +four years longer, “she was seized with one of her usual Fits & expired +in it, in less than two minutes, without uttering a word, or groan, or +scarce a sigh.” “The Sweet Innocent Girl,” Washington wrote, “entered +into a more happy & peaceful abode than she has met with in the +afflicted Path she has hitherto trod,” but none the less “it is an +easier matter to conceive than to describe the distress of this family” +at the loss of “dear Patsy Custis.” + + +[Illustration: JOHN AND MARTHA PARKE CUSTIS] + + +The care of Jack Custis was a worry to Washington in quite another way. +As a lad, Custis signed his letters to him as “your most affectionate +and dutiful son,” “yet I conceive,” Washington wrote, “there is much +greater circumspection to be observed by a guardian than a natural +parent.” Soon after assuming charge of the boy, a tutor was secured, +who lived at Mount Vernon, but the boy showed little inclination to +study, and when fourteen, Washington wrote that “his mind [is] … more +turned … to Dogs, Horses and Guns, indeed upon Dress and equipage.” +“Having his well being much at heart,” Washington wished to make him +“fit for more useful purposes than [a] horse racer,” and so Jack was +placed with a clergyman, who agreed to instruct him, and with him he +lived, except for some home visits, for three years. Unfortunately, the +lad, like the true Virginian planter of his day, had no taste for +study, and had “a propensity for the [fair] sex.” After two or three +flirtations, he engaged himself, without the knowledge of his mother or +guardian, to Nellie Calvert, a match to which no objection could be +made, except that, owing to his “youth and fickleness,” “he may either +change and therefore injure the young lady; or that it may precipitate +him into a marriage before, I am certain, he has ever bestowed a +serious thought of the consequences; by which means his education is +interrupted.” To avoid this danger, Washington took his ward to New +York and entered him in King’s College, but the death of Patsy Custis +put a termination to study, for Mrs. Washington could not bear to have +the lad at such a distance, and Washington “did not care, as he is the +last of the family, to push my opposition too far.” Accordingly, Jack +returned to Virginia and promptly married. + +The young couple were much at Mount Vernon from this time on, and +Washington wrote to “Dear Jack,” “I am always pleased with yours and +Nelly’s abidance at Mount Vernon.” When the winter snows made the siege +of Boston purely passive, the couple journeyed with Mrs. Washington to +Cambridge, and visited at head-quarters for some months. The arrival of +children prevented the repetition of such visits, but frequent letters, +which rarely failed to send love to “Nelly and the little girls,” were +exchanged. The acceptance of command compelled Washington to resign the +care of Custis’s estate, for which service “I have never charged him or +his sister, from the day of my connexion with them to this hour, one +farthing for all the trouble I have had in managing their estates, nor +for any expense they have been to me, notwithstanding some hundreds of +pounds would not reimburse the moneys I have actually paid in attending +the public meetings in Williamsburg to collect their debts, and +transact these several matters appertaining to the respective estates.” +Washington, however, continued his advice as to its management, and in +other letters advised him concerning his conduct when Custis was +elected a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. In the siege of +Yorktown Jack served as an officer of militia, and the exposure proved +too much for him. Immediately after the surrender, news reached +Washington of his serious illness, and by riding thirty miles in one +day he succeeded in reaching Eltham in “time enough to see poor Mr. +Custis breath his last,” leaving behind him “four lovely children, +three girls and a boy.” + +Owing to his public employment, Washington refused to be guardian for +these “little ones,” writing “that it would be injurious to the +children and madness in me, to undertake, _as a principle_, a trust +which I could not discharge. Such aid, however, as it ever may be with +me to give to the children especially the boy, I will afford with all +my heart, and on this assurance you may rely.” Yet “from their earliest +infancy” two of Jack’s children, George Washington Parke and Eleanor +Parke Custis, lived at Mount Vernon, for, as Washington wrote in his +will, “it has always been my intention, since my expectation of having +issue has ceased, to consider the grandchildren of my wife in the same +light as my own relations, and to act a friendly part by them.” Though +the cares of war prevented his watching their property interests, his +eight years’ absence could not make him forget them, and on his way to +Annapolis, in 1783, to tender Congress his resignation, he spent sundry +hours of his time in the purchase of gifts obviously intended to +increase the joy of his homecoming to the family circle at Mount +Vernon; set forth in his note-book as follows: + +“By Sundries bot. in Phila. A Locket £5 5 3 Small Pockt. Books 1 + 10 3 Sashes 1 5 0 Dress Cap 2 8 Hatt 3 10 +Handkerchief 1 Childrens Books 4 6 Whirligig 1 6 Fiddle 2 + 6 Quadrille Boxes 1 17 6.” + +Indeed, in every way Washington showed how entirely he considered +himself as a father, not merely speaking of them frequently as “the +children,” but even alluding to himself in a letter to the boy as “your +papa.” Both were much his companions during the Presidency. A frequent +sight in New York and Philadelphia was Washington taking “exercise in +the coach with Mrs. Washington and the two children,” and several times +they were taken to the theatre and on picnics. + +For Eleanor, or “Nelly,” who grew into a great beauty, Washington +showed the utmost tenderness, and on occasion interfered to save her +from her grandmother, who at moments was inclined to be severe, in one +case to bring the storm upon himself. For her was bought a “Forte +piano,” and later, at the cost of a thousand dollars, a very fine +imported harpsichord, and one of Washington’s great pleasures was to +have her play and sing to him. His ledger constantly shows gifts to her +ranging from “The Wayworn traveller, a song for Miss Custis,” to “a pr. +of gold eardrops” and a watch. The two corresponded. One letter from +Washington merits quotation: + + +[Illustration: ELLANOR (NELLY) CUSTIS] + + +“Let me touch a little now on your Georgetown ball, and happy, thrice +happy, for the fair who assembled on the occasion, that there was a man +to spare; for had there been 79 ladies and only 78 gentlemen, there +might, in the course of the evening have been some disorder among the +caps; notwithstanding the apathy which _one_ of the company entertains +for the ‘_youth_’ of the present day, and her determination ‘Never to +give herself a moment’s uneasiness on account of any of them.’ A hint +here; men and women feel the same inclinations towards each other _now_ +that they always have done, and which they will continue to do until +there is a new order of things, and _you_, as others have done, may +find, perhaps, that the passions of your sex are easier raised than +allayed. Do not therefore boast too soon or too strongly of your +insensibility to, or resistance of, its powers. In the composition of +the human frame there is a good deal of inflammable matter, however +dormant it may lie for a time, and like an intimate acquaintance of +yours, when the torch is put to it, _that_ which is _within you_ may +burst into a blaze; for which reason and especially too, as I have +entered upon the chapter of advices, I will read you a lecture from +this text.” + +Not long after this was written, Nelly, as already mentioned, was +married at Mount Vernon to Washington’s nephew, Lawrence Lewis, and in +time became joint-owner with her husband of part of that place. + +As early as 1785 a tutor was wanted for “little Washington,” as the lad +was called, and Washington wrote to England to ask if some “worthy man +of the cloth could not be obtained,” “for the boy is a remarkably fine +one, and my intention is to give him a liberal education.” His training +became part of the private secretary’s duty, both at Mount Vernon and +New York and Philadelphia, but the lad inherited his father’s traits, +and “from his infancy … discovered an almost unconquerable disposition +to indolence.” This led to failures which gave Washington “extreme +disquietude,” and in vain he “exhorted him in the most parental and +friendly manner.” Custis would express “sorrow and repentance” and do +no better. Successively he was sent to the College of Philadelphia, the +College of New Jersey, and that at Annapolis, but from each he was +expelled, or had to be withdrawn. Irritating as it must have been, his +guardian never in his letters expressed anything but affection, +shielded the lad from the anger of his step-father, and saw that he was +properly supplied with money, of which he asked him to keep a careful +account,—though this, as Washington wrote, was “not because I want to +know how you spend your money.” After the last college failure a +private tutor was once more engaged, but a very few weeks served to +give Washington “a thorough conviction that it was in vain to keep +Washington Custis to any literary pursuits, either in a public Seminary +or at home,” and, as the next best thing, he procured him a cornetcy in +the provisional army. Even here, balance was shown; for, out of +compliment and friendship to Washington, “the Major Generals were +desirous of placing him as lieutenant in the first instance; but his +age considered, I thought it more eligible that he should enter into +the lowest grade.” + +In this connection one side of Washington’s course with his relations +deserves especial notice. As early as 1756 he applied for a commission +in the Virginia forces for his brother, and, as already shown, he +placed several of his nephews and other connections in the +Revolutionary or provisional armies. But he made clear distinction +between military and civil appointments, and was very scrupulous about +the latter. When his favorite nephew asked for a Federal appointment, +Washington answered,— + +“You cannot doubt my wishes to see you appointed to any office of honor +or emolument in the new government, to the duties of which you are +competent; but however deserving you may be of the one you have +suggested, your standing at the bar would not justify my nomination of +you as attorney to the Federal District Court in preference to some of +the oldest and most esteemed general court lawyers in your State, who +are desirous of this appointment. My political conduct in nominations, +even if I were uninfluenced by principle, must be exceedingly +circumspect and proof against just criticism; for the eyes of Argus are +upon me, and no slip will pass unnoticed, that can be improved into a +supposed partiality for friends or relations.” + +And that in this policy he was consistent is shown by a letter of +Jefferson, who wrote to an office-seeking relative, “The public will +never be made to believe that an appointment of a relative is made on +the ground of merit alone, uninfluenced by family views; nor can they +ever see with approbation offices, the disposal of which they entrust +to their Presidents for public purposes, divided out as family +property. Mr. Adams degraded himself infinitely by his conduct on this +subject, as Genl. Washington had done himself the greatest honor. With +two such examples to proceed by, I should be doubly inexcusable to +err.” + +There were many other more distant relatives with whom pleasant +relations were maintained, but enough has been said to indicate the +intercourse. Frequent were the house-parties at Mount Vernon, and how +unstinted hospitality was to kith and kin is shown by many entries in +Washington’s diary, a single one of which will indicate the rest: “I +set out for my return home—at which I arrived a little after noon—And +found my Brother Jon Augustine his Wife; Daughter Milly, & Sons Bushrod +& Corbin, & the Wife of the first. Mr. Willm Washington & his Wife and +4 Children.” + +His will left bequests to forty-one of his own and his wife’s +relations. “God left him childless that he might be the father of his +country.” + + + + +II +PHYSIQUE + + +Writing to his London tailor for clothes, in 1763, Washington directed +him to “take measure of a gentleman who wares well-made cloaths of the +following size: to wit, 6 feet high and proportionably made—if anything +rather slender than thick, for a person of that highth, with pretty +long arms and thighs. You will take care to make the breeches longer +than those you sent me last, and I would have you keep the measure of +the cloaths you now make, by you, and if any alteration is required in +my next it shall be pointed out.” About this time, too, he ordered “6 +pr. Man’s riding Gloves—rather large than the middle size,”… and +several dozen pairs of stockings, “to be long, and tolerably large.” + +The earliest known description of Washington was written in 1760 by his +companion-in-arms and friend George Mercer, who attempted a +“portraiture” in the following words: “He may be described as being as +straight as an Indian, measuring six feet two inches in his stockings, +and weighing 175 pounds when he took his seat in the House of Burgesses +in 1759. His frame is padded with well-developed muscles, indicating +great strength. His bones and joints are large, as are his feet and +hands. He is wide shouldered, but has not a deep or round chest; is +neat waisted, but is broad across the hips, and has rather long legs +and arms. His head is well shaped though not large, but is gracefully +poised on a superb neck. A large and straight rather than prominent +nose; blue-gray penetrating eyes, which are widely separated and +overhung by a heavy brow. His face is long rather than broad, with high +round cheek bones, and terminates in a good firm chin. He has a clear +though rather a colorless pale skin, which burns with the sun. A +pleasing, benevolent, though a commanding countenance, dark brown hair, +which he wears in a cue. His mouth is large and generally firmly +closed, but which from time to time discloses some defective teeth. His +features are regular and placid, with all the muscles of his face under +perfect control, though flexible and expressive of deep feeling when +moved by emotion. In conversation he looks you full in the face, is +deliberate, deferential and engaging. His voice is agreeable rather +than strong. His demeanor at all times composed and dignified. His +movements and gestures are graceful, his walk majestic, and he is a +splendid horseman.” + +Dr. James Thacher, writing in 1778, depicted him as “remarkably tall, +full six feet, erect and well proportioned. The strength and proportion +of his joints and muscles, appear to be commensurate with the +pre-eminent powers of his mind. The serenity of his countenance, and +majestic gracefulness of his deportment, impart a strong impression of +that dignity and grandeur, which are his peculiar characteristics, and +no one can stand in his presence without feeling the ascendancy of his +mind, and associating with his countenance the idea of wisdom, +philanthropy, magnanimity and patriotism. There is a fine symmetry in +the features of his face, indicative of a benign and dignified spirit. +His nose is straight, and his eye inclined to blue. He wears his hair +in a becoming cue, and from his forehead it is turned back and powdered +in a manner which adds to the military air of his appearance. He +displays a native gravity, but devoid of all appearance of +ostentation.” In this same year a friend wrote, “General Washington is +now in the forty-seventh year of his age; he is a well-made man, rather +large boned, and has a tolerably genteel address; his features are +manly and bold, his eyes of a bluish cast and very lively; his hair a +deep brown, his face rather long and marked with the small-pox; his +complexion sunburnt and without much color, and his countenance +sensible, composed and thoughtful; there is a remarkable air of dignity +about him, with a striking degree of gracefulness.” + +In 1789 Senator Maclay saw “him as he really is. In stature about six +feet, with an unexceptionable make, but lax appearance. His frame would +seem to want filling up. His motions rather slow than lively, though he +showed no signs of having suffered by gout or rheumatism. His +complexion pale, nay, almost cadaverous. His voice hollow and +indistinct, owing, as I believe, to artificial teeth before his upper +jaw, which occasions a flatness.” + +From frequent opportunity of seeing Washington between 1794 and 1797, +William Sullivan described him as “over six feet in stature; of strong, +bony, muscular frame, without fullness of covering, well-formed and +straight. He was a man of most extraordinary strength. In his own +house, his action was calm, deliberate, and dignified, without +pretension to gracefulness, or peculiar manner, but merely natural, and +such as one would think it should be in such a man. When walking in the +street, his movement had not the soldierly air which might be expected. +His habitual motions had been formed, long before he took command of +the American Armies, in the wars of the interior and in the surveying +of wilderness lands, employments in which grace and elegance were not +likely to be acquired. At the age of sixty-five, time had done nothing +towards bending him out of his natural erectness. His deportment was +invariably grave; it was sobriety that stopped short of sadness.” + +The French officers and travellers supply other descriptions. The Abbé +Robin found him of “tall and noble stature, well proportioned, a fine, +cheerful, open countenance, a simple and modest carriage; and his whole +mien has something in it that interests the French, the Americans, and +even enemies themselves in his favor.” + +The Marquis de Chastellux wrote enthusiastically, “In speaking of this +perfect whole of which General Washington furnishes the idea, I have +not excluded exterior form. His stature is noble and lofty, he is well +made, and exactly proportionate; his physiognomy mild and agreeable, +but such as to render it impossible to speak particularly of any of his +features, so that in quitting him you have only the recollection of a +fine face. He has neither a grave nor a familiar face, his brow is +sometimes marked with thought, but never with inquietude; in inspiring +respect he inspires confidence, and his smile is always the smile of +benevolence.” + +To this description, however, Brissot de Warville took exception, and +supplied his own picture by writing in 1791, “You have often heard me +blame M. Chastellux for putting too much sprightliness in the character +he has drawn of this general. To give pretensions to the portrait of a +man who has none is truly absurd. The General’s goodness appears in his +looks. They have nothing of that brilliancy which his officers found in +them when he was at the head of his army; but in conversation they +become animated. He has no characteristic traits in his figure, and +this has rendered it always so difficult to describe it: there are few +portraits which resemble him. All his answers are pertinent; he shows +the utmost reserve, and is very diffident; but, at the same time, he is +firm and unchangeable in whatever he undertakes. His modesty must be +very astonishing, especially to a Frenchman.” + +British travellers have left a number of pen-portraits. An anonymous +writer in 1790 declared that in meeting him “it was not necessary to +announce his name, for his peculiar appearance, his firm forehead, +Roman nose, and a projection of the lower jaw, his height and figure, +could not be mistaken by any one who had seen a full-length picture of +him, and yet no picture accurately resembled him in the minute traits +of his person. His features, however, were so marked by prominent +characteristics, which appear in all likenesses of him, that a stranger +could not be mistaken in the man; he was remarkably dignified in his +manners, and had an air of benignity over his features which his +visitant did not expect, being rather prepared for sternness of +countenance…. his smile was extraordinarily attractive. It was observed +to me that there was an expression in Washington’s face that no painter +had succeeded in taking. It struck me no man could be better formed for +command. A stature of six feet, a robust, but well-proportioned frame, +calculated to sustain fatigue, without that heaviness which generally +attends great muscular strength, and abates active exertion, displayed +bodily power of no mean standard. A light eye and full—the very eye of +genius and reflection rather than of blind passionate impulse. His nose +appeared thick, and though it befitted his other features, was too +coarsely and strongly formed to be the handsomest of its class. His +mouth was like no other that I ever saw; the lips firm and the under +jaw seeming to grasp the upper with force, as if its muscles were in +full action when he sat still.” + +Two years later, an English diplomat wrote of him, “His person is tall +and sufficiently graceful; his face well formed, his complexion rather +pale, with a mild philosophic gravity in the expression of it In his +air and manner he displays much natural dignity; in his address he is +cold, reserved, and even phlegmatic, though without the least +appearance of haughtiness or ill-nature; it is the effect, I imagine, +of constitutional diffidence. That caution and circumspection which +form so striking and well known a feature in his military, and, indeed, +in his political character, is very strongly marked in his countenance, +for his eyes retire inward (do you understand me?) and have nothing of +fire of animation or openness in their expression.” + +Wansey, who visited Mount Vernon in 1795, portrayed “The President in +his person” as “tall and thin, but erect; rather of an engaging than a +dignified presence. He appears very thoughtful, is slow in delivering +himself, which occasions some to conclude him reserved, but it is +rather, I apprehend, the effect of much thinking and reflection, for +there is great appearance to me of affability and accommodation. He was +at this time in his sixty-third year … but he has very little the +appearance of age, having been all his life long so exceeding +temperate.” + +In 1797, Weld wrote, “his chest is full; and his limbs, though rather +slender, well shaped and muscular. His head is small, in which respect +he resembles the make of a great number of his countrymen. His eyes are +of a light grey colour; and in proportion to the length of his face, +his nose is long. Mr. Stewart, the eminent portrait painter, told me, +that there were features in his face totally different from what he +ever observed in that of any other human being; the sockets for the +eyes, for instance, are larger than what he ever met with before, and +the upper part of the nose broader. All his features, he observed, were +indicative of the strongest and most ungovernable passions, and had he +been born in the forests, it was his opinion that he would have been +the fiercest man among the savage tribes.” + +Other and briefer descriptions contain a few phrases worth quoting. +Samuel Sterns said, “His countenance commonly carries the impression of +a serious cast;” Maclay, that “the President seemed to bear in his +countenance a settled aspect of melancholy;” and the Prince de Broglie +wrote, “His pensive eyes seem more attentive than sparkling, but their +expression is benevolent, noble and self-possessed.” Silas Deane in +1775 said he had “a very young look and an easy soldier-like air and +gesture,” and in the same year Curwen mentioned his “fine figure” and +“easy and agreeable address.” Nathaniel Lawrence noted in 1783 that +“the General weighs commonly about 210 pounds.” After death, Lear +reports that “Doctor Dick measured the body, which was as follows—In +length 6 ft. 3-1/2 inches exact. Across the shoulders 1.9. Across the +elbows 2.1.” The pleasantest description is Jefferson’s: “His person, +you know, was fine, his stature exactly what one would wish, his +deportment easy, erect and noble.” + +How far the portraits of Washington conveyed his expression is open to +question. The quotation already given which said that no picture +accurately resembled him in the minute traits of his person is worth +noting. Furthermore, his expression varied much according to +circumstances, and the painter saw it only in repose. The first time he +was drawn, he wrote a friend, “Inclination having yielded to +Importunity, I am now contrary to all expectation under the hands of +Mr. Peale; but in so grave—so sullen a mood—and now and then under the +influence of Morpheus, when some critical strokes are making, that I +fancy the skill of this Gentleman’s Pencil will be put to it, in +describing to the World what manner of man I am.” This passiveness +seems to have seized him at other sittings, for in 1785 he wrote to a +friend who asked him to be painted, “_In for a penny, in for a Pound_, +is an old adage. I am so hackneyed to the touches of the painter’s +pencil that I am now altogether at their beck; and sit ‘like Patience +on a monument,’ whilst they are delineating the lines of my face. It is +a proof, among many others, of what habit and custom can accomplish. At +first I was as impatient at the request, and as restive under the +operation, as a colt is of the saddle. The next time I submitted very +reluctantly, but with less flouncing. Now, no dray-horse moves more +readily to his thills than I to the painter’s chair.” His aide, +Laurens, bears this out by writing of a miniature, “The defects of this +portrait are, that the visage is too long, and old age is too strongly +marked in it. He is not altogether mistaken, with respect to the +languor of the general’s eye; for altho’ his countenance when affected +either by joy or anger, is full of expression, yet when the muscles are +in a state of repose, his eye certainly wants animation.” + + +[Illustration: FIRST (FICTITIOUS) ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON] + + +One portrait which furnished Washington not a little amusement was an +engraving issued in London in 1775, when interest in the “rebel +General” was great. This likeness, it is needless to say, was entirely +spurious, and when Reed sent a copy to head-quarters, Washington wrote +to him, “Mrs. Washington desires I will thank you for the picture sent +her. Mr. Campbell, whom I never saw, to my knowledge, has made a very +formidable figure of the Commander-in-chief, giving him a sufficient +portion of terror in his countenance.” + +The physical strength mentioned by nearly every one who described +Washington is so undoubted that the traditions of his climbing the +walls of the Natural Bridge, throwing a stone across the Rappahannock +at Fredericksburg, and another into the Hudson from the top of the +Palisades, pass current more from the supposed muscular power of the +man than from any direct evidence. In addition to this, Washington in +1755 claimed to have “one of the best of constitutions,” and again he +wrote, “for my own part I can answer, I have a constitution hardy +enough to encounter and undergo the most severe trials.” + +This vigor was not the least reason of Washington’s success. In the +retreat from Brooklyn, “for forty-eight hours preceeding that I had +hardly been off my horse,” and between the 13th and the 19th of June of +1777 “I was almost constantly on horseback.” After the battle of +Monmouth, as told elsewhere, he passed the night on a blanket; the +first night of the siege of York “he slept under a mulberry tree, the +root serving for a pillow,” and another time he lay “all night in my +Great Coat & Boots, in a birth not long enough for me by the head, & +much cramped.” Besides the physical strain there was a mental one. +During the siege of Boston he wrote that “The reflection on my +situation and that of this army, produces many an uneasy hour when all +around me are wrapped in sleep.” Humphreys relates that at Newburg in +1783 a revolt of the whole army seemed imminent, and “when General +Washington rose from bed on the morning of the meeting, he told the +writer his anxiety had prevented him from sleeping one moment the +preceeding night.” Washington observed, in a letter written after the +Revolution, “strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true, that it +was not until lately I could get the better of my usual custom of +ruminating as soon as I awoke in the morning, on the business of the +ensuing day; and of my surprise at finding, after revolving many things +in my mind that I was no longer a public man, or had any thing to do +with public transactions.” + +Despite his strength and constitution, Washington was frequently the +victim of illness. What diseases of childhood he suffered are not +known, but presumably measles was among them, for when his wife within +the first year of married life had an attack he cared for her without +catching the complaint. The first of his known illnesses was “Ague and +Feaver, which I had to an extremity” about 1748, or when he was +sixteen. + +In the sea voyage to Barbadoes in 1751, the seamen told Washington that +“they had never seen such weather before,” and he says in his diary +that the sea “made the Ship rowl much and me very sick.” While in the +island, he went to dine with a friend “with great reluctance, as the +small-pox was in his family.” A fortnight later Washington “was +strongly attacked with the small Pox,” which confined him for nearly a +month, and, as already noted, marked his face for life. Shortly after +the return voyage he was “taken with a violent pleurise, which … +reduced me very low.” + +During the Braddock march, “immediately upon our leaving the camp at +George’s Creek, on the 14th, … I was seized with violent fevers and +pains in my head, which continued without intermission ’till the 23d +following, when I was relieved, by the General’s [Braddock] absolutely +ordering the physicians to give me Dr. James’ powders (one of the most +excellent medicines in the world), for it gave me immediate ease, and +removed my fevers and other complaints in four days’ time. My illness +was too violent to suffer me to ride; therefore I was indebted to a +covered wagon for some part of my transportation; but even in this I +could not continue far, for the jolting was so great, I was left upon +the road with a guard, and necessaries, to wait the arrival of Colonel +Dunbar’s detachment which was two days’ march behind us, the General +giving me his word of honor, that I should be brought up, before he +reached the French fort. This _promise_, and the doctor’s _threats_, +that, if I persevered in my attempts to get on, in the condition I was, +my life would be endangered, determined me to halt for the above +detachment.” Immediately upon his return from that campaign, he told a +brother, “I am not able, were I ever so willing, to meet you in town, +for I assure you it is with some difficulty, and with much fatigue, +that I visit my plantations in the Neck; so much has a sickness of five +weeks’ continuance reduced me.” + +On the frontier, towards the end of 1757, he was seized with a violent +attack of dysentery and fever, which compelled him to leave the army +and retire to Mount Vernon. Three months later he said, “I have never +been able to return to my command, … my disorder at times returning +obstinately upon me, in spite of the efforts of all the sons of +Aesculapius, whom I have hitherto consulted. At certain periods I have +been reduced to great extremity, and have too much reason to apprehend +an approaching decay, being visited with several symptoms of such a +disease…. I am now under a strict regimen, and shall set out to-morrow +for Williamsburg to receive the advice of the best physician there. My +constitution is certainly greatly impaired, and … nothing can retrieve +it, but the greatest care and the most circumspect conduct.” It was in +this journey that he met his future wife, and either she or the doctor +cured him, for nothing more is heard of his approaching “decay.” + +In 1761 he was attacked with a disease which seems incidental to new +settlements, known in Virginia at that time as the “river fever,” and a +hundred years later, farther west, as the “break-bone fever,” and +which, in a far milder form, is to-day known as malaria. Hoping to cure +it, he went over the mountains to the Warm Springs, being “much +overcome with the fatigue of the ride and weather together. However, I +think my fevers are a good deal abated, although my pains grow rather +worse, and my sleep equally disturbed. What effect the waters may have +upon me I can’t say at present, but I expect nothing from the air—this +certainly must be unwholesome. I purpose staying here a fortnight and +longer if benefitted.” After writing this, a relapse brought him “very +near my last gasp. The indisposition … increased upon me, and I fell +into a very low and dangerous state. I once thought the grim king would +certainly master my utmost efforts, and that I must sink, in spite of a +noble struggle; but thank God, I have now got the better of the +disorder, and shall soon be restored, I hope, to perfect health again.” + +During the Revolution, fortunately, he seems to have been wonderfully +exempt from illness, and not till his retirement to Mount Vernon did an +old enemy, the ague, reappear. In 1786 he said, in a letter, “I write +to you with a very aching head and disordered frame…. Saturday last, by +an imprudent act, I brought on an ague and fever on Sunday, which +returned with violence Tuesday and Thursday; and, if Dr. Craik’s +efforts are ineffectual I shall have them again this day.” His diary +gives the treatment: “Seized with an ague before 6 o’clock this morning +after having laboured under a fever all night—Sent for Dr. Craik who +arrived just as we were setting down to dinner; who, when he thought my +fever sufficiently abated gave me cathartick and directed the Bark to +be applied in the Morning. September 2. Kept close to the House to day, +being my fit day in course least any exposure might bring it +on,—happily missed it September 14. At home all day repeating dozes of +Bark of which I took 4 with an interval of 2 hours between.” + +With 1787 a new foe appeared in the form of “a rheumatic complaint +which has followed me more than six months, is frequently so bad that +it is sometimes with difficulty I can raise my hand to my head or turn +myself in bed.” + +During the Presidency Washington had several dangerous illnesses, but +the earliest one had a comic side. In his tour through New England in +1789, so Sullivan states, “owing to some mismanagement in the reception +ceremonials at Cambridge, Washington was detained a long time, and the +weather being inclement, he took cold. For several days afterward a +severe influenza prevailed at Boston and its vicinity, and was called +the _Washington Influenza_.” He himself writes of this attack: “Myself +much disordered by a cold, and inflammation in the left eye.” + +Six months later, in New York, he was “indisposed with a bad cold, and +at home all day writing letters on private business,” and this was the +beginning of “a severe illness,” which, according to McVickar, was “a +case of anthrax, so malignant as for several days to threaten +mortification. During this period Dr. Bard never quitted him. On one +occasion, being left alone with him, General Washington, looking +steadily in his face, desired his candid opinion as to the probable +termination of his disease, adding, with that placid firmness which +marked his address, ‘Do not flatter me with vain hopes; I am not afraid +to die, and therefore can bear the worst!’ Dr. Bard’s answer, though it +expressed hope, acknowledged his apprehensions. The President replied, +‘Whether to-night or twenty years hence, makes no difference.’” It was +of this that Maclay wrote, “Called to see the President. Every eye full +of tears. His life despaired of. Dr. MacKnight told me he would trifle +neither with his own character nor the public expectation; his danger +was imminent, and every reason to expect that the event of his disorder +would be unfortunate.” + +During his convalescence the President wrote to a correspondent, “I +have the pleasure to inform you, that my health is restored, but a +feebleness still hangs upon me, and I am much incommoded by the +incision, which was made in a very large and painful tumor on the +protuberance of my thigh. This prevents me from walking or sitting. +However, the physicians assure me that it has had a happy effect in +removing my fever, and will tend very much to the establishment of my +general health; it is in a fair way of healing, and time and patience +only are wanting to remove this evil. I am able to take exercise in my +coach, by having it so contrived as to extend myself the full length of +it.” He himself seems to have thought this succession of illness due to +the fatigues of office, for he said,— + +“Public meetings, and a dinner once a week to as many as my table will +hold, with the references _to and from_ the different department of +state and _other_ communications with _all_ parts of the Union, are as +much, if not more, than I am able to undergo; for I have already had +within less than a year, two severe attacks, the last worst than the +first. A third, more than probable, will put me to sleep with my +fathers. At what distance this may be I know not. Within the last +twelve months I have undergone more and severer sickness, than thirty +preceding years afflicted me with. Put it all together I have abundant +reason, however, to be thankful that I am so well recovered; though I +still feel the remains of the violent affection of my lungs; the cough, +pain in my breast, and shortness in breathing not having entirely left +me.” + +While at Mount Vernon in 1794, “an exertion to save myself and horse +from falling among the rocks at the Lower Falls of the Potomac (whither +I went on Sunday morning to see the canal and locks),… wrenched my back +in such a manner as to prevent my riding;” the “hurt” “confined me +whilst I was at Mount Vernon,” and it was some time before he could +“again ride with ease and safety.” In this same year Washington was +operated on by Dr. Tate for cancer,—the same disorder from which his +mother had suffered. + +After his retirement from office, in 1798, he “was seized with a fever, +of which I took little notice until I was obliged to call for the aid +of medicine; and with difficulty a remission thereof was so far +effected as to dose me all night on thursday with Bark—which having +stopped it, and weakness only remaining, will soon wear off as my +appetite is returning;” and to a correspondent he apologized for not +sooner replying, and pleaded “debilitated health, occasioned by the +fever wch. deprived me of 20 lbs. of the weight I had when you and I +were at Troy Mills Scales, and rendered writing irksome.” + +A glance at Washington’s medical knowledge and opinions may not lack +interest. In the “Rules of civility” he had taken so to heart, the boy +had been taught that “In visiting the Sick, do not Presently play the +Physician if you be not Knowing therein,” but plantation life trained +every man to a certain extent in physicking, and the yearly invoice +sent to London always ordered such drugs as were needed,—ipecacuanha, +jalap, Venice treacle, rhubarb, diacordium, etc., as well as medicines +for horses and dogs. In 1755 Washington received great benefit from one +quack medicine, “Dr. James’s Powders;” he once bought a quantity of +another, “Godfrey’s Cordial;” and at a later time Mrs. Washington tried +a third, “Annatipic Pills.” More unenlightened still was a treatment +prescribed for Patsy Custis, when “Joshua Evans who came here last +night, put a [metal] ring on Patsey (for Fits).” A not much higher +order of treatment was Washington sending for Dr. Laurie to bleed his +wife, and, as his diary notes, the doctor “came here, I may add, +drunk,” so that a night’s sleep was necessary before the service could +be rendered. When the small-pox was raging in the Continental Army, +even Washington’s earnest request could not get the Virginia Assembly +to repeal a law which forbade inoculation, and he had to urge his wife +for over four years before he could bring her to the point of +submitting to the operation. One quality which implies greatness is +told by a visitor, who states that in his call “an allusion was made to +a serious fit of illness he had recently suffered; but he took no +notice of it” Custis notes that “his aversion to the use of medicine +was extreme; and, even when in great suffering, it was only by the +entreaties of his lady, and the respectful, yet beseeching look of his +oldest friend and companion in arms (Dr. James Craik) that he could be +prevailed upon to take the slightest preparation of medicine.” In line +with this was his refusal to take anything for a cold, saying, “Let it +go as it came,” though this good sense was apparently restricted to his +own colds, for Watson relates that in a visit to Mount Vernon “I was +extremely oppressed by a severe cold and excessive coughing, contracted +by the exposure of a harsh journey. He pressed me to use some remedies, +but I declined doing so. As usual, after retiring my coughing +increased. When some time had elapsed, the door of my room was gently +opened, and, on drawing my bed-curtains, to my utter astonishment, I +beheld Washington himself, standing at my bedside, with a bowl of hot +tea in his hand.” + +The acute attacks of illness already touched upon by no means represent +all the physical debility and suffering of Washington’s life. During +the Revolution his sight became poor, so that in 1778 he first put on +glasses for reading, and Cobb relates that in the officers’ meeting in +1783, which Washington attended In order to check an appeal to arms, +“When the General took his station at the desk or pulpit, which, you +may recollect, was in the Temple, he took out his written address from +his coat pocket and then addressed the officers in the following +manner: ‘Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I +have not only grown gray, but almost blind, in the service of my +country.’ This little address, with the mode and manner of delivering +it, drew tears from [many] of the officers.” + +Nor did his hearing remain entirely good. Maclay noted, at one of the +President’s dinners in 1789, that “he seemed in more good humor than I +ever saw him, though he was so deaf that I believe he heard little of +the conversation,” and three years later the President is reported as +saying to Jefferson that he was “sensible, too, of a decay of his +hearing, perhaps his other faculties might fall off and he not be +sensible of it.” + +Washington’s teeth were even more troublesome. Mercer in 1760 alluded +to his showing, when his mouth was open, “some defective teeth,” and as +early as 1754 one of his teeth was extracted. From this time toothache, +usually followed by the extraction of the guilty member, became almost +of yearly recurrence, and his diary reiterates, with verbal variations, +“indisposed with an aching tooth, and swelled and inflamed gum,” while +his ledger contains many items typified by “To Dr. Watson drawing a +tooth 5/.” By 1789 he was using false teeth, and he lost his last tooth +in 1795. At first these substitutes were very badly fitted, and when +Stuart painted his famous picture he tried to remedy the malformation +they gave the mouth by padding under the lips with cotton. The result +was to make bad worse, and to give, in that otherwise fine portrait, a +feature at once poor and unlike Washington, and for this reason alone +the Sharpless miniature, which in all else approximates so closely to +Stuart’s masterpiece, is preferable. In 1796 Washington was furnished +with two sets of “sea-horse” (_i.e._, hippopotamus) ivory teeth, and +they were so much better fitted that the distortion of the mouth ceased +to be noticeable. + +Washington’s final illness began December 12, 1799, in a severe cold +taken by riding about his plantation while “rain, hail and snow” were +“falling alternately, with a cold wind.” When he came in late in the +afternoon, Lear “observed to him that I was afraid that he had got wet, +he said no his great coat had kept him dry; but his neck appeared to be +wet and the snow was hanging on his hair.” The next day he had a cold, +“and complained of having a sore throat,” yet, though it was snowing, +none the less he “went out in the afternoon … to mark some trees which +were to be cut down.” “He had a hoarseness which increased in the +evening; but he made light of it as he would never take anything to +carry off a cold, always observing, ‘let it go as it came.’” At two +o’clock the following morning he was seized with a severe ague, and as +soon as the house was stirring he sent for an overseer and ordered the +man to bleed him, and about half a pint of blood was taken from him. At +this time he could “swallow nothing,” “appeared to be distressed, +convulsed and almost suffocated.” + +There can be scarcely a doubt that the treatment of his last illness by +the doctors was little short of murder. Although he had been bled once +already, after they took charge of the case they prescribed “two pretty +copious bleedings,” and finally a third, “when about 32 ounces of blood +were drawn,” or the equivalent of a quart. Of the three doctors, one +disapproved of this treatment, and a second wrote, only a few days +after Washington’s death, to the third, “you must remember” Dr. Dick +“was averse to bleeding the General, and I have often thought that if +we had acted according to his suggestion when he said, ‘he needs all +his strength— bleeding will diminish it,’ and taken no more blood from +him, our good friend might have been alive now. But we were governed by +the best light we had; we thought we were right, and so we are +justified.” + +Shortly after this last bleeding Washington seemed to have resigned +himself, for he gave some directions concerning his will, and said, “I +find I am going,” and, “smiling,” added, that, “as it was the debt +which we must all pay, he looked to the event with perfect +resignation.” From this time on “he appeared to be in great pain and +distress,” and said, “Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go. I +believed from my first attack that I should not survive it.” A little +later he said, “I feel myself going. I thank you for your attention, +you had better not take any more trouble about me; but let me go off +quietly.” The last words he said were, “’Tis well.” “About ten minutes +before he expired, his breathing became much easier—he lay quietly—… +and felt his own pulse…. The general’s hand fell from his wrist,… and +he expired without a struggle or a Sigh.” + + + + +III +EDUCATION + + +The father of Washington received his education at Appleby School in +England, and, true to his alma mater, he sent his two elder sons to the +same school. His death when George was eleven prevented this son from +having the same advantage, and such education as he had was obtained in +Virginia. His old friend, and later enemy, Rev. Jonathan Boucher, said +that “George, like most people thereabouts at that time, had no +education than reading, writing and accounts which he was taught by a +convict servant whom his father bought for a schoolmaster;” but Boucher +managed to include so many inaccuracies in his account of Washington, +that even if this statement were not certainly untruthful in several +respects, it could be dismissed as valueless. + +Born at Wakefield, in Washington parish, Westmoreland, which had been +the home of the Washingtons from their earliest arrival in Virginia, +George was too young while the family continued there to attend the +school which had been founded in that parish by the gift of four +hundred and forty acres from some early patron of knowledge. When the +boy was about three years old, the family removed to “Washington,” as +Mount Vernon was called before it was renamed, and dwelt there from +1735 till 1739, when, owing to the burning of the homestead, another +remove was made to an estate on the Rappahannock, nearly opposite +Fredericksburg. + +Here it was that the earliest education of George was received, for in +an old volume of the Bishop of Exeter’s Sermons his name is written, +and on a flyleaf a note in the handwriting of a relative who inherited +the library states that this “autograph of George Washington’s name is +believed to be the earliest specimen of his handwriting, when he was +probably not more than eight or nine years old.” During this period, +too, there came into his possession the “Young Man’s Companion,” an +English _vade-mecum_ of then enormous popularity, written “in a plain +and easy stile,” the title states, “that a young Man may attain the +same, without a Tutor.” It would be easier to say what this little book +did not teach than to catalogue what it did. How to read, write, and +figure is but the introduction to the larger part of the work, which +taught one to write letters, wills, deeds, and all legal forms, to +measure, survey, and navigate, to build houses, to make ink and cider, +and to plant and graft, how to address letters to people of quality, +how to doctor the sick, and, finally, how to conduct one’s self in +company. The evidence still exists of how carefully Washington studied +this book, in the form of copybooks, in which are transcribed problem +after problem and rule after rule, not to exclude the famous Rules of +civility, which biographers of Washington have asserted were written by +the boy himself. School-mates thought fit, after Washington became +famous, to remember his “industry and assiduity at school as very +remarkable,” and the copies certainly bear out the statement, but even +these prove that the lad was as human as the man, for scattered here +and there among the logarithms, geometrical problems, and legal forms +are crude drawings of birds, faces, and other typical school-boy +attempts. + +From this book, too, came two qualities which clung to him through +life. His handwriting, so easy, flowing, and legible, was modelled from +the engraved “copy” sheet, and certain forms of spelling were acquired +here that were never corrected, though not the common usage of his +time. To the end of his life, Washington wrote lie, lye; liar, lyar; +ceiling, cieling; oil, oyl; and blue, blew, as in his boyhood he had +learned to do from this book. Even in his carefully prepared will, +“lye” was the form in which he wrote the word. It must be acknowledged +that, aside from these errors which he had been taught, through his +whole life Washington was a non-conformist as regarded the King’s +English: struggle as he undoubtedly did, the instinct of correct +spelling was absent, and thus every now and then a verbal slip +appeared: extravagence, lettely (for lately), glew, riffle (for rifle), +latten (for Latin), immagine, winder, rief (for rife), oppertunity, +spirma citi, yellow oaker,—such are types of his lapses late in life, +while his earlier letters and journals are far more inaccurate. It must +be borne in mind, however, that of these latter we have only the +draughts, which were undoubtedly written carelessly, and the two +letters actually sent which are now known, and the text of his surveys +before he was twenty, are quite as well written as his later epistles. + + +[Illustration: _Easy Copies to Write by_. +COPY OF PENMANSHIP BY WHICH WASHINGTON’S HANDWRITING WAS FORMED] + + +On the death of his father, Washington went to live with his brother +Augustine, in order, it is presumed, that he might take advantage of a +good school near Wakefield, kept by one Williams; but after a time he +returned to his mother’s, and attended the school kept by the Rev. +James Marye, in Fredericksburg. It has been universally asserted by his +biographers that he studied no foreign language, but direct proof to +the contrary exists in a copy of Patrick’s Latin translation of Homer, +printed in 1742, the fly-leaf of a copy of which bears, in a school-boy +hand, the inscription: + +“Hunc mihi quaeso (bone Vir) Libellum +Redde, si forsan tenues repertum +Ut Scias qui sum sine fraude Scriptum. + + +Est mihi nomen, +Georgio Washington, +George Washington, +Fredericksburg, +Virginia.” + + +It is thus evident that the reverend teacher gave Washington at least +the first elements of Latin, but it is equally clear that the boy, like +most others, forgot it with the greatest facility as soon as he ceased +studying. + +The end of Washington’s school-days left him, if a good “cipherer,” a +bad speller, and a still worse grammarian, but, fortunately, the +termination of instruction did not by any means end his education. From +that time there is to be noted a steady improvement in both these +failings. Pickering stated that “when I first became acquainted with +the General (in 1777) his writing was defective in grammar, and even +spelling, owing to the insufficiency of his early education; of which, +however, he gradually got the better in the subsequent years of his +life, by the official perusal of some excellent models, particularly +those of Hamilton; by writing with care and patient attention; and +reading numerous, indeed multitudes of letters to and from his friends +and correspondents. This obvious improvement was begun during the war.” +In 1785 a contemporary noted that “the General is remarked for writing +a most elegant letter,” adding that, “like the famous Addison, his +writing excells his speaking,” and Jefferson said that “he wrote +readily, rather diffusely, in an easy and correct style. This he had +acquired by conversation with the world, for his education was merely +reading, writing and common arithmetic, to which he added surveying at +a later day.” + +There can be no doubt that Washington felt his lack of education very +keenly as he came to act upon a larger sphere than as a Virginia +planter. “I am sensible,” he wrote a friend, of his letters, “that the +narrations are just, and that truth and honesty will appear in my +writings; of which, therefore, I shall not be ashamed, though criticism +may censure my style.” When his secretary suggested to him that he +should write his own life, he replied, “In a former letter I informed +you, my dear Humphreys, that if I had _talents_ for it, I have not +leisure to turn my thoughts to Commentaries. A consciousness of a +defective education, and a certainty of the want of time, unfit me for +such an undertaking.” On being pressed by a French comrade-in-arms to +pay France a visit, he declined, saying, “Remember, my good friend, +that I am unacquainted with your language, that I am too far advanced +in years to acquire a knowledge of it, and that, to converse through +the medium of an interpreter upon common occasions, especially with the +Ladies, must appear so extremely awkward, insipid, and uncouth, that I +can scarce bear it in idea.” + +In 1788, without previous warning, he was elected chancellor of William +and Mary College, a distinction by which he felt “honored and greatly +affected;” but “not knowing particularly what duties, or whether any +active services are immediately expected from the person holding the +office of chancellor, I have been greatly embarrassed in deciding upon +the public answer proper to be given…. My difficulties are briefly +these. On the one hand, nothing in this world could be farther from my +heart, than … a refusal of the appointment … provided its duties are +not incompatible with the mode of life to which I have entirely +addicted myself; and, on the other hand, I would not for any +consideration disappoint the just expectations of the convocation by +accepting an office, whose functions I previously knew … I should be +absolutely unable to perform.” + +Perhaps the most touching proof of his own self-depreciation was +something he did when he had become conscious that his career would be +written about. Still in his possession were the letter-books in which +he had kept copies of his correspondence while in command of the +Virginia regiment between 1754 and 1759, and late in life he went +through these volumes, and, by interlining corrections, carefully built +them into better literary form. How this was done is shown here by a +single facsimile. + +With the appointment to command the Continental Army, a secretary was +secured, and in an absence of this assistant he complained to him that +“my business increases very fast, and my distresses for want of you +along with it. Mr. Harrison is the only gentleman of my family, that +can afford me the least assistance in writing. He and Mr. Moylan,… have +heretofore afforded me their aid; and … they have really had a great +deal of trouble.” + +Most of Washington’s correspondence during the Revolution was written +by his aides. Pickering said,— + +“As to the public letters bearing his signature, it is certain that he +could not have maintained so extensive a correspondence with his own +pen, even if he had possessed the ability and promptness of Hamilton. +That he would, sometimes with propriety, observe upon, correct, and add +to any draught submitted for his examination and signature, I have no +doubt. And yet I doubt whether many, if any, of the letters … are his +own draught…. I have even reason to believe that not only the +_composition_, the _clothing of the ideas_, but the _ideas themselves_, +originated generally with the writers; that Hamilton and Harrison, in +particular, were scarcely in any degree his amanuenses. I remember, +when at head-quarters one day, at Valley Forge, Colonel Harrison came +down from the General’s chamber, with his brows knit, and thus accosted +me, ‘I wish to the Lord the General would give me the heads or some +idea, of what he would have me write.’” + + +[Illustration: CORRECTED LETTER OF WASHINGTON SHOWING LATER CHANGES] + + +After the Revolution, a visitor at Mount Vernon said, “It’s astonishing +the packet of letters that daily comes for him from all parts of the +world, which employ him most of the morning to answer.” A secretary was +employed, but not so much to do the actual writing as the copying and +filing, and at this time Washington complained “that my numerous +correspondencies are daily becoming irksome to me.” Yet there can be +little question that he richly enjoyed writing when it was not for the +public eye. “It is not the letters of my friends which give me +trouble,” he wrote to one correspondent; to another he said, “I began +with telling you that I should not write a lengthy letter but the +result has been to contradict it;” and to a third, “when I look back to +the length of this letter, I am so much astonished and frightened at it +myself that I have not the courage to give it a careful reading for the +purpose of correction. You must, therefore, receive it with all its +imperfections, accompanied with this assurance, that, though there may +be inaccuracies in the letter, there is not a single defect in the +friendship.” Occasionally there was, as here, an apology: “I am +persuaded you will excuse this scratch’d scrawl, when I assure you it +is with difficulty I write at all,” he ended a letter in 1777, and in +1792 of another said, “You must receive it blotted and scratched as you +find it for I have not time to copy it. It is now ten o’clock at night, +after my usual hour for retiring to rest, and the mail will be closed +early to-morrow morning.” + +To his overseer, who neglected to reply to some of his questions, he +told his method of writing, which is worth quoting: + +“Whenever I set down to write you, I read your letter, or letters +carefully over, and as soon as I come to a part that requires to be +noticed, I make a short note on the cover of a letter or piece of waste +paper;—then read on the next, noting that in like manner;—and so on +until I have got through the whole letter and reports. Then in writing +my letter to you, as soon as I have finished what I have to say on one +of these notes I draw my pen through it and proceed to another and +another until the whole is done—crossing each as I go on, by which +means if I am called off twenty times whilst I am writing, I can never +with these notes before me finished or unfinished, omit anything I +wanted to say; and they serve me also, as I keep no copies of letters I +wrote to you, as Memorandums of what has been written if I should have +occasion at any time to refer to them.” + +Another indication of his own knowledge of defects is shown by his fear +about his public papers. When his Journal to the Ohio was printed by +order of the governor, in 1754, in the preface the young author said, +“I think I can do no less than apologize, in some Measure, for the +numberless imperfections of it. There intervened but one Day between my +Arrival in Williamsburg, and the Time for the Council’s Meeting, for me +to prepare and transcribe, from the rough Minutes I had taken in my +Travels, this Journal; the writing of which only was sufficient to +employ me closely the whole Time, consequently admitted of no Leisure +to consult of a new and proper Form to offer it in, or to correct or +amend the Diction of the old.” Boucher states that the publication, “in +Virginia at least, drew on him some ridicule.” + +This anxiety about his writings was shown all through life, and led +Washington to rely greatly on such of his friends as would assist him, +even to the point, so Reed thought, that he “sometimes adopted draughts +of writing when his own would have been better … from an extreme +diffidence in himself,” and Pickering said, in writing to an aide,— + +“Although the General’s private correspondence was doubtless, for the +most part, his own, and extremely acceptable to the persons addressed; +yet, in regard to whatever was destined to meet the public eye, he +seems to have been fearful to exhibit his own compositions, relying too +much on the judgment of his friends, and sometimes adopted draughts +that were exceptionable. Some parts of his private correspondence must +have essentially differed from other parts in the style of composition. +You mention your own aids to the General in this line. Now, if I had +your draughts before me, mingled with the General’s to the same +persons, nothing would be more easy than to assign to each his own +proper offspring. You could neither restrain your _courser_, nor +conceal your imagery, nor express your ideas otherwise than in the +language of a scholar. The General’s compositions would be perfectly +plain and didactic, and not always correct.” + +During the Presidency, scarcely anything of a public nature was penned +by Washington,—Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, and Randolph acting as his +draughtsmen. “We are approaching the first Monday in December by hasty +strides,” he wrote to Jefferson. “I pray you, therefore, to revolve in +your mind such matters as may be proper for me to lay before Congress, +not only in your own department, (if any there be,) but such others of +a general nature, as may happen to occur to you, that I may be prepared +to open the session with such communication, as shall appear to merit +attention.” Two years later he said to the same, “I pray you to note +down or rather to frame into paragraphs or sections, such matters as +may occur to you as fit and proper for general communication at the +opening of the next session of Congress, not only in the department of +state, but on any other subject applicable to the occasion, that I may +in due time have everything before me.” To Hamilton he wrote in 1795, +“Having desired the late Secretary of State to note down every matter +as it occurred, proper either for the speech at the opening of the +session, or for messages afterwards, the inclosed paper contains +everything I could extract from that office. Aid me, I pray you, with +your sentiments on these points, and such others as may have occurred +to you relative to my communications to Congress.” + +The best instance is furnished in the preparation of the Farewell +Address. First Madison was asked to prepare a draft, and from this +Washington drew up a paper, which he submitted to Hamilton and Jay, +with the request that “even if you should think it best to throw the +whole into a different form, let me request, notwithstanding, that my +draught may be returned to me (along with yours) with such amendments +and corrections as to render it as perfect as the formation is +susceptible of; curtailed if too verbose; and relieved of all tautology +not necessary to enforce the ideas in the original or quoted part. My +wish is that the whole may appear in a plain style, and be handed to +the public in an honest, unaffected, simple part.” Accordingly, +Hamilton prepared what was almost a new instrument in form, though not +in substance, which, after “several serious and attentive readings,” +Washington wrote that he preferred “greatly to the other draughts, +being more copious on material points, more dignified on the whole, and +with less egotism; of course, less exposed to criticism, and better +calculated to meet the eye of discerning readers (foreigners +particularly, whose curiosity I have little doubt will lead them to +inspect it attentively, and to pronounce their opinions on the +performance).” The paper was then, according to Pickering, “put into +the hands of Wolcott, McHenry, and myself … with a request that we +would examine it, and note any alterations and corrections which we +should think best. We did so; but our notes, as well as I recollect, +were very few, and regarded chiefly the grammar and composition.” +Finally, Washington revised the whole, and it was then made public. + +Confirmatory of this sense of imperfect cultivation are the pains he +took that his adopted son and grandson should be well educated. As +already noted, tutors for both were secured at the proper ages, and +when Jack was placed with the Rev. Mr. Boucher, Washington wrote: “In +respect to the kinds, & manner of his Studying I leave it wholely to +your better Judgment—had he begun, or rather pursued his study of the +Greek Language, I should have thought it no bad acquisition; but +whether if he acquire this now, he may not forego some useful branches +of learning, is a matter worthy of consideration. To be acquainted with +the French Tongue is become part of polite Education; and to a man who +has the prospect of mixing in a large Circle absolutely necessary. +Without Arithmetick, the common affairs of Life are not to be managed +with success. The study of Geometry, and the Mathematics (with due +regard to the limites of it) is equally advantageous. The principles of +Philosophy Moral, Natural, &c. I should think a very desirable +knowledge for a Gentleman.” So, too, he wrote to Washington Custis, “I +do not hear you mention anything of geography or mathematics as parts +of your study; both these are necessary branches of useful knowledge. +Nor ought you to let your knowledge of the Latin language and +grammatical rules escape you. And the French language is now so +universal, and so necessary with foreigners, or in a foreign country, +that I think you would be injudicious not to make yourself master of +it.” It is worth noting in connection with this last sentence that +Washington used only a single French expression with any frequency, and +that he always wrote “faupas.” + +Quite as indicative of the value he put on education was the aid he +gave towards sending his young relatives and others to college, his +annual contribution to an orphan school, his subscriptions to +academies, and his wish for a national university. In 1795 he said,— + +“It has always been a source of serious reflection and sincere regret +with me, that the youth of the United States should be sent to foreign +countries for the purpose of education…. For this reason I have greatly +wished to see a plan adopted, by which the arts, sciences, and +belles-lettres could be taught in their _fullest_ extent, thereby +embracing _all_ the advantages of European tuition, with the means of +acquiring the liberal knowledge, which is necessary to qualify our +citizens for the exigencies of public as well as private life; and +(which with me is a consideration of great magnitude) by assembling the +youth from the different parts of this rising republic, contributing +from their intercourse and interchange of information to the removal of +prejudices, which might perhaps sometimes arise from local +circumstances.” + +In framing his Farewell Address, “revolving … on the various matters it +contained and on the first expression of the advice or recommendation +which was given in it, I have regretted that another subject (which in +my estimation is of interesting concern to the well-being of this +country) was not touched upon also; I mean education generally, as one +of the surest means of enlightening and giving just ways of thinking to +our citizens, but particularly the establishment of a university; where +the youth from all parts of the United States might receive the polish +of erudition in the arts, sciences and belles-lettres.” Eventually he +reduced this idea to a plea for the people to “promote, then, as an +object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of +knowledge,” because “in proportion as the structure of a government +gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion +should be enlightened.” By his will he left to the endowment of a +university in the District of Columbia the shares in the Potomac +Company which had been given him by the State of Virginia, but the +clause was never carried into effect. + +It was in 1745 that Washington’s school-days came to an end. His share +of his father’s property being his mother’s till he was twenty-one, a +livelihood had to be found, and so at about fourteen years of age the +work of life began. Like a true boy, the lad wanted to go to sea, +despite his uncle’s warning “that I think he had better be put +apprentice to a tinker; for a common sailor before the mast has by no +means the liberty of the subject; for they will press him from a ship +where he has fifty shillings a month; and make him take twenty-three, +and cut and slash, and use him like a negro, or rather like a dog.” His +mother, however, would not consent, and to this was due his becoming a +surveyor. + +From his “Young Man’s Companion” Washington had already learned the use +of Gunter’s rule and how it should be used in surveying, and to +complete his knowledge he seems to have taken lessons of the licensed +surveyor of Westmoreland County, James Genn, for transcripts of some of +the surveys drawn by Genn still exist in the handwriting of his pupil. +This implied a distinct and very valuable addition to his knowledge, +and a large number of his surveys still extant are marvels of neatness +and careful drawing. As a profession it was followed for only four +years (1747-1751), but all through life he often used his knowledge in +measuring or platting his own property. Far more important is the +service it was to him in public life. In 1755 he sent to Braddock’s +secretary a map of the “back country,” and to the governor of Virginia +plans of two forts. During the Revolution it helped him not merely in +the study of maps, but also in the facility it gave him to take in the +topographical features of the country. Very largely, too, was the +selection of the admirable site for the capital due to his supervising: +all the plans for the city were submitted to him, and nowhere do the +good sense and balance of the man appear to better advantage than in +his correspondence with the Federal city commissioners. + +In Washington’s earliest account-book there is an item when he was +sixteen years old, “To cash pd ye Musick Master for my Entrance 3/9.” +It is commonly said that he played the flute, but this is as great a +libel on him as any Tom Paine wrote, and though he often went to +concerts, and though fond of hearing his granddaughter Nelly play and +sing, he never was himself a performer, and the above entry probably +refers to the singing-master whom the boys and girls of that day made +the excuse for evening frolics. + +Mention is made elsewhere of his taking lessons in the sword exercise +from Van Braam in these earlier years, and in 1756 he paid to Sergeant +Wood, fencing-master, the sum of £1.1.6. When he received the offer of +a position on Braddock’s staff, he acknowledged, in accepting, that “I +must be ingenuous enough to confess, that I am not a little biassed by +selfish considerations. To explain, Sir, I wish earnestly to attain +some knowledge in the military profession, and, believing a more +favorable opportunity cannot offer, than to serve under a gentleman of +General Braddock’s abilities and experience, it does … not a little +contribute to influence my choice.” Hamilton is quoted as saying that +Washington “never read any book upon the art of war but Sim’s Military +Guide,” and an anonymous author asserted that “he never read a book in +the art of war of higher value than Bland’s Exercises.” Certain it is +that nearly all the military knowledge he possessed was derived from +practice rather than from books, and though, late in life, he purchased +a number of works on the subject, it was after his army service was +over. + +One factor in Washington’s education which must not go unnoticed was +his religious belief. When only two months old he was baptized, +presumably by the Rev. Lawrence De Butts, the clergyman of Washington +parish. The removal from that locality prevented any further religious +influence from this clergyman, and it probably first came from the Rev. +Charles Green, of Truro parish, who had received his appointment +through the friendship of Washington’s father, and who later was on +such friendly terms with Washington that he doctored Mrs. Washington in +an attack of the measles, and caught and returned two of his +parishioner’s runaway slaves. As early as 1724 the clergyman of the +parish in which Mount Vernon was situated reported that he catechised +the youth of his congregation “in Lent and a great part of the Summer,” +and George, as the son of one of his vestrymen, undoubtedly received a +due amount of questioning. + +From 1748 till 1759 there was little church-going for the young +surveyor or soldier, but after his marriage and settling at Mount +Vernon he was elected vestryman in the two parishes of Truro and +Fairfax, and from that election he was quite active in church affairs. +It may be worth noting that in the elections of 1765 the new vestryman +stood third in popularity in the Truro church and fifth in that of +Fairfax. He drew the plans for a new church in Truro, and subscribed to +its building, intending “to lay the foundation of a family pew,” but by +a vote of the vestry it was decided that there should be no private +pews, and this breach of contract angered Washington so greatly that he +withdrew from the church in 1773. Sparks quotes Madison to the effect +that “there was a tradition that, when he [Washington] belonged to the +vestry of a church in his neighborhood, and several little difficulties +grew out of some division of the society, he sometimes spoke with great +force, animation, and eloquence on the topics that came before them.” +After this withdrawal he bought a pew in Christ Church in Alexandria +(Fairfax parish), paying £36.10, which was the largest price paid by +any parishioner. To this church he was quite liberal, subscribing +several times towards repairs, etc. + +The Rev. Lee Massey, who was rector at Pohick (Truro) Church before the +Revolution, is quoted by Bishop Meade as saying that + +“I never knew so constant an attendant in church as Washington. And his +behavior in the house of God was ever so deeply reverential that it +produced the happiest effect on my congregation, and greatly assisted +me in my pulpit labors. No company ever withheld him from church. I +have often been at Mount Vernon on Sabbath morning, when his breakfast +table was filled with guests; but to him they furnished no pretext for +neglecting his God and losing the satisfaction of setting a good +example. For instead of staying at home, out of false complaisance to +them, he used constantly to invite them to accompany him.” + +This seems to have been written more with an eye to its influence on +others than to its strict accuracy. During the time Washington attended +at Pohick Church he was by no means a regular church-goer. His daily +“where and how my time is spent” enables us to know exactly how often +he attended church, and in the year 1760 he went just sixteen times, +and in 1768 he went fourteen, these years being fairly typical of the +period 1760-1773. During the Presidency a sense of duty made him attend +St Paul’s and Christ churches while in New York and Philadelphia, but +at Mount Vernon, when the public eye was not upon him, he was no more +regular than he had always been, and in the last year of his life he +wrote, “Six days do I labor, or, in other words, take exercise and +devote my time to various occupations in Husbandry, and about my +mansion. On the seventh, now called the first day, for want of a place +of Worship (within less than nine miles) such letters as do not require +immediate acknowledgment I give answers to…. But it hath so happened, +that on the two last Sundays—call them the first or the seventh as you +please, I have been unable to perform the latter duty on account of +visits from Strangers, with whom I could not use the freedom to leave +alone, or recommend to the care of each other, for their amusement.” + +What he said here was more or less typical of his whole life. Sunday +was always the day on which he wrote his private letters,—even prepared +his invoices,—and he wrote to one of his overseers that his letters +should be mailed so as to reach him Saturday, as by so doing they could +be answered the following day. Nor did he limit himself to this, for he +entertained company, closed land purchases, sold wheat, and, while a +Virginia planter, went foxhunting, on Sunday. It is to be noted, +however, that he considered the scruples of others as to the day. When +he went among his western tenants, rent-collecting, he entered in his +diary that, it “being Sunday and the People living on my Land +_apparently_ very religious, it was thought best to postpone going +among them till to-morrow,” and in his journey through New England, +because it was “contrary to the law and disagreeable to the People of +this State (Connecticut) to travel on the Sabbath day—and my horses, +after passing through such intolerable roads, wanting rest, I stayed at +Perkins’ tavern (which, by the bye, is not a good one) all day—and a +meetinghouse being within a few rods of the door, I attended the +morning and evening services, and heard very lame discourses from a Mr. +Pond.” It is of this experience that tradition says the President +started to travel, but was promptly arrested by a Connecticut +tithing-man. The story, however, lacks authentication. + +There can be no doubt that religious intolerance was not a part of +Washington’s character. In 1775, when the New England troops intended +to celebrate Guy Fawkes day, as usual, the General Orders declared that +“as the Commander in chief has been apprised of a design, formed for +the observance of that ridiculous and childish custom of burning the +effigy of the Pope, he cannot help expressing his surprise, that there +should be officers and soldiers in this army so void of common sense, +as not to see the impropriety of such a step.” When trying to secure +some servants, too, he wrote that “if they are good workmen, they may +be from Asia, Africa, or Europe; they may be Mahometans, Jews, or +Christians of any sect, or they may be Atheists.” When the bill taxing +all the people of Virginia to support the Episcopal Church (his own) +was under discussion, he threw his weight against it, as far as +concerned the taxing of other sectaries, but adding: + +“Although no man’s sentiments are more opposed to any kind of restraint +upon religious principles than mine are, yet I must confess, that I am +not amongst the number of those, who are so much alarmed at the +thoughts of making people pay towards the support of that which they +profess, if of the denomination, of Christians, or to declare +themselves Jews, Mahometans, or otherwise, and thereby obtain proper +relief. As the matter now stands, I wish an assessment had never been +agitated, and as it has gone so far, that the bill could die an easy +death; because I think it will be productive of more quiet to the +State, than by enacting it into a law, which in my opinion would be +impolitic, admitting there is a decided majority for it, to the +disquiet of a respectable minority. In the former case, the matter will +soon subside; in the latter, it will rankle and perhaps convulse the +State.” + +Again in a letter he says,— + +“Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which +are caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the +most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was +in hopes, that the lightened and liberal policy, which has marked the +present age, would at least have reconciled _Christians_ of every +denomination so far, that we should never again see their religious +disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.” + +And to Lafayette, alluding to the proceedings of the Assembly of +Notables, he wrote,— + +“I am not less ardent in my wish, that you may succeed in your plan of +toleration in religious matters. Being no bigot myself, I am disposed +to indulge the professors of Christianity in the church with that road +to Heaven, which to them shall seem the most direct, plainest, easiest, +and least liable to exception.” + +What Washington believed has been a source of much dispute. Jefferson +states “that Gouverneur Morris, who pretended to be in his secrets, and +believed himself to be so, has often told me that General Washington +believed no more of that system than he himself did,” and Morris, it is +scarcely necessary to state, was an atheist. The same authority quotes +Rush, to the effect that “when the clergy addressed General Washington +on his departure from the government, it was observed in their +consultation, that he had never, on any occasion, said a word to the +public which showed a belief in the Christian religion, and they +thought they should so pen their address, as to force him at length to +declare publicly whether he was a Christian or not They did so. But, he +observed, the old fox was too cunning for them. He answered every +article of their address particularly except that, which he passed over +without notice.” + +Whatever his belief, in all public ways Washington threw his influence +in favor of religion, and kept what he really believed a secret, and in +only one thing did he disclose his real thoughts. It is asserted that +before the Revolution he partook of the sacrament, but this is only +affirmed by hearsay, and better evidence contradicts it. After that war +he did not, it is certain. Nelly Custis states that on “communion +Sundays he left the church with me, after the blessing, and returned +home, and we sent the carriage back for my grandmother.” And the +assistant minister of Christ Church in Philadelphia states that— + +“Observing that on Sacrament Sundays, Gen’l Washington, immediately +after the Desk and Pulpit services, went out with the greater part of +the congregation, always leaving Mrs. Washington with the communicants, +she _invariably_ being one, I considered it my duty, in a sermon on +Public Worship, to state the unhappy tendency of _example_, +particularly those in elevated stations, who invariably turned their +backs upon the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. I acknowledge the +remark was intended for the President, as such, he received it. A few +days after, in conversation with, I believe, a Senator of the U.S. he +told me he had dined the day before with the President, who in the +course of the conversation at the table, said, that on the preceding +Sunday, he had received a very just reproof from the pulpit, for always +leaving the church before the administration of the Sacrament; that he +honored the preacher for his integrity and candour; that he had never +considered the influence of his example; that he would never again give +cause for the repetition of the reproof; and that, as he had never been +a communicant, were he to become one then, it would be imputed to an +ostentatious display of religious zeal arising altogether from his +elevated station. Accordingly he afterwards never came on the morning +of Sacrament Sunday, tho’ at other times, a constant attendant in the +morning.” + +Nelly Custis, too, tells us that Washington always “stood during the +devotional part of the service,” and Bishop White states that “his +behavior was always serious and attentive; but, as your letter seems to +intend an inquiry on the point of kneeling during the service, I owe it +to the truth to declare, that I never saw him in the said attitude.” +Probably his true position is described by Madison, who is quoted as +saying that he did “not suppose that Washington had ever attended to +the arguments for Christianity, and for the different systems of +religion, or in fact that he had formed definite opinions on the +subject. But he took these things as he found them existing, and was +constant in his observances of worship according to the received forms +of the Episcopal Church, in which he was brought up.” + +If there was proof needed that it is mind and not education which +pushes a man to the front, it is to be found in the case of Washington. +Despite his want of education, he had, so Bell states, “an excellent +understanding.” Patrick Henry is quoted as saying of the members of the +Congress of 1774— the body of which Adams claimed that “every man in it +is a great man, an orator, a critic, a statesman”—that “if you speak of +solid information and sound judgment Colonel Washington is +unquestionably the greatest man on the floor;” while Jefferson asserted +that “his mind was great and powerful, without being of the very first +order; his penetration strong, though not so acute as that of a Newton, +Bacon, or Locke; and as far as he saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It +was slow in operation, being little aided by invention or imagination, +but sure in conclusion.” + + + + +IV +RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX + + +The book from which Washington derived almost the whole of his +education warned its readers,— + +“Young Men have ever more a special care +That Womanish Allurements prove not a snare;” + + +but, however carefully the lad studied the rest, this particular +admonition took little root in his mind. There can be no doubt that +Washington during the whole of his life had a soft heart for women, and +especially for good-looking ones, and both in his personal intercourse +and in his letters he shows himself very much more at ease with them +than in his relations with his own sex. Late in life, when the strong +passions of his earlier years were under better control, he was able to +write,— + +“Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore, +contended that it cannot be resisted. This is true in part only, for +like all things else, when nourished and supplied plentifully with +aliment, it is rapid in its progress; but let these be withdrawn and it +may be stifled in its birth or much stinted in its growth. For example, +a woman (the same may be said of the other sex) all beautiful and +accomplished will, while her hand and heart are undisposed of, turn the +heads and set the circle in which she moves on fire. Let her marry, and +what is the consequence? The madness _ceases_ and all is quiet again. +Why? not because there is any diminution in the charms of the lady, but +because there is an end of hope. Hence it follows, that love may and +therefore ought to be under the guidance of reason, for although we +cannot avoid first impressions, we may assuredly place them under +guard.” + +To write thus in one’s sixty-sixth year and to practise one’s theory in +youth were, however, very different undertakings. Even while discussing +love so philosophically, the writer had to acknowledge that “in the +composition of the human frame, there is a good deal of inflammable +matter,” and few have had better cause to know it. When he saw in the +premature engagement of his ward, Jack Custis, the one advantage that +it would “in a great measure avoid those little flirtations with other +young ladies that may, by dividing the attention, contribute not a +little to divide the affection,” it is easy to think of him as looking +back to his own boyhood, and remembering, it is to be hoped with a +smile, the sufferings he owed to pretty faces and neatly turned ankles. + +While still a school-boy, Washington was one day caught “romping with +one of the largest girls,” and very quickly more serious likings +followed. As early as 1748, when only sixteen years of age, his heart +was so engaged that while at Lord Fairfax’s and enjoying the society of +Mary Cary he poured out his feelings to his youthful correspondents +“Dear Robin” and “Dear John” and “Dear Sally” as follows: + +“My place of Residence is at present at His Lordships where I might was +my heart disengag’d pass my time very pleasantly as theres a very +agreeable Young Lady Lives in the same house (Colo George Fairfax’s +Wife’s Sister) but as thats only adding Fuel to fire it makes me the +more uneasy for by often and unavoidably being in Company with her +revives my former Passion for your Low Land Beauty whereas was I to +live more retired from young Women I might in some measure eliviate my +sorrows by burying that chast and troublesome Passion in the grave of +oblivion or etarnall forgetfulness for as I am very well assured thats +the only antidote or remedy that I shall be releivd by or only recess +that can administer any cure or help to me as I am well convinced was I +ever to attempt any thing I should only get a denial which would be +only adding grief to uneasiness.” + +“Was my affections disengaged I might perhaps form some pleasure in the +conversation of an agreeable Young Lady as theres one now Lives in the +same house with me but as that is only nourishment to my former affecn +for by often seeing her brings the other into my remembrance whereas +perhaps was she not often & (unavoidably) presenting herself to my view +I might in some measure aliviate my sorrows by burying the other in the +grave of Oblivion I am well convinced my heart stands in defiance of +all others but only she thats given it cause enough to dread a second +assault and from a different Quarter tho’ I well know let it have as +many attacks as it will from others they cant be more fierce than it +has been.” + +“I Pass the time of[f] much more agreeabler than what I imagined I +should as there’s a very agrewable Young Lady lives in the same house +where I reside (Colo George Fairfax’s Wife’s Sister) that in a great +Measure cheats my thoughts altogether from your Parts I could wish to +be with you down there with all my heart but as it is a thing almost +Impractakable shall rest myself where I am with hopes of shortly having +some Minutes of your transactions in your Parts which will be very +welcomely receiv’d.” + +Who this “Low Land Beauty” was has been the source of much speculation, +but the question is still unsolved, every suggested damsel—Lucy Grymes, +Mary Bland, Betsy Fauntleroy, _et al._—being either impossible or the +evidence wholly inadequate. But in the same journal which contains the +draughts of these letters is a motto poem— + +“Twas Perfect Love before +But Now I do adore”— + + +followed by the words “Young M.A. his W[ife?],” and as it was a fashion +of the time to couple the initials of one’s well-beloved with such +sentiments, a slight clue is possibly furnished. Nor was this the only +rhyme that his emotions led to his inscribing in his journal: and he +confided to it the following: + +“Oh Ye Gods why should my Poor Resistless Heart + Stand to oppose thy might and Power +At Last surrender to cupids feather’d Dart + And now lays Bleeding every Hour +For her that’s Pityless of my grief and Woes + And will not on me Pity take +He sleep amongst my most inveterate Foes + And with gladness never wish to wake +In deluding sleepings let my Eyelids close + That in an enraptured Dream I may +In a soft lulling sleep and gentle repose + Possess those joys denied by Day.” + + +However woe-begone the young lover was, he does not seem to have been +wholly lost to others of the sex, and at this same time he was able to +indite an acrostic to another charmer, which, if incomplete, +nevertheless proves that there was a “midland” beauty as well, the lady +being presumptively some member of the family of Alexanders, who had a +plantation near Mount Vernon. + +“From your bright sparkling Eyes I was undone; +Rays, you have; more transperent than the Sun. +Amidst its glory in the rising Day +None can you equal in your bright array; +Constant in your calm and unspotted Mind; +Equal to all, but will to none Prove kind, +So knowing, seldom one so Young, you’l Find. + +Ah! woe’s me, that I should Love and conceal +Long have I wish’d, but never dare reveal, +Even though severely Loves Pains I feel; +Xerxes that great, was’t free from Cupids Dart, +And all the greatest Heroes, felt the smart.” + + +When visiting Barbadoes, in 1751, Washington noted in his journal his +meeting a Miss Roberts, “an agreeable young lady,” and later he went +with her to see some fireworks on Guy Fawkes day. Apparently, however, +the ladies of that island made little impression on him, for he further +noted, “The Ladys Generally are very agreeable but by ill custom or +w[ha]t effect the Negro style.” This sudden insensibility is explained +by a letter he wrote to William Fauntleroy a few weeks after his return +to Virginia: + +“Sir: I should have been down long before this, but my business in +Frederick detained me somewhat longer than I expected, and immediately +upon my return from thence I was taken with a violent Pleurise, but +purpose as soon as I recover my strength, to wait on Miss Betsy, in +hopes of a revocation of the former cruel sentence, and see if I can +meet with any alteration in my favor. I have enclosed a letter to her, +which should be much obliged to you for the delivery of it. I have +nothing to add but my best respects to your good lady and family, and +that I am, Sir, Your most ob’t humble serv’t.” + +Because of this letter it has been positively asserted that Betsy +Fauntleroy was the Low-Land Beauty of the earlier time; but as +Washington wrote of his love for the latter in 1748, when Betsy was +only eleven, the absurdity of the claim is obvious. + +In 1753, while on his mission to deliver the governor’s letter to the +French, one duty which fell to the young soldier was a visit to +royalty, in the person of Queen Aliquippa, an Indian majesty who had +“expressed great Concern” that she had formerly been slighted. +Washington records that “I made her a Present of a Match-coat and a +Bottle of Rum; which latter was thought much the best Present of the +Two,” and thus (externally and internally) restored warmth to her +majesty’s feelings. + +When returned from his first campaign, and resting at Mount Vernon, the +time seems to have been beguiled by some charmer, for one of +Washington’s officers and intimates writes from Williamsburg, “I +imagine you By this time plung’d in the midst of delight heaven can +afford & enchanted By Charmes even Stranger to the Ciprian Dame,” and a +footnote by the same hand only excites further curiosity concerning +this latter personage by indefinitely naming her as “Mrs. Neil.” + +With whatever heart-affairs the winter was passed, with the spring the +young man’s fancy turned not to love, but again to war, and only when +the defeat of Braddock brought Washington back to Mount Vernon to +recover from the fatigues of that campaign was his intercourse with the +gentler sex resumed. Now, however, he was not merely a good-looking +young fellow, but was a hero who had had horses shot from under him and +had stood firm when scarlet-coated men had run away. No longer did he +have to sue for the favor of the fair ones, and Fairfax wrote him that +“if a Satterday Nights Rest cannot be sufficient to enable your coming +hither to-morrow, the Lady’s will try to get Horses to equip our Chair +or attempt their strength on Foot to Salute you, so desirous are they +with loving Speed to have an occular Demonstration of your being the +same Identical Gent—that lately departed to defend his Country’s +Cause.” Furthermore, to this letter was appended the following: + +“DEAR SIR,—After thanking Heaven for your safe return I must accuse you +of great unkindness in refusing us the pleasure of seeing you this +night. I do assure you nothing but our being satisfied that our company +would be disagreeable should prevent us from trying if our Legs would +not carry us to Mount Vernon this night, but if you will not come to us +to-morrow morning very early we shall be at Mount Vernon. + +“S[ALLY] FAIRFAX, +“ANN SPEARING. +“ELIZ’TH DENT.” + + +Nor is this the only feminine postscript of this time, for in the +postscript of a letter from Archibald Cary, a leading Virginian, he is +told that “Mrs. Cary & Miss Randolph joyn in wishing you that sort of +Glory which will most Indear you to the Fair Sex.” + +In 1756 Washington had occasion to journey on military business to +Boston, and both in coming and in going he tarried in New York, passing +ten days in his first visit and about a week on his return. This time +was spent with a Virginian friend, Beverly Robinson, who had had the +good luck to marry Susannah Philipse, a daughter of Frederick Philipse, +one of the largest landed proprietors of the colony of New York. Here +he met the sister, Mary Philipse, then a girl of twenty-five, and, +short as was the time, it was sufficient to engage his heart. To this +interest no doubt are due the entries in his accounts of sundry pounds +spent “for treating Ladies,” and for the large tailors’ bills then +incurred. But neither treats nor clothes won the lady, who declined his +proposals, and gave her heart two years later to Lieutenant-Colonel +Roger Morris. A curious sequel to this disappointment was the accident +that made the Roger Morris house Washington’s head-quarters in 1776, +both Morris and his wife being fugitive Tories. Again Washington was a +chance visitor in 1790, when, as part of a picnic, he “dined on a +dinner provided by Mr. Marriner at the House lately Colo. Roger Morris, +but confiscated and in the occupation of a common Farmer.” + + +[Illustration: MARY PHILIPSE] + + +It has been asserted that Washington loved the wife of his friend +George William Fairfax, but the evidence has not been produced. On the +contrary, though the two corresponded, it was in a purely platonic +fashion, very different from the strain of lovers, and that the +correspondence implied nothing is to be found in the fact that he and +Sally Carlyle (another Fairfax daughter) also wrote each other quite as +frequently and on the same friendly footing; indeed, Washington +evidently classed them in the same category, when he stated that “I +have wrote to my two female correspondents.” Thus the claim seems due, +like many another of Washington’s mythical love-affairs, rather to the +desire of descendants to link their family “to a star” than to more +substantial basis. Washington did, indeed, write to Sally Fairfax from +the frontier, “I should think our time more agreeably spent, believe +me, in playing a part in Cato, with the company you mention, and myself +doubly happy in being the Juba to such a Marcia, as you must make,” but +private theatricals then no more than now implied “passionate love.” +What is more, Mrs. Fairfax was at this very time teasing him about +another woman, and to her hints Washington replied,— + +“If you allow that any honor can be derived from my opposition … you +destroy the merit of it entirely in me by attributing my anxiety to the +animating prospect of possessing Mrs. Custis, when—I need not tell you, +guess yourself. Should not my own Honor and country’s welfare be the +excitement? ’Tis true I profess myself a votary of love. I acknowledge +that a lady is in the case, and further I confess that this lady is +known to you. Yes, Madame, as well as she is to one who is too sensible +of her charms to deny the Power whose influence he feels and must ever +submit to. I feel the force of her amiable beauties in the recollection +of a thousand tender passages that I could wish to obliterate, till I +am bid to revive them. But experience, alas! sadly reminds me how +impossible this is, and evinces an opinion which I have long +entertained that there is a Destiny which has the control of our +actions, not to be resisted by the strongest efforts of Human Nature. +You have drawn me, dear Madame, or rather I have drawn myself, into an +honest confession of a simple Fact. Misconstrue not my meaning; doubt +it not, nor expose it. The world has no business to know the object of +my Love, declared in this manner to you, when I want to conceal it. One +thing above all things in this world I wish to know, and only one +person of your acquaintance can solve me that, or guess my meaning.” + +The love-affair thus alluded to had begun in March, 1758, when ill +health had taken Washington to Williamsburg to consult physicians, +thinking, indeed, of himself as a doomed man. In this trip he met Mrs. +Martha (Dandridge) Custis, widow of Daniel Parke Custis, one of the +wealthiest planters of the colony. She was at this time twenty-six +years of age, or Washington’s senior by nine months, and had been a +widow but seven, yet in spite of this fact, and of his own expected +“decay,” he pressed his love-making with an impetuosity akin to that +with which he had urged his suit of Miss Philipse, and (widows being +proverbial) with better success. The invalid had left Mount Vernon on +March 5, and by April 1 he was back at Fort Loudon, an engaged man, +having as well so far recovered his health as to be able to join his +command. Early in May he ordered a ring from Philadelphia, at a cost of +£2.16.0; soon after receiving it he found that army affairs once more +called him down to Williamsburg, and, as love-making is generally +considered a military duty, the excuse was sufficient. But sterner +duties on the frontier were awaiting him, and very quickly he was back +there and writing to his _fiancée_,— + +“We have begun our march for the Ohio. A courier is starting for +Williamsburg, and I embrace the opportunity to send a few words to one +whose life is now inseparable from mine. Since that happy hour when we +made our pledges to each other, my thoughts have been continually going +to you as another Self. That an all-powerful Providence may keep us +both in safety is the prayer of your ever faithful and affectionate +friend.” + +Five months after this letter was written, Washington was able to date +another from Fort Duquesne, and, the fall of that post putting an end +to his military service, only four weeks later he was back in +Williamsburg, and on January 6, 1759, he was married. + +Very little is really known of his wife, beyond the facts that she was +petite, over-fond, hot-tempered, obstinate, and a poor speller. In 1778 +she was described as “a sociable, pretty kind of woman,” and she seems +to have been but little more. One who knew her well described her as +“not possessing much sense, though a perfect lady and remarkably well +calculated for her position,” and confirmatory of this is the opinion +of an English traveller that “there was nothing remarkable in the +person of the lady of the President; she was matronly and kind, with +perfect good breeding.” None the less she satisfied Washington; even +after the proverbial six months were over he refused to wander from +Mount Vernon, writing that “I am now, I believe, fixed at this seat +with an agreeable Consort for life,” and in 1783 he spoke of her as the +“partner of all my Domestic enjoyments.” + +John Adams, in one of his recurrent moods of bitterness and jealousy +towards Washington, demanded, “Would Washington have ever been +commander of the revolutionary army or president of the United States +if he had not married the rich widow of Mr. Custis?” To ask such a +question is to overlook the fact that Washington’s colonial military +fame was entirely achieved before his marriage. It is not to be denied +that the match was a good one from a worldly point of view, Mrs. +Washington’s third of the Custis property equalling “fifteen thousand +acres of land, a good part of it adjoining the city of Williamsburg; +several lots in the said city; between two and three hundred negroes; +and about eight or ten thousand pounds upon bond,” estimated at the +time as about twenty thousand pounds in all, which was further +increased on the death of Patsy Custis in 1773 by a half of her +fortune, which added ten thousand pounds to the sum. Nevertheless the +advantage was fairly equal, for Mrs. Custis’s lawyer had written before +her marriage of the impossibility of her managing the property, +advising that she “employ a trusty steward, and as the estate is large +and very extensive, it is Mr. Wallers and my own opinion, that you had +better not engage any but a very able man, though he should require +large wages.” Of the management of this property, to which, indeed, she +was unequal, Washington entirely relieved her, taking charge also of +her children’s share and acting for their interests with the same care +with which he managed the part he was more directly concerned in. + +He further saved her much of the detail of ordering her own clothing, +and we find him sending for “A Salmon-colored Tabby of the enclosed +pattern, with satin flowers, to be made in a sack,” “1 Cap, +Handkerchief, Tucker and Ruffles, to be made of Brussels lace or point, +proper to wear with the above negligee, to cost £20,” “1 pair black, +and 1 pair white Satin Shoes, of the smallest,” and “1 black mask.” +Again he writes his London agent, “Mrs. Washington sends home a green +sack to get cleaned, or fresh dyed of the same color; made up into a +handsome sack again, would be her choice; but if the cloth won’t afford +that, then to be thrown into a genteel Night Gown.” At another time he +wants a pair of clogs, and when the wrong kind are sent he writes that +“she intended to have leathern Gloshoes.” When she was asked to present +a pair of colors to a company, he attended to every detail of obtaining +the flag, and when “Mrs. Washington … perceived the Tomb of her Father +… to be much out of Sorts” he wrote to get a workman to repair it. The +care of the Mount Vernon household proving beyond his wife’s ability, a +housekeeper was very quickly engaged, and when one who filled this +position was on the point of leaving, Washington wrote his agent to +find another without the least delay, for the vacancy would “throw a +great additional weight on Mrs. Washington;” again, writing in another +domestic difficulty, “Your aunt’s distresses for want of a good +housekeeper are such as to render the wages demanded by Mrs. Forbes +(though unusually high) of no consideration.” Her letters of form, +which required better orthography than she was mistress of, he +draughted for her, pen-weary though he was. + +It has already been shown how he fathered her “little progeny,” as he +once called them. Mrs. Washington was a worrying mother, as is shown by +a letter to her sister, speaking of a visit in which “I carried my +little patt with me and left Jacky at home for a trial to see how well +I could stay without him though we were gon but wone fortnight I was +quite impatient to get home. If I at aney time heard the doggs barke or +a noise out, I thought thair was a person sent for me. I often fancied +he was sick or some accident had happened to him so that I think it is +impossible for me to leave him as long as Mr. Washington must stay when +he comes down.” To spare her anxiety, therefore, when the time came for +“Jacky” to be inoculated, Washington “withheld from her the information +… & purpose, if possible, to keep her in total ignorance … till I hear +of his return, or perfect recovery;… she having often wished that Jack +wou’d take & go through the disorder without her knowing of it, that +she might escape those Tortures which suspense wd throw her into.” And +on the death of Patsy he wrote, “This sudden and unexpected blow, I +scarce need add has almost reduced my poor Wife to the lowest ebb of +Misery; which is encreas’d by the absence of her son.” + +When Washington left Mount Vernon, in May, 1775, to attend the +Continental Congress, he did not foresee his appointment as +commander-in-chief, and as soon as it occurred he wrote his wife,— + +“I am now set down to write to you on a subject, which fills me with +inexpressible concern, and this concern is greatly aggravated and +increased, when I reflect upon the uneasiness I know it will give you. +It has been determined in Congress, that the whole army raised for the +defence of the American cause shall be put under my care, and that it +is necessary for me to proceed immediately to Boston to take upon me +the command of it. + +“You may believe me, my dear Patsey, when I assure you, in the most +solemn manner, that, so far from seeking this appointment, I have used +every endeavor in my power to avoid it, not only from my unwillingness +to part with you and the family, but from a consciousness of its being +a trust too great for my capacity, and that I should enjoy more real +happiness in one month with you at home, than I have the most distant +prospect of finding abroad, if my stay were to be seven times seven +years…. I shall feel no pain from the toil or danger of the campaign; +my unhappiness will flow from the uneasiness I know you will feel from +being left alone.” + +To prevent this loneliness as far as possible, he wrote at the same +time to different members of the two families as follows: + +“My great concern upon this occasion is, the thought of leaving your +mother under the uneasiness which I fear this affair will throw her +into; I therefore hope, expect, and indeed have no doubt, of your using +every means in your power to keep up her spirits, by doing everything +in your power to promote her quiet. I have, I must confess, very uneasy +feelings on her account, but as it has been a kind of unavoidable +necessity which has led me into this appointment, I shall more readily +hope that success will attend it and crown our meetings with +happiness.” + +“I entreat you and Mrs. Bassett if possible to visit at Mt. Vernon, as +also my wife’s other friends. I could wish you to take her down, as I +have no expectation of returning till winter & feel great uneasiness at +her lonesome situation.” + +“I shall hope that my friends will visit and endeavor to keep up the +spirits of my wife, as much as they can, as my departure will, I know, +be a cutting stroke upon her; and on this account alone I have many +very disagreeable sensations. I hope you and my sister, (although the +distance is great), will find as much leisure this summer as to spend a +little time at Mount Vernon.” + +When, six months later, the war at Boston settled into a mere siege, +Washington wrote that “seeing no prospect of returning to my family and +friends this winter, I have sent an invitation to Mrs. Washington to +come to me,” adding, “I have laid a state of difficulties, however, +which must attend the journey before her, and left it to her own +choice.” His wife replied in the affirmative, and one of Washington’s +aides presently wrote concerning some prize goods to the effect that +“There are limes, lemons and oranges on board, which, being perishable, +you must sell immediately. The General will want some of each, as well +of the sweetmeats and pickles that are on board, as his lady will be +here to-day or to-morrow. You will please to pick up such things on +board as you think will be acceptable to her, and send them as soon as +possible; he does not mean to receive anything without payment.” + +Lodged at head-quarters, then the Craigie house in Cambridge, the +discomforts of war were reduced to a minimum, but none the less it was +a trying time to Mrs. Washington, who complained that she could not get +used to the distant cannonading, and she marvelled that those about her +paid so little heed to it. With the opening of the campaign in the +following summer she returned to Mount Vernon, but when the army was +safely in winter quarters at Valley Forge she once more journeyed +northward, a trip alluded to by Washington in a letter to Jack, as +follows: “Your Mamma is not yet arrived, but … expected every hour. [My +aide] Meade set off yesterday (as soon as I got notice of her +intention) to meet her. We are in a dreary kind of place, and +uncomfortably provided.” And of this reunion Mrs. Washington wrote, “I +came to this place, some time about the first of February where I found +the General very well,… in camp in what is called the great valley on +the Banks of the Schuylkill. Officers and men are chiefly in Hutts, +which they say is tolerably comfortable; the army are as healthy as can +be well expected in general. The General’s apartment is very small; he +has had a log cabin built to dine in, which has made our quarters much +more tolerable than they were at first” + +Such “winterings” became the regular custom, and brief references in +various letters serve to illustrate them. Thus, in 1779, Washington +informed a friend that “Mrs. Washington, according to custom marched +home when the campaign was about to open;” in July, 1782, he noted that +his wife “sets out this day for Mount Vernon,” and later in the same +year he wrote, “as I despair of seeing my home this Winter, I have sent +for Mrs. Washington;” and finally, in a letter he draughted for his +wife, he made her describe herself as “a kind of perambulator, during +eight or nine years of the war.” + +Another pleasant glimpse during these stormy years is the couple, +during a brief stay in Philadelphia, being entertained almost to death, +described as follows by Franklin’s daughter in a letter to her father: +“I have lately been several times abroad with the General and Mrs. +Washington. He always inquires after you in the most affectionate +manner, and speaks of you highly. We danced at Mrs. Powell’s your +birthday, or night I should say, in company together, and he told me it +was the anniversary of his marriage; it was just twenty years that +night” Again there was junketing in Philadelphia after the surrender at +Yorktown, and one bit of this is shadowed in a line from Washington to +Robert Morris, telling the latter that “Mrs. Washington, myself and +family, will have the honor of dining with you in the way proposed, +to-morrow, being Christmas day.” + +With the retirement to Mount Vernon at the close of the war, little +more companionship was obtained, for, as already stated, Washington +could only describe his home henceforth as a “well resorted tavern,” +and two years after his return he entered in his diary, “Dined with +only Mrs. Washington which I believe is the first instance of it since +my retirement from public life.” + +Even this was only a furlough, for in six years they were both in +public life again. Mrs. Washington was inclined to sulk over the +necessary restraints of official life, writing to a friend, “Mrs. Sins +will give you a better account of the fashions than I can—I live a very +dull life hear and know nothing that passes in the town—I never goe to +any public place—indeed I think I am more like a State prisoner than +anything else; there is certain bounds set for me which I must not +depart from—and as I cannot doe as I like, I am obstinate and stay at +home a great deal.” + + +[Illustration: MRS. DANIEL PARKE CUSTIS, LATER MRS. WASHINGTON] + + +None the less she did her duties well, and in these “Lady Washington” +was more at home, for, according to Thacher, she combined “in an +uncommon degree, great dignity of manner with most pleasing +affability,” though possessing “no striking marks of beauty,” and there +is no doubt that she lightened Washington’s shoulders of social demands +materially. At the receptions of Mrs. Washington, which were held every +Friday evening, so a contemporary states, “the President did not +consider himself as visited. On these occasions he appeared as a +private gentleman, with neither hat nor sword, conversing without +restraint.” + +From other formal society Mrs. Washington also saved her husband, for a +visitor on New Year’s tells of her setting “‘the General’ (by which +title she always designated her husband)” at liberty: “Mrs. Washington +had stood by his side as the visitors arrived and were presented, and +when the clock in the hall was heard striking nine, she advanced and +with a complacent smile said, ‘The General always retires at nine, and +I usually precede him,’ upon which all arose, made their parting +salutations, and withdrew.” Nor was it only from the fatigues of formal +entertaining that the wife saved her husband, Washington writing in +1793, “We remain in Philadelphia until the 10th instant. It was my wish +to have continued there longer; but as Mrs. Washington was unwilling to +leave me surrounded by the malignant fever which prevailed, I could not +think of hazarding her, and the Children any longer by _my_ continuance +in the City, the house in which we live being in a manner blockaded by +the disorder, and was becoming every day more and more fatal; I +therefore came off with them.” + +Finally from these “scenes more busy, tho’ not more happy, than the +tranquil enjoyment of rural life,” they returned to Mount Vernon, +hoping that in the latter their “days will close.” Not quite three +years of this life brought an end to their forty years of married life. +On the night that Washington’s illness first became serious his +secretary narrates that “Between 2 and 3 o’clk on Saturday morning he +[Washington] awoke Mrs. Washington & told her he was very unwell, and +had had an ague. She … would have got up to call a servant; but he +would not permit her lest she should take cold.” As a consequence of +this care for her, her husband lay for nearly four hours in a chill in +a cold bedroom before receiving any attention, or before even a fire +was lighted. When death came, she said, “Tis well—All is now over—I +have no more trials to pass through—I shall soon follow him.” In his +will he left “to my dearly beloved wife” the use of his whole property, +and named her an executrix. + +As a man’s views of matrimony are more or less colored by his personal +experience, what Washington had to say on the institution is of +interest. As concerned himself he wrote to his nephew, “If Mrs. +Washington should survive me, there is a moral certainty of my dying +without issue: and should I be the longest liver, the matter in my +opinion, is hardly less certain; for while I retain the faculty of +reasoning, I shall never marry a girl; and it is not probable that I +should have children by a woman of an age suitable to my own, should I +be disposed to enter into a second marriage.” And in a less personal +sense he wrote to Chastellux,— + +“In reading your very friendly and acceptable letter,… I was, as you +may well suppose, not less delighted than surprised to meet the plain +American words, ‘my wife.’ A wife! Well, my dear Marquis, I can hardly +refrain from smiling to find you are caught at last. I saw, by the +eulogium you often made on the happiness of domestic life in America, +that you had swallowed the bait, and that you would as surely be taken, +one day or another, as that you were a philosopher and a soldier. So +your day has at length come. I am glad of it, with all my heart and +soul. It is quite good enough for you. Now you are well served for +coming to fight in favor of the American rebels, all the way across the +Atlantic Ocean, by catching that terrible contagion—domestic +felicity—which same, like the small pox or the plague, a man can have +only once in his life; because it commonly lasts him (at least with us +in America—I don’t know how you manage these matters in France) for his +whole life time. And yet after all the maledictions you so richly merit +on the subject, the worst wish which I can find in my heart to make +against Madame de Chastellux and yourself is, that you may neither of +you ever get the better of this same domestic felicity during the +entire course of your mortal existence.” + +Furthermore, he wrote to an old friend, whose wife stubbornly refused +to sign a deed, “I think, any Gentleman, possessed of but a very +moderate degree of influence with his wife, might, in the course of +five or six years (for I think it is at least that time) have prevailed +upon her to do an act of justice, in fulfiling his Bargains and +complying with his wishes, if he had been really in earnest in +requesting the matter of her; especially, as the inducement which you +thought would have a powerful operation on Mrs. Alexander, namely the +birth of a child, has been doubled, and tripled.” + +However well Washington thought of “the honorable state,” he was no +match-maker, and when asked to give advice to the widow of Jack Custis, +replied, “I never did, nor do I believe I ever shall, give advice to a +woman, who is setting out on a matrimonial voyage; first, because I +never could advise one to marry without her own consent; and, secondly +because I know it is to no purpose to advise her to refrain, when she +has obtained it. A woman very rarely asks an opinion or requires advice +on such an occasion, till her resolution is formed; and then it is with +the hope and expectation of obtaining a sanction, not that she means to +be governed by your disapprobation, that she applies. In a word the +plain English of the application may be summed up in these words: ‘I +wish you to think as I do; but, if unhappily you differ from me in +opinion, my heart, I must confess, is fixed, and I have gone too far +now to retract.’” Again he wrote: + +“It has ever been a maxim with me through life, neither to promote nor +to prevent a matrimonial connection, unless there should be something +indispensably requiring interference in the latter. I have always +considered marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life, the +foundation of happiness or misery. To be instrumental therefore in +bringing two people together, who are indifferent to each other, and +may soon become objects of disgust; or to prevent a union, which is +prompted by the affections of the mind, is what I never could reconcile +with reason, and therefore neither directly nor indirectly have I ever +said a word to Fanny or George, upon the subject of their intended +connection.” + +The question whether Washington was a faithful husband might well be +left to the facts already given, were it not that stories of his +immorality are bandied about in clubs, a well-known clergyman has +vouched for their truth, and a United States senator has given further +currency to them by claiming special knowledge on the subject. Since +such are the facts, it seems best to consider the question and show +what evidence there actually is for these stories, that at least the +pretended “letters,” etc., which are always being cited, and are never +produced, may no longer have credence put in them, and the true basis +for all the stories may be known and valued at its worth. + +In the year 1776 there was printed in London a small pamphlet entitled +“Minutes of the Trial and Examination of Certain Persons in the +Province of New York,” which purported to be the records of the +examination of the conspirators of the “Hickey plot” (to murder +Washington) before a committee of the Provincial Congress of New York. +The manuscript of this was claimed in the preface to have been +“discovered (on the late capture of New York by the British troops) +among the papers of a person who appears to have been secretary to the +committee.” As part of the evidence the following was printed: + +“William Cooper, soldier, sworn. + +“Court. Inform us what conversation you heard at the Serjeant’s Arms? + +“Cooper. Being there the 21st of May, I heard John Clayford inform the +company, that Mary Gibbons was thoroughly in their interest, and that +the whole would be safe. I learnt from enquiry that Mary Gibbons was a +girl from New Jersey, of whom General Washington was very fond, that he +maintained her genteelly at a house near Mr. Skinner’s,—at the North +River; that he came there very often late at night in disguise; he +learnt also that this woman was very intimate with Clayford, and made +him presents, and told him of what General Washington said. + +“Court. Did you hear Mr. Clayford say any thing himself that night? + +“Cooper. Yes; that he was the day before with Judith, so he called her, +and that she told him, Washington had often said he wished his hands +were clear of the dirty New-Englanders, and words to that effect. + +“Court. Did you hear no mention made of any scheme to betray or seize +him? + +“Cooper. Mr. Clayford said he could easily be seized and put on board a +boat, and carried off, as his female friend had promised she would +assist: but all present thought it would be hazardous.” + +“William Savage, sworn. + +“Court. Was you at the Serjeant’s Arms on the 21st of May? Did you hear +any thing of this nature? + +“Savage. I did, and nearly as the last evidence has declared; the +society in general refused to be concerned in it, and thought it a mad +scheme. + +“Mr. Abeel. Pray, Mr. Savage, have not you heard nothing of an +information that was to be given to Governor Tryon? + +“Savage. Yes; papers and letters were at different times shewn to the +society, which were taken out of General Washington’s pockets by Mrs. +Gibbons, and given (as she pretended some occasion of going out) to Mr. +Clayford, who always copied them, and they were put into his pockets +again.” + +The authenticity of this pamphlet thus becomes of importance, and over +this little time need be spent. The committee named in it differs from +the committee really named by the Provincial Congress, and the +proceedings nowhere implicate the men actually proved guilty. In other +words, the whole publication is a clumsy Tory forgery, put forward with +the same idle story of “captured papers” employed in the “spurious +letters” of Washington, and sent forth from the same press (J. Bew) +from which that forgery and several others issued. + +The source from which the English fabricator drew this scandal is +fortunately known. In 1775 a letter to Washington from his friend +Benjamin Harrison was intercepted by the British, and at once printed +broadcast in the newspapers. In this the writer gossips to Washington +“to amuse you and unbend your minds from the cares of war,” as follows: +“As I was in the pleasing task of writing to you, a little noise +occasioned me to turn my head around, and who should appear but pretty +little Kate, the Washer-woman’s daughter over the way, clean, trim and +as rosy as the morning. I snatched the golden, glorious opportunity, +and, but for the cursed antidote to love, Sukey, I had fitted her for +my general against his return. We were obliged to part, but not till we +had contrived to meet again: if she keeps the appointment, I shall +relish a week’s longer stay.” From this originated the stories of +Washington’s infidelity as already given, and also a coarser version of +the same, printed in 1776 in a Tory farce entitled “The Battle of +Brooklyn.” + +Jonathan Boucher, who knew Washington well before the Revolution, yet +who, as a loyalist, wrote in no friendly spirit of him, asserted that +“in his moral character, he is regular.” A man who disliked him far +more, General Charles Lee, in the excess of his hatred, charged +Washington in 1778 with immorality,—a rather amusing impeachment, since +at the very time Lee was flaunting the evidence of his own incontinence +without apparent shame,—and a mutual friend of the accused and accuser, +Joseph Reed, whose service on Washington’s staff enabled him to speak +wittingly, advised that Lee “forbear any Reflections upon the Commander +in Chief, of whom for the first time I have heard Slander on his +private Character, viz., great cruelty to his Slaves in Virginia & +Immorality of Life, tho’ they acknowledge so very secret that it is +difficult to detect. To me who have had so good opportunities to know +the Purity of the latter & equally believing the Falsehood of the +former from the known excellence of his disposition, it appears so +nearly bordering upon frenzy, that I can pity the wretches rather than +despise them.” + +Washington was too much of a man, however, to have his marriage lessen +his liking for other women; and Yeates repeats that “Mr. Washington +once told me, on a charge which I once made against the President at +his own Table, that the admiration he warmly professed for Mrs. +Hartley, was a Proof of his Homage to the worthy Part of the Sex, and +highly respectful to his Wife.” Every now and then there is an allusion +in his letters which shows his appreciation of beauty, as when he wrote +to General Schuyler, “Your fair daughter, for whose visit Mrs. +Washington and myself are greatly obliged,” and again, to one of his +aides, “The fair hand, to whom your letter … was committed presented it +safe.” + +His diary, in the notes of the balls and assemblies which he attended, +usually had a word for the sex, as exampled in: “at which there were +between 60 & 70 well dressed ladies;” “at which there was about 100 +well dressed and handsome ladies;” “at which were 256 elegantly dressed +ladies;” “where there was a select Company of ladies;” “where (it is +said) there were upwards of 100 ladies; their appearance was elegant, +and many of them very handsome;” “at wch. there were about 400 ladies +the number and appearance of wch. exceeded anything of the kind I have +ever seen;” “where there were about 75 well dressed, and many of them +very handsome ladies—among whom (as was also the case at the Salem and +Boston assemblies) were a greater proportion with much blacker hair +than are usually seen in the Southern States.” + +At his wife’s receptions, as already said, Washington did not view +himself as host, and “conversed without restraint, generally with +women, who rarely had other opportunity of seeing him,” which perhaps +accounts for the statement of another eye-witness that Washington +“looked very much more at ease than at his own official levees.” +Sullivan adds that “the young ladies used to throng around him, and +engaged him in conversation. There were some of the well-remembered +belles of the day who imagined themselves to be favorites with him. As +these were the only opportunities which they had of conversing with +him, they were disposed to use them.” In his Southern trip of 1791 +Washington noted, with evident pleasure, that he “was visited about 2 +o’clock, by a great number of the most respectable ladies of +Charleston—the first honor of the kind I had ever experienced and it +was flattering as it was singular.” And that this attention was not +merely the respect due to a great man is shown in the letter of a +Virginian woman, who wrote to her correspondent in 1777, that when +“General Washington throws off the Hero and takes up the chatty +agreeable Companion—he can be down right impudent sometimes—such +impudence, Fanny, as you and I like.” + +Another feminine compliment paid him was a highly laudatory poem which +was enclosed to him, with a letter begging forgiveness, to which he +playfully answered,— + +“You apply to me, my dear Madam, for absolution as tho’ I was your +father Confessor; and as tho’ you had committed a crime, great in +itself, yet of the venial class. You have reason good—for I find myself +strangely disposed to be a very indulgent ghostly adviser on this +occasion; and, notwithstanding ‘you are the most offending Soul alive’ +(that is, if it is a crime to write elegant Poetry,) yet if you will +come and dine with me on Thursday, and go thro’ the proper course of +penitence which shall be prescribed I will strive hard to assist you in +expiating these poetical trespasses on this side of purgatory. Nay +more, if it rests with me to direct your future lucubrations, I shall +certainly urge you to a repetition of the same conduct, on purpose to +shew what an admirable knack you have at confession and reformation; +and so without more hesitation, I shall venture to command the muse, +not to be restrained by ill-grounded timidity, but to go on and +prosper. You see, Madam, when once the woman has tempted us, and we +have tasted the forbidden fruit, there is no such thing as checking our +appetites, whatever the consequences may be. You will, I dare say, +recognize our being the genuine Descendants of those who are reputed to +be our great Progenitors.” + +Nor was Washington open only to beauty and flattery. From the rude +frontier in 1756 he wrote, “The supplicating tears of the women,… melt +me into such deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my own +mind, I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy, +provided that would contribute to the people’s ease.” And in 1776 he +said, “When I consider that the city of New York will in all human +probability very soon be the scene of a bloody conflict, I cannot but +view the great numbers of women, children, and infirm persons remaining +in it, with the most melancholy concern. When the men-of-war passed up +the river, the shrieks and cries of these poor creatures running every +way with their children, were truly distressing…. Can no method be +devised for their removal?” + +Nevertheless, though liked by and liking the fair sex, Washington was +human, and after experience concluded that “I never again will have two +women in my house when I am there myself.” + + + + +V +FARMER AND PROPRIETOR + + +The earliest known Washington coat of arms had blazoned upon it “3 +Cinque foiles,” which was the herald’s way of saying that the bearer +was a landholder and cultivator, and when Washington had a book-plate +made for himself he added to the conventional design of the arms spears +of wheat and other plants, as an indication of his favorite labor. +During his career he acted several parts, but in none did he find such +pleasure as in farming, and late in life he said, “I think with you, +that the life of a husbandman of all others is the most delectable. It +is honorable, it is amusing, and, with judicious management, it is +profitable. To see plants rise from the earth and flourish by the +superior skill and bounty of the laborer fills a contemplative mind +with ideas which are more easy to be conceived than expressed.” +“Agriculture has ever been the most favorite amusement of my life,” he +wrote after the Revolution, and he informed another correspondent that +“the more I am acquainted with agricultural affairs, the better pleased +I am with them; insomuch, that I can no where find so great +satisfaction as in those innocent and useful pursuits: In indulging +these feelings, I am led to reflect how much more delightful to an +undebauched mind is the task of making improvements on the earth, than +all the vain glory which can be acquired from ravaging it, by the most +uninterrupted career of conquests.” A visitor to Mount Vernon in 1785 +states that his host’s “greatest pride is, to be thought the first +farmer in America. He is quite a Cincinnatus.” + +Undoubtedly a part of this liking flowed from his strong affection for +Mount Vernon. Such was his feeling for the place that he never seems to +have been entirely happy away from it, and over and over again, during +his various and enforced absences, he “sighs” or “pants” for his “own +vine and fig tree.” In writing to an English correspondent, he shows +his feeling for the place by saying, “No estate in United America, is +more pleasantly situated than this. It lies in a high, dry and healthy +country, three hundred miles by water from the sea, and, as you will +see by the plan, on one of the finest rivers in the world.” + +The history of the Mount Vernon estate begins in 1674, when Lord +Culpepper conveyed to Nicholas Spencer and Lieutenant-Colonel John +Washington five thousand acres of land “scytuate Lying and being within +the said terrytory in the County of Stafford in the ffreshes of the +Pottomocke River and … bounded betwixt two Creeks.” Colonel John’s half +was bequeathed to his son Lawrence, and by Lawrence’s will it was left +to his daughter Mildred. She sold it to the father of George, who by +his will left it to his son Lawrence, with a reversion to George should +Lawrence die without issue. The original house was built about 1740, +and the place was named Mount Vernon by Lawrence, in honor of Admiral +Vernon, under whom he had served at Carthagena. After the death of +Lawrence, the estate of twenty-five hundred acres came under +Washington’s management, and from 1754 it was his home, as it had been +practically even in his brother’s life. + +Twice Washington materially enlarged the house at Mount Vernon, the +first time in 1760 and the second in 1785, and a visitor reports, what +his host must have told him, that “its a pity he did not build a new +one at once, for it has cost him nearly as much to repair his old one.” +These alterations consisted in the addition of a banquet-hall at one +end (by far the finest room in the house), and a library and +dining-room at the other, with the addition of an entire story to the +whole. + +The grounds, too, were very much improved. A fine approach, or bowling +green, was laid out, a “botanical garden,” a “shrubbery,” and +greenhouses were added, and in every way possible the place was +improved. A deer paddock was laid out and stocked, gifts of Chinese +pheasants and geese, French partridges, and guinea-pigs were sent him, +and were gratefully acknowledged, and from all the world over came +curious, useful, or beautiful plants. + +The original tract did not satisfy the ambition of the farmer, and from +the time he came into the possession of Mount Vernon he was a +persistent purchaser of lands adjoining the property. In 1760 he +bargained with one Clifton for “a tract called Brents,” of eighteen +hundred and six acres, but after the agreement was closed the seller, +“under pretence of his wife not consenting to acknowledge her right of +dower wanted to disengage himself … and by his shuffling behavior +convinced me of his being the trifling body represented.” Presently +Washington heard that Clifton had sold his lands to another for twelve +hundred pounds, which “fully unravelled his conduct … and convinced me +that he was nothing less than a thorough pac’d rascall.” Meeting the +“rascall” at a court, “much discourse,” Washington states, “happened +between him and I concerning his ungenerous treatment of me, the whole +turning to little account, ’tis not worth reciting.” After much more +friction, the land was finally sold at public auction, and “I bought it +for £1210 Sterling, [and] under many threats and disadvantages paid the +money.” + + +[Illustration: WASHINGTON’S SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON, CIRCA 1746] + + +In 1778, when some other land was offered, Washington wrote to his +agent, “I have premised these things to shew my inability, not my +unwillingness to purchase the Lands in my own Neck at (almost) any +price—& this I am very desirous of doing if it could be accomplished by +any means in my power, in ye way of Barter for other Land—for Negroes … +or in short—for any thing else … but for money I cannot, I want the +means.” Again, in 1782, he wrote, “Inform Mr. Dulany,… that I look upon +£2000 to be a great price for his land; that my wishes to obtain it do +not proceed from its intrinsic value, but from the motives I have +candidly assigned in my other letter. That to indulge this fancy, (for +in truth there is more fancy than judgment in it) I have submitted, or +am willing to submit, to the disadvantage of borrowing as large a sum +as I think this Land is worth, in order to come at it” + +By thus purchasing whenever an opportunity occurred, the property was +increased from the twenty-five hundred acres which had come into +Washington’s possession by inheritance to an estate exceeding eight +thousand acres, of which over thirty-two hundred were actually under +cultivation during the latter part of its owner’s life. + +To manage so vast a tract, the property was subdivided into several +tracts, called “Mansion House Farm,” “River Farm,” “Union Farm,” “Muddy +Hole Farm,” and “Dogue Run Farm,” each having an overseer to manage it, +and each being operated as a separate plantation, though a general +overseer controlled the whole, and each farm derived common benefit +from the property as a whole. “On Saturday in the afternoon, every +week, reports are made by all his overseers, and registered in books +kept for the purpose,” and these accounts were so schemed as to show +how every negro’s and laborer’s time had been employed during the whole +week, what crops had been planted or gathered, what increase or loss of +stock had occurred, and every other detail of farm-work. During +Washington’s absences from Mount Vernon his chief overseer sent him +these reports, as well as wrote himself, and weekly the manager +received in return long letters of instruction, sometimes to the length +of sixteen pages, which showed most wonderful familiarity with every +acre of the estate and the character of every laborer, and are little +short of marvellous when account is taken of the pressure of public +affairs that rested upon their writer as he framed them. + +When Washington became a farmer, but one system of agriculture, so far +as Virginia was concerned, existed, which he described long after as +follows: + +“A piece of land is cut down, and kept under constant cultivation, +first in tobacco, and then in Indian corn (two very exhausting plants), +until it will yield scarcely any thing; a second piece is cleared, and +treated in the same manner; then a third and so on, until probably +there is but little more to clear. When this happens, the owner finds +himself reduced to the choice of one of three things—either to recover +the land which he has ruined, to accomplish which, he has perhaps +neither the skill, the industry, nor the means; or to retire beyond the +mountains; or to substitute quantity for quality, in order to raise +something. The latter has been generally adopted, and, with the +assistance of horses, he scratches over much ground, and seeds it, to +very little purpose.” + +Knowing no better, Washington adopted this one-crop system, even to the +extent of buying corn and hogs to feed his hands. Though following in +the beaten track, he experimented in different kinds of tobacco, so +that, “by comparing then the loss of the one with the extra price of +the other, I shall be able to determine which is the best to pursue.” +The largest crop he ever seems to have produced, “being all +sweet-scented and neatly managed,” was one hundred and fifteen +hogsheads, which averaged in sale twelve pounds each. + +From a very early time Washington had been a careful student of such +books on agriculture as he could obtain, even preparing lengthy +abstracts of them, and the knowledge he thus obtained, combined with +his own practical experience, soon convinced him that the Virginian +system was wrong. “I never ride on my plantations,” he wrote, “without +seeing something which makes me regret having continued so long in the +ruinous mode of farming, which we are in,” and he soon “discontinued +the growth of tobacco myself; [and] except at a plantation or two upon +York River, I make no more of that article than barely serves to +furnish me with goods.” + +From this time (1765) “the whole of my force [was] in a manner confined +to the growth of wheat and manufacturing of it into flour,” and before +long he boasted that “the wheat from some of my plantations, by one +pair of steelyards, will weigh upwards of sixty pounds,… and better +wheat than I now have I do not expect to make.” After the Revolution he +claimed that “no wheat that has ever yet fallen under my observation +exceeds the wheat which some years ago I cultivated extensively but +which, from inattention during my absence of almost nine years from +home, has got so mixed or degenerated as scarcely to retain any of its +original characteristics properly.” In 1768 he was able to sell over +nineteen hundred bushels, and how greatly his product was increased +after this is shown by the fact that in this same year he sowed four +hundred and ninety bushels. + +Still further study and experimentation led him to conclude that “my +countrymen are too much used to corn blades and corn shucks; and have +too little knowledge of the profit of grass lands,” and after his final +home-coming to Mount Vernon, he said, “I have had it in contemplation +ever since I returned home to turn my farms to grazing principally, as +fast as I can cover the fields sufficiently with grass. Labor and of +course expence will be considerably diminished by this change, the nett +profit as great and my attention less divided, whilst the fields will +be improving.” That this was only an abandonment of a “one crop” system +is shown by the fact that in 1792 he grew over five thousand bushels of +wheat, valued at four shillings the bushel, and in 1799 he said, “as a +farmer, wheat and flour are my principal concerns.” And though, in +abandoning the growth of tobacco, Washington also tried “to grow as +little Indian corn as may be,” yet in 1795 his crop was over sixteen +hundred barrels, and the quantity needed for his own negroes and stock +is shown in a year when his crop failed, which “obliged me to purchase +upwards of eight hundred barrels of corn.” + +In connection with this change of system, Washington became an early +convert to the rotation of crops, and drew up elaborate tables +sometimes covering periods of five years, so that the quantity of each +crop should not vary, yet by which his fields should have constant +change. This system naturally very much diversified the product of his +estate, and flax, hay, clover, buckwheat, turnips, and potatoes became +large crops. The scale on which this was done is shown by the facts +that in one year he sowed twenty-seven bushels of flaxseed and planted +over three hundred bushels of potatoes. + +Early and late Washington preached to his overseers the value of +fertilization; in one case, when looking for a new overseer, he said +the man must be, “above all, Midas like, one who can convert everything +he touches into manure, as the first transmutation towards gold;—in a +word one who can bring worn out and gullied Lands into good tilth in +the shortest time.” Equally emphatic was his urging of constant +ploughing and grubbing, and he even invented a deep soil plough, which +he used till he found a better one in the English Rotheran plough, +which he promptly imported, as he did all other improved farming tools +and machinery of which he could learn. To save his woodlands, and for +appearance’s sake, he insisted on live fences, though he had to +acknowledge that “no hedge, alone, will, I am persuaded, do for an +outer inclosure, where _two_ or four footed hogs find it convenient to +open passage.” In all things he was an experimentalist, carefully +trying different kinds of tobacco and wheat, various kinds of plants +for hedges, and various kinds of manure for fertilizers; he had tests +made to see whether he could sell his wheat to best advantage in the +grain or when made into flour, and he bred from selected horses, +cattle, and sheep. “In short I shall begrudge no reasonable expence +that will contribute to the improvement and neatness of my Farms;—for +nothing pleases me better than to see them in good order, and +everything trim, handsome, and thriving about them.” + +The magnitude of the charge of such an estate can be better understood +when the condition of a Virginia plantation is realized. Before the +Revolution practically everything the plantation could not produce was +ordered yearly from Great Britain, and after the annual delivery of the +invoices the estate could look for little outside help. Nor did this +change rapidly after the Revolution, and during the period of +Washington’s management almost everything was bought in yearly +supplies. This system compelled each plantation to be a little world +unto itself; indeed, the three hundred souls on the Mount Vernon estate +went far to make it a distinct and self-supporting community, and one +of Washington’s standing orders to his overseers was to “buy nothing +you can make within yourselves.” Thus the planting and gathering of the +crops were but a small part of the work to be done. + +A corps of workmen—some negroes, some indentured servants, and some +hired laborers—were kept on the estate. A blacksmith-shop occupied +some, doing not merely the work of the plantation, but whatever +business was brought to them from outside; and a wood-burner kept them +and the mansion-house supplied with charcoal. A gang of carpenters were +kept busy, and their spare time was utilized in framing houses to be +put up in Alexandria, or in the “Federal city,” as Washington was +called before the death of its namesake. A brick-maker, too, was kept +constantly employed, and masons utilized the product of his labor. The +gardener’s gang had charge of the kitchen-garden, and set out thousands +of grape-vines, fruit-trees, and hedge-plants. + +A water-mill, with its staff, not merely ground meal for the hands, but +produced a fine flour that commanded extra price in the market In 1786 +Washington asserted that his flour was “equal, I believe, in quality to +any made in this country,” and the Mount Vernon brand was of such value +that some money was made by buying outside wheat and grinding it into +flour. The coopers of the estate made the barrels in which it was +packed, and Washington’s schooner carried it to market. + +The estate had its own shoemaker, and in time a staff of weavers was +trained. Before this was obtained, in 1760, though with only a modicum +of the force he presently had, Washington ordered from London “450 ells +of Osnabrig, 4 pieces of Brown Wools, 350 yards of Kendall Cotton, and +100 yards of Dutch blanket.” By 1768 he was manufacturing the chief +part of his requirements, for in that year his weavers produced eight +hundred and fifteen and three-quarter yards of linen, three hundred and +sixty-five and one-quarter yards of woollen, one hundred and forty-four +yards of linsey, and forty yards of cotton, or a total of thirteen +hundred and sixty-five and one-half yards, one man and five negro girls +having been employed. When once the looms were well organized an +infinite variety of cloths was produced, the accounts mentioning +“striped woollen, woolen plaided, cotton striped, linen, wool-birdseye, +cotton filled with wool, linsey, M.’s & O.’s, cotton-India dimity, +cotton jump stripe, linen filled with tow, cotton striped with silk, +Roman M., Janes twilled, huccabac, broadcloth, counterpain, birdseye +diaper, Kirsey wool, barragon, fustian, bed-ticking, herring-box, and +shalloon.” + +One of the most important features of the estate was its fishery, for +the catch, salted down, largely served in place of meat for the +negroes’ food. Of this advantage Washington wrote, “This river,… is +well supplied with various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year; +and, in the spring, with the greatest profusion of shad, herrings, +bass, carp, perch, sturgeon, &c. Several valuable fisheries appertain +to the estate; the whole shore, in short, is one entire fishery.” +Whenever there was a run of fish, the seine was drawn, chiefly for +herring and shad, and in good years this not merely amply supplied the +home requirements, but allowed of sales; four or five shillings the +thousand for herring and ten shillings the hundred for shad were the +average prices, and sales of as high as eighty-five thousand herring +were made in a single year. + +In 1795, when the United States passed an excise law, distilling became +particularly profitable, and a still was set up on the plantation. In +this whiskey was made from “Rye chiefly and Indian corn in a certain +proportion,” and this not merely used much of the estate’s product of +those two grains, but quantities were purchased from elsewhere. In 1798 +the profit from the distillery was three hundred and forty-four pounds +twelve shillings and seven and three-quarter pence, with a stock +carried over of seven hundred and fifty-five and one-quarter gallons; +but this was the most successful year. Cider, too, was made in large +quantities. + +A stud stable was from an early time maintained, and the Virginia +papers regularly advertised that the stud horse “Samson,” “Magnolia,” +“Leonidas,” “Traveller,” or whatever the reigning stallion of the +moment might be, would “cover” mares at Mount Vernon, with pasturage +and a guarantee of foal, if their owners so elected. During the +Revolution Washington bought twenty-seven of the army mares that had +been “worn-down so as to render it beneficial to the public to have +them sold,” not even objecting to those “low in flesh or even +crippled,” because “I have many large Farms and am improving a good +deal of Land into Meadow and Pasture, which cannot fail of being +profited by a number of Brood Mares.” In addition to the stud, there +were, in 1793, fifty-four draught horses on the estate. + +A unique feature of this stud was the possession of two jackasses, of +which the history was curious. At that time there was a law in Spain +(where the best breed was to be found) which forbade the exportation of +asses, but the king, hearing of Washington’s wish to possess a jack, +sent him one of the finest obtainable as a present, which was promptly +christened “Royal Gift.” The sea-voyage and the change of climate, +however, so affected him that for a time he proved of little value to +his owner, except as a source of amusement, for Washington wrote +Lafayette, “The Jack I have already received from Spain in appearance +is fine, but his late Royal master, tho’ past his grand climacteric +cannot be less moved by female allurements than he is; or when +prompted, can proceed with more deliberation and majestic solemnity to +the work of procreation.” This reluctance to play his part Washington +concluded was a sign of aristocracy, and he wrote a nephew, “If Royal +Gift will administer, he shall be at the service of your Mares, but at +present he seems too full of Royalty, to have anything to do with a +plebeian Race,” and to Fitzhugh he said, “particular attention shall be +paid to the mares which your servant brought, and when my Jack is in +the humor, they shall derive all the benefit of his labor, for labor it +appears to be. At present tho’ young, he follows what may be supposed +to be the example of his late Royal Master, who can not, tho’ past his +grand climacteric, perform seldomer or with more majestic solemnity +than he does. However I am not without hope that when he becomes a +little better acquainted with republican enjoyment, he will amend his +manners, and fall into a better and more expeditious mode of doing +business.” This fortunately proved to be the case, and his master not +merely secured such mules as he needed for his own use, but gained from +him considerable profit by covering mares in the neighborhood. He even +sent him on a tour through the South, and Royal Gift passed a whole +winter in Charleston, South Carolina, with a resulting profit of six +hundred and seventy-eight dollars to his owner. In 1799 there were on +the estate “2 Covering Jacks & 3 young ones, 10 she asses, 42 working +mules and 15 younger ones.” + +Of cattle there were in 1793 a total of three hundred and seventeen +head, including “a sufficiency of oxen broke to the yoke,” and a dairy +was operated separate from the farms, and some butter was made, but +Washington had occasion to say, “It is hoped, and will be expected, +that more effectual measures will be pursued to make butter another +year; for it is almost beyond belief, that from 101 cows actually +reported on a late enumeration of the cattle, that I am obliged to _buy +butter_ for the use of my family.” + +Sheep were an unusual adjunct of a Virginia plantation, and of his +flock Washington wrote, “From the beginning of the year 1784 when I +returned from the army, until shearing time of 1788, I improved the +breed of my sheep so much by buying and selecting the best formed and +most promising Rams, and putting them to my best ewes, by keeping them +always well culled and clean, and by other attentions, that they +averaged me … rather over than under five pounds of washed wool each.” +In another letter he said, “I … was proud in being able to produce +perhaps the largest mutton and the greatest quantity of wool from my +sheep that could be produced. But I was not satisfied with this; and +contemplated further improvements both in the flesh and wool by the +introduction of other breeds, which I should by this time have carried +into effect, had I been permitted to pursue my favorite occupation.” In +1789, however, “I was again called from home, and have not had it in my +power since to pay any attention to my farms. The consequence of which +is, that my sheep at the last shearing, yielded me not more than 2-1/2” +pounds. In 1793 he had six hundred and thirty-four in his flock, from +which he obtained fourteen hundred and-fifty-seven pounds of fleece. Of +hogs he had “many,” but “as these run pretty much at large in the +woodland, the number is uncertain.” In 1799 his manager valued his +entire live-stock at seven thousand pounds. + +A separate account was kept of each farm, and of many of these separate +departments, and whenever there was a surplus of any product an account +was opened to cover it. Thus in various years there are accounts raised +dealing with cattle, hay, flour, flax, cord-wood, shoats, fish, +whiskey, pork, etc., and his secretary, Shaw, told a visitor that the +“books were as regular as any merchant whatever.” It is proper to note, +however, that sometimes they would not balance, and twice at least +Washington could only force one, by entering “By cash supposed to be +paid away & not credited £17.6.2,” and “By cash lost, stolen or paid +away without charging £143.15.2.” All these accounts were tabulated at +the end of the year and the net results obtained. Those for a single +year are here given: + +BALANCE OF GAIN AND LOSS, 1798. + + +_Dr. gained._ + +Dogue Run Farm 397.11.02 Union Farm 529.10.11½ River Farm 234. +4.11 Smith’s Shop 34.12.09½ Distillery 83.13.01 Jacks 56.01 +Traveller (studhorse) 9.17 Shoemaker 28.17.01 +Fishery 165.12.0¾ Dairy 30.12.03 + +_Cr. lost._ + +Mansion House 466.18.02½ Muddy Hole Farm 60.01.03½ +Spinning 51.02.0 Hire of head-overseer 140.00.0 + +By Clear gain on the Estate £ 898.16.4¼ + + +A pretty poor showing for an estate and negroes which had certainly +cost him over fifty thousand dollars, and on which there was livestock +which at the lowest estimation was worth fifteen thousand dollars more. +It is not strange that in 1793 Washington attempted to find tenants for +all but the Mansion farm. This he reserved for my “own residence, +occupation and amusement,” as Washington held that “idleness is +disreputable,” and in 1798 he told his chief overseer he did not choose +to “discontinue my rides or become a cipher on my own estate.” + +When at Mount Vernon, as this indicated, Washington rode daily about +his estate, and he has left a pleasant description of his life +immediately after retiring from the Presidency: “I begin my diurnal +course with the sun;… if my hirelings are not in their places at that +time I send them messages expressive of my sorrow for their +indisposition;… having put these wheels in motion, I examine the state +of things further; and the more they are probed, the deeper I find the +wounds are which my buildings have sustained by my absence and neglect +of eight years; by the time I have accomplished these matters, +breakfast (a little after seven o’clock)… is ready;… this being over, I +mount my horse and ride round my farms, which employs me until it is +time to dress for dinner.” A visitor at this time is authority for the +statement that the master “often works with his men himself—strips off +his coat and labors like a common man. The General has a great turn for +mechanics. It’s astonishing with what niceness he directs everything in +the building way, condescending even to measure the things himself, +that all may be perfectly uniform.” + +This personal attention Washington was able to give only with very +serious interruptions. From 1754 till 1759 he was most of the time on +the frontier; for nearly nine years his Revolutionary service separated +him absolutely from his property; and during the two terms of his +Presidency he had only brief and infrequent visits. Just one-half of +his forty-six years’ occupancy of Mount Vernon was given to public +service. + +The result was that in 1757 he wrote, “I am so little acquainted with +the business relative to my private affairs that I can scarce give you +any information concerning it,” and this was hardly less true of the +whole period of his absences. In 1775 he engaged overseers to manage +his various estates in his absence “upon shares,” but during the whole +war the plantations barely supported themselves, even with depletion of +stock and fertility, and he was able to draw nothing from them. One +overseer, and a confederate, he wrote, “I believe, divided the profits +of my Estate on the York River, tolerably betwn. them, for the devil of +any thing do I get.” Well might he advise knowingly that “I have no +doubt myself but that middling land under a man’s own eyes, is more +profitable than rich land at a distance.” “No Virginia Estate (except a +very few under the best of management) can stand simple Interest,” he +declared, and went even further when he wrote, “the nature of a +Virginia Estate being such, that without close application, it never +fails bringing the proprietors in Debt annually.” “To speak within +bounds,” he said, “ten thousand pounds will not compensate the losses I +might have avoided by being at home, & attending a little to my own +concerns” during the Revolution. + +Fortunately for the farmer, the Mount Vernon estate was but a small +part of his property. His father had left him a plantation of two +hundred and eighty acres on the Rappahannock, “one Moiety of my Land +lying on Deep Run,” three lots in Frederick “with all the houses and +Appurtenances thereto belonging,” and one quarter of the residuary +estate. While surveying for Lord Fairfax in 1748, as part of his +compensation Washington patented a tract of five hundred and fifty +acres in Frederick County, which he always spoke of as “My Bull-skin +plantation.” + +As a military bounty in the French and Indian War the governor of +Virginia issued a proclamation granting Western lands to the soldiers, +and under this Washington not merely secured fifteen thousand acres in +his own right, but by buying the claims of some of his fellow officers +doubled that quantity. A further tract was also obtained under the +kindred proclamation of 1763, “5000 Acres of Land in my own right, & by +purchase from Captn. Roots, Posey, & some other officers, I obtained +rights to several thousand more.” In 1786, after sales, he had over +thirty thousand acres, which he then offered to sell at thirty thousand +guineas, and in 1799, when still more had been sold, his inventory +valued the holdings at nearly three hundred thousand dollars. + +In addition, Washington was a partner in several great land +speculations,—the Ohio Company, the Walpole Grant, the Mississippi +Company, the Military Company of Adventures, and the Dismal Swamp +Company; but all these ventures except the last collapsed at the +beginning of the Revolution and proved valueless. His interest in the +Dismal Swamp Company he held at the time of his death, and it was +valued in the inventory at twenty thousand dollars. + +The properties that came to him from his brother Lawrence and with his +wife have already been described. It may be worth noting that with the +widow of Lawrence there was a dispute over the will, but apparently it +was never carried into the courts, and that owing to the great +depreciation of paper money during the Revolution the Custis personal +property was materially lessened, for “I am now receiving a shilling in +the pound in discharge of Bonds which ought to have been paid me, & +would have been realized before I left Virginia, but for my indulgences +to the debtors,” Washington wrote, and in 1778 he said, “by the +comparitive worth of money, six or seven thousand pounds which I have +in Bonds upon Interest is now reduced to as many hundreds because I can +get no more for a thousand at this day than a hundred would have +fetched when I left Virginia, Bonds, debts, Rents, &c. undergoing no +change while the currency is depreciating in value and for ought I know +may in a little time be totally sunk.” Indeed, in 1781 he complained +“that I have totally neglected all my private concerns, which are +declining every day, and may, possibly, end in capital losses, if not +absolute ruin, before I am at liberty to look after them.” + +In 1784 he became partner with George Clinton in some land purchases in +the State of New York with the expectation of buying the “mineral +springs at Saratoga; and … the Oriskany tract, on which Fort Schuyler +stands.” In this they were disappointed, but six thousand acres in the +Mohawk valley were obtained “amazingly cheap.” Washington’s share cost +him, including interest, eighteen hundred and seventy-five pounds, and +in 1793 two-thirds of the land had been sold for three thousand four +hundred pounds, and in his inventory of 1799 Washington valued what he +still held of the property at six thousand dollars. + +In 1790, having inside information that the capital was to be removed +from New York to Philadelphia, Washington tried to purchase a farm near +that city, foreseeing a speedy rise in value. In this apparently he did +not succeed. Later he purchased lots in the new Federal city, and built +houses on two of them. He also had town lots in Williamsburg, +Alexandria, Winchester, and Bath. In addition to all this property +there were many smaller holdings. Much was sold or traded, yet when he +died, besides his wife’s real estate and the Mount Vernon property, he +possessed fifty-one thousand three hundred and ninety-five acres, +exclusive of town property. A contemporary said “that General +Washington is, perhaps, the greatest landholder in America.” + +All these lands, except Mount Vernon, were, so far as possible, rented, +but the net income was not large. Rent agents were employed to look +after the tenants, but low rents, war, paper money, a shifting +population, and Washington’s dislike of lawsuits all tended to reduce +the receipts, and the landlord did not get simple interest on his +investments. Thus, in 1799 he complains of slow payments from tenants +in Washington and Lafayette Counties (Pennsylvania). Instead of an +expected six thousand dollars, due June 1, but seventeen hundred +dollars were received. + +Income, however, had not been his object in loading himself with such a +vast property, as Washington believed that he was certain to become +rich. “For proof of” the rise of land, he wrote in 1767, “only look to +Frederick, [county] and see what fortunes were made by the … first +taking up of those lands. Nay, how the greatest estates we have in this +colony were made. Was it not by taking up and purchasing at very low +rates the rich back lands, which were thought nothing of in those days, +but are now the most valuable land we possess?” + +In this he was correct, but in the mean time he was more or less +land-poor. To a friend in 1763 he wrote that the stocking and repairing +of his plantations “and other matters … swallowed up before I well knew +where I was, all the moneys I got by marriage, nay more, brought me in +debt” In 1775, replying to a request for a loan, he declared that “so +far am I from having £200 to lend … I would gladly borrow that sum +myself for a few months.” When offered land adjoining Mount Vernon for +three thousand pounds in 1778, he could only reply that it was “a sum I +have little chance, if I had inclination, to pay; & therefore would not +engage it, as I am resolved not to incumber myself with Debt.” In 1782, +to secure a much desired tract he was forced to borrow two thousand +pounds York currency at the rate of seven per cent. + +In 1788, “the total loss of my crop last year by the drought” “with +necessary demands for cash” “have caused me much perplexity and given +me more uneasiness than I ever experienced before from want of money,” +and a year later, just before setting out to be inaugurated, he tried +to borrow five hundred pounds “to discharge what I owe” and to pay the +expenses of the journey to New York, but was “unable to obtain more +than half of it, (though it was not much I required), and this at an +advanced interest with other rigid conditions,” though at this time +“could I get in one fourth part of what is due me on Bonds” “without +the intervention of suits” there would have been ample funds. In 1795 +the President said, “my friends entertain a very erroneous idea of my +particular resources, when they set me down for a money lender, or one +who (now) has a command of it. You may believe me when I assert that +the bonds which were due to me before the Revolution, were discharged +during the progress of it—with a few exceptions in depreciated paper +(in some instances as low as a shilling in the pound). That such has +been the management of the Estate, for many years past, especially +since my absence from home, now six years, as scarcely to support +itself. That my public allowance (whatever the world may think of it) +is inadequate to the expence of living in this City; to such an +extravagant height has the necessaries as well as the conveniences of +life arisen. And, moreover that to keep myself out of debt; I have +found it expedient now and then to sell Lands, or something else to +effect this purpose.” + + +[Illustration: LOTTERY TICKET SIGNED BY WASHINGTON] + + +As these extensive land ventures bespoke a national characteristic, so +a liking for other forms of speculation was innate in the great +American. During the Revolution he tried to secure an interest in a +privateer. One of his favorite flyers was chances in lotteries and +raffles, which, if now found only in association with church fairs, +were then not merely respectable, but even fashionable. In 1760 five +pounds and ten shillings were invested in one lottery. Five pounds +purchased five tickets in Strother’s lottery in 1763. Three years later +six pounds were risked in the York lottery and produced prizes to the +extent of sixteen pounds. Fifty pounds were put into Colonel Byrd’s +lottery in 1769, and drew a half-acre lot in the town of Manchester, +but out of this Washington was defrauded. In 1791 John Potts was paid +four pounds and four shillings “in part for 20 Lottery tickets in the +Alexa. street Lottery at 6/ each, 14 Dollrs. the Bal. was discharged by +2.3 Lotr prizes.” Twenty tickets of Peregrine and Fitzhugh’s lottery +cost one hundred and eighty-eight dollars in 1794. And these are but +samples of innumerable instances. So, too, in raffles, the entries are +constant,—“for glasses 20/,” “for a Necklace £1.,” “by profit & loss in +two chances in raffling for Encyclopadia Britannica, which I did not +win £1.4,” two tickets were taken in the raffle of Mrs. Dawson’s coach, +as were chances for a pair of silver buckles, for a watch, and for a +gun; such and many others were smaller ventures Washington took. + +There were other sources of income or loss besides. Before the +Revolution he had a good sized holding of Bank of England stock, and an +annuity in the funds, besides considerable property on bond, the larger +part of which, as already noted, was liquidated in depreciated paper +money. This paper money was for the most part put into United States +securities, and eventually the “at least £10,000 Virginia money” proved +to be worth six thousand two hundred and forty-six dollars in +government six per cents and three per cents. A great believer in the +Potomac Canal Company, Washington invested twenty-four hundred pounds +sterling in the stock, which produced no income, and in time showed a +heavy shrinkage. Another and smaller loss was an investment in the +James River Canal Company. Stock holdings in the Bank of Columbia and +in the Bank of Alexandria proved profitable investments. + +None the less Washington was a successful businessman. Though his +property rarely produced a net income, and though he served the public +with practically no profit (except as regards bounty lands), and thus +was compelled frequently to dip into his capital to pay current +expenses, yet, from being a surveyor only too glad to earn a doubloon +(seven dollars and forty cents) a day, he grew steadily in wealth, and +when he died his property, exclusive of his wife’s and the Mount Vernon +estate, was valued at five hundred and thirty thousand dollars. This +made him one of the wealthiest Americans of his time, and it is to be +questioned if a fortune was ever more honestly acquired or more +thoroughly deserved. + + + + +VI +MASTER AND EMPLOYER + + +In his “rules of civility” Washington enjoined that “those of high +Degree ought to treat” “Artificers & Persons of low Degree” “with +affibility & Courtesie, without Arrogancy,” and it was a needed lesson +to every young Virginian, for, as Jefferson wrote, “the whole commerce +between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous +passions, the most insulting despotism on the one part, and degrading +submissions on the other.” + +Augustine Washington’s will left to his son George “Ten negro Slaves,” +with an additional share of those “not herein particularly Devised,” +but all to remain in the possession of Mary Washington until the boy +was twenty-one years of age. With his taking possession of the Mount +Vernon estate in his twenty-second year eighteen more came under +Washington’s direction. In 1754 he bought a “fellow” for £40.5, another +(Jack) for £52.5, and a negro woman (Clio) for £50. In 1756 he +purchased of the governor a negro woman and child for £60, and two +years later a fellow (Gregory) for £60.9. In the following year (the +year of his marriage) he bought largely: a negro (Will) for £50; +another for £60; nine for £406, an average of £45; and a woman (Hannah) +and child, £80. In 1762 he added to the number by purchasing seven of +Lee Massey for £300 (an average of £43), and two of Colonel Fielding +Lewis at £115, or £57.10 apiece. From the estate of Francis Hobbs he +bought, in 1764, Ben, £72; Lewis, £36.10; and Sarah, £20. Another +fellow, bought of Sarah Alexander, cost him £76; and a negro (Judy) and +child, sold by Garvin Corbin, £63. In 1768 Mary Lee sold him two +mulattoes (Will and Frank) for £61.15 and £50, respectively; and two +boys (negroes), Adam and Frank, for £19 apiece. Five more were +purchased in 1772, and after that no more were bought. In 1760 +Washington paid tithes on forty-nine slaves, five years later on +seventy-eight, in 1770 on eighty-seven, and in 1774 on one hundred and +thirty-five; besides which must be included the “dower slaves” of his +wife. Soon after this there was an overplus, and Washington in 1778 +offered to barter for some land “Negroes, of whom I every day long more +to get clear of,” and even before this he had learned the economic fact +that except on the richest of soils slaves “only add to the Expence.” + +In 1791 he had one hundred and fifteen “hands” on the Mount Vernon +estate, besides house servants, and De Warville, describing his estate +in the same year, speaks of his having three hundred negroes. At this +time Washington declared that “I never mean (unless some particular +circumstance compel me to it) to possess another slave by purchase,” +but this intention was broken, for “The running off of my cook has been +a most inconvenient thing to this family, and what rendered it more +disagreeable, is that I had resolved never to become the Master of +another slave by purchase, but this resolution I fear I must break. I +have endeavored to hire, black or white, but am not yet supplied.” + +A few more slaves were taken in payment of a debt, but it was from +necessity rather than choice, for at this very time Washington had +decided that “it is demonstratively clear, that on this Estate (Mount +Vernon) I have more working negros by a full moiety, than can be +employed to any advantage in the farming system, and I shall never turn +Planter thereon. To sell the overplus I cannot, because I am principled +against this kind of traffic in the human species. To hire them out, is +almost as bad, because they could not be disposed of in families to any +advantage, and to disperse the families I have an aversion. What then +is to be done? Something must or I shall be ruined; for all the money +(in addition to what I raise by crops, and rents) that have been +_received_ for Lands, sold within the last four years, to the amount of +Fifty thousand dollars, has scarcely been able to keep me afloat.” And +writing of one set he said, “it would be for my interest to set them +free, rather than give them victuals and cloaths.” + +The loss by runaways was not apparently large. In October, 1760, his +ledger contains an item of seven shillings “To the Printing Office … +for Advertising a run-a-way Negro.” In 1761 he pays his clergyman, Rev. +Mr. Green, “for taking up one of my Runaway Negroes £4.” In 1766 +rewards are paid for the “taking upp” of “Negro Tom” and “Negro Bett.” +The “taking up of Harry when Runaway” in 1771 cost £1.16. When the +British invaded Virginia in 1781, a number escaped or were carried away +by the enemy. By the treaty of peace these should have been returned, +and their owner wrote, “Some of my own slaves, and those of Mr. Lund +Washington who lives at my house may probably be in New York, but I am +unable to give you their description—their names being so easily +changed, will be fruitless to give you. If by chance you should come at +the knowledge of any of them, I will be much obliged by your securing +them, so that I may obtain them again.” + +In 1796 a girl absconded to New England, and Washington made inquiries +of a friend as to the possibility of recovering her, adding, “however +well disposed I might be to a gradual abolition, or even to an entire +emancipation of that description of people (if the latter was in itself +practicable) at this moment, it would neither be politic nor just to +reward unfaithfulness with a premature preference, and thereby +discontent beforehand the minds of all her fellow servants, who, by +their steady attachment, are far more deserving than herself of favor,” +and at this time Washington wrote to a relative, “I am sorry to hear of +the loss of your servant; but it is my opinion these elopements will be +much more, before they are less frequent; and that the persons making +them should never be retained—if they are recovered, as they are sure +to contaminate and discontent others.” + +Another source of loss was sickness, which, in spite of all Washington +could do, made constant inroads on the numbers. A doctor to care for +them was engaged by the year, and in the contracts with his overseers +clauses were always inserted that each was “to take all necessary and +proper care of the Negroes committed to his management using them with +proper humanity and descretion,” or that “he will take all necessary +and proper care of the negroes committed to his management, treating +them with humanity and tenderness when sick, and preventing them when +well, from running about and visiting without his consent; as also +forbid strange negroes frequenting their quarters without lawful +excuses for so doing.” + +Furthermore, in writing to his manager, while absent from Mount Vernon, +Washington reiterated that “although it is last mentioned it is +foremost in my thoughts, to desire you will be particularly attentive +to my negros in their sickness; and to order every overseer +_positively_ to be so likewise; for I am sorry to observe that the +generality of them view these poor creatures in scarcely any other +light than they do a draught horse or ox; neglecting them as much when +they are unable to work; instead of comforting and nursing them when +they lye on a sick bed.” And in another letter he added, “When I +recommended care of, and attention to my negros in sickness, it was +that the first stage of, and the whole progress through the disorders +with which they might be seized (if more than a slight indisposition) +should be closely watched, and timely applications and remedies be +administered; especially in the pleurisies, and all inflammatory +disorders accompanied with pain, when a few days’ neglect, or want of +bleeding might render the ailment incurable. In such cases sweeten’d +teas, broths and (according to the nature of the complaint, and the +doctor’s prescription) sometimes a little wine, may be necessary to +nourish and restore the patient; and these I am perfectly willing to +allow, when it is requisite. My fear is, as I expressed to you in a +former letter, that the under overseers are so unfeeling, in short +viewing the negros in no other light than as a better kind of cattle, +the moment they cease to work, they cease their care of them.” + +At Mount Vernon his care for the slaves was more personal. At a time +when the small-pox was rife in Virginia he instructed his overseer +“what to do if the Small pox should come amongst them,” and when he +“received letters from Winchester, informing me that the Small pox had +got among my quarters in Frederick; [I] determin’d … to leave town as +soon as possible, and proceed up to them…. After taking the Doctors +directions in regard to my people … I set out for my quarters about 12 +oclock, time enough to go over them and found every thing in the utmost +confusion, disorder and backwardness…. Got Blankets and every other +requisite from Winchester, and settl’d things on the best footing I +cou’d, … Val Crawford agreeing if any of those at the upper quarter got +it, to have them remov’d into my room and the Nurse sent for.” + +Other sickness was equally attended to, as the following entries in his +diary show: “visited my Plantations and found two negroes sick … +ordered them to be blooded;” “found that lightening had struck my +quarters and near 10 Negroes in it, some very bad but with letting +blood they recover’d;” “ordered Lucy down to the House to be Physikd,” +and “found the new negro Cupid, ill of a pleurisy at Dogue Run Quarter +and had him brot home in a cart for better care of him…. Cupid +extremely Ill all this day and at night when I went to bed I thought +him within a few hours of breathing his last.” + +This matter of sickness, however, had another phase, which caused +Washington much irritation at times when he could not personally look +into the cases, but heard of them through the reports of his overseers. +Thus, he complained on one occasion, “I find by reports that Sam is, in +a manner, always returned sick; Doll at the Ferry, and several of the +spinners very frequently so, for a week at a stretch; and ditcher +Charles often laid up with lameness. I never wish my people to work +when they are really sick, or unfit for it; on the contrary, that all +necessary care should be taken of them when they are so; but if you do +not examine into their complaints, they will lay by when no more ails +them, than all those who stick to their business, and are not +complaining from the fatigue and drowsiness which they feel as the +effect of night walking and other practices which unfit them for the +duties of the day.” And again he asked, “Is there anything particular +in the cases of Ruth, Hannah and Pegg, that they have been returned +sick for several weeks together? Ruth I know is extremely deceitful; +she has been aiming for some time past to get into the house, exempt +from work; but if they are not made to do what their age and strength +will enable them, it will be a bad example for others—none of whom +would work if by pretexts they can avoid it” + +Other causes than running away and death depleted the stock. One negro +was taken by the State for some crime and executed, an allowance of +sixty-nine pounds being made to his master. In 1766 an unruly negro was +shipped to the West Indies (as was then the custom), Washington writing +the captain of the vessel,— + +“With this letter comes a negro (Tom) which I beg the favor of you to +sell in any of the islands you may go to, for whatever he will fetch, +and bring me in return for him + “One hhd of best molasses + “One ditto of best rum + “One barrel of lymes, if good and cheap + “One pot of tamarinds, containing about 10 lbs. + “Two small ditto of mixed sweetmeats, about 5 lbs. each. +And the residue, much or little, in good old spirits. That this fellow +is both a rogue and a runaway (tho’ he was by no means remarkable for +the former, and never practised the latter till of late) I shall not +pretend to deny. But that he is exceeding healthy, strong, and good at +the hoe, the whole neighborhood can testify, and particularly Mr. +Johnson and his son, who have both had him under them as foreman of the +gang; which gives me reason to hope he may with your good management +sell well, if kept clean and trim’d up a little when offered for sale.” + +Another “misbehaving fellow” was shipped off in 1791, and was sold for +“one pipe and Quarter Cask of wine from the West Indies.” Sometimes +only the threat of such riddance was used, as when an overseer +complained of one slave, and his master replied, “I am very sorry that +so likely a fellow as Matilda’s Ben should addict himself to such +courses as he is pursuing. If he should be guilty of any atrocious +crime, that would effect his life, he might be given up to the civil +authority for trial; but for such offences as most of his color are +guilty of, you had better try further correction, accompanied with +admonition and advice. The two latter sometimes succeed where the first +has failed. He, his father and mother (who I dare say are his +receivers) may be told in explicit language, that if a stop is not put +to his rogueries and other villainies, by fair means and shortly, that +I will ship him off (as I did Wagoner Jack) for the West Indies, where +he will have no opportunity of playing such pranks as he is at present +engaged in.” + +It is interesting to note, in connection with this conclusion, that +“admonition and advice” were able to do what “correction” sometimes +failed to achieve, that there is not a single order to whip, and that +the above case, and that which follows, are the only known cases where +punishment was approved. “The correction you gave Ben, for his assault +on Sambo, was just and proper. It is my earnest desire that quarrels +may be stopped or punishment of both parties follow, unless it shall +appear _clearly_, that one only is to blame, and the other forced into +[a quarrel] from self-defence.” In one other instance Washington wrote, +“If Isaac had his deserts he would receive a severe punishment for the +house, tools and seasoned stuff, which has been burned by his +carelessness.” But instead of ordering the “deserts” he continued, “I +wish you to inform him, that I sustain injury enough by their idleness; +they need not add to it by their carelessness.” + +This is the more remarkable, because his slaves gave him constant +annoyance by their wastefulness and sloth and dishonesty. Thus, “Paris +has grown to be so lazy and self-willed” that his master does not know +what to with him; “Doll at the Ferry must be taught to knit, and _made_ +to do a sufficient day’s work of it—otherwise (if suffered to be idle) +many more will walk in her steps”; “it is observed by the weekly +reports, that the sewers make only six shirts a week, and the last week +Carolina (without being sick) made only five. Mrs. Washington says +their usual task was to make nine with shoulder straps and good sewing. +Tell them therefore from me, that what _has_ been done, _shall_ be +done”; “none I think call louder for [attention] than the smiths, who, +from a variety of instances which fell within my own observation whilst +I was at home, I take to be two very idle fellows. A daily account +(which ought to be regularly) taken of their work, would alone go a +great way towards checking their idleness.” And the overseer was told +to watch closely “the people who are at work with the gardener, some of +whom I know to be as lazy and deceitful as any in the world (Sam +particularly).” + +Furthermore, the overseers were warned to “endeavor to make the +Servants and Negroes take care of their cloathes;” to give them “a +weekly allowance of Meat … because the annual one is not taken care of +but either profusely used or stolen”; and to note “the delivery to and +the application of nails by the carpenters,… [for] I cannot conceive +how it is possible that 6000 twelve penny nails could be used in the +corn house at River Plantation; but of one thing I have no great doubt, +and that is, if they can be applied to other uses, or converted into +cash, rum or other things there will be no scruple in doing it.” + +When robbed of some potatoes, Washington complained that “the deception +… is of a piece with other practices of a similar kind by which I have +suffered hitherto; and may serve to evince to you, in strong colors, +first how little confidence can be placed in any one round you; and +secondly the necessity of an accurate inspection into these things +yourself,—for to be plain, Alexandria is such a recepticle for every +thing that can be filched from the right owners, by either blacks or +whites; and I have such an opinion of my negros (two or three only +excepted), and not much better of some of the whites, that I am +perfectly sure not a single thing that can be disposed of at any price, +at that place, that will not, and is not stolen, where it is possible; +and carried thither to some of the underlying keepers, who support +themselves by this kind of traffick.” He dared not leave wine unlocked, +even for the use of his guests, “because the knowledge I have of my +servants is such, as to believe, that if opportunities are given them, +they will take off two glasses of wine for every one that is drank by +such visitors, and tell you they were used by them.” And when he had +some work to do requiring very ordinary qualities, he had to confess +that “I know not a negro among all mine, whose capacity, integrity and +attention could be relied on for such a trust as this.” + +Whatever his opinion of his slaves, Washington was a kind master. In +one case he wrote a letter for one of them when the “fellow” was parted +from his wife in the service of his master, and at another time he +enclosed letters to a wife and to James’s “del Toboso,” for two of his +servants, to save them postage. In reference to their rations he wrote, +“whether this addition … is sufficient, I will not undertake to +decide;—but in most explicit language I desire they may have plenty; +for I will not have my feelings hurt with complaints of this sort, nor +lye under the imputation of starving my negros, and thereby driving +them to the necessity of thieving to supply the deficiency. To prevent +waste or embezzlement is the only inducement to allowancing of them at +all—for if, instead of a peck they could eat a bushel of meal a week +fairly, and required it, I would not withhold or begrudge it them.” At +Christmas-time there are entries in his ledger for whiskey or rum for +“the negroes,” and towards the end of his life he ordered the overseer, +“although others are getting out of the practice of using spirits at +Harvest, yet, as my people have always been accustomed to it, a +hogshead of Rum must be purchased; but I request at the same time, that +it may be used sparingly.” + +A greater kindness of his was, in 1787, when he very much desired a +negro mason offered for sale, yet directed his agent that “if he has a +family, with which he is to be sold; or from whom he would reluctantly +part, I decline the purchase; his feelings I would not be the means of +hurting in the latter case, nor _at any rate_ be incumbered with the +former.” + +The kindness thus indicated bore fruit in a real attachment of the +slaves for their master. In Humphreys’s poem on Washington the poet +alluded to the negroes at Mount Vernon in the lines,— + +“Where that foul stain of manhood, slavery, flow’d +Through Afric’s sons transmitted in the blood; +Hereditary slaves his kindness shar’d, +For manumission by degrees prepar’d: +Return’d from war, I saw them round him press, +And all their speechless glee by artless signs express.” + + +And in a foot-note the writer added, “The interesting scene of his +return home, at which the author was present, is described exactly as +it existed.” + +A single one of these slaves deserves further notice. His body-servant +“Billy” was purchased by Washington in 1768 for sixty-eight pounds and +fifteen shillings, and was his constant companion during the war, even +riding after his master at reviews; and this servant was so associated +with the General that it was alleged in the preface to the “forged +letters” that they had been captured by the British from “Billy,” “an +old servant of General Washington’s.” When Savage painted his +well-known “family group,” this was the one slave included in the +picture. In 1784 Washington told his Philadelphia agent that “The +mulatto fellow, William, who has been with me all the war, is attached +(married he says) to one of his own color, a free woman, who during the +war, was also of my family. She has been in an infirm condition for +some time, and I had conceived that the connexion between them had +ceased; but I am mistaken it seems; they are both applying to get her +here, and tho’ I never wished to see her more, I cannot refuse his +request (if it can be complied with on reasonable terms) as he has +served me faithfully for many years. After premising this much, I have +to beg the favor of you to procure her a passage to Alexandria.” + + +[Illustration: SAVAGE’S PICTURE OF THE WASHINGTON FAMILY] + + +When acting as chain-bearer in 1785, while Washington was surveying a +tract of land, William fell and broke his knee-pan, “which put a stop +to my surveying; and with much difficulty I was able to get him to +Abington, being obliged to get a sled to carry him on, as he could +neither walk, stand or ride.” From this injury Lee never quite +recovered, yet he started to accompany his master to New York in 1789, +only to give out on the road. He was left at Philadelphia, and Lear +wrote to Washington’s agent that “The President will thank you to +propose it to Will to return to Mount Vernon when he can be removed for +he cannot be of any service here, and perhaps will require a person to +attend upon him constantly. If he should incline to return to Mount +Vernon, you will be so kind as to have him sent in the first Vessel +that sails for Alexandria after he can be moved with safety—but if he +is still anxious to come on here the President would gratify him, +altho’ he will be troublesome—He has been an old and faithful Servant, +this is enough for the President to gratify him in every reasonable +wish.” + +By his will Washington gave Lee his “immediate freedom or if he should +prefer it (on account of the accidents which have befallen him and +which have rendered him incapable of walking or of any active +employment) to remain in the situation he now is, it shall be optional +in him to do so— In either case however I allow him an annuity of +thirty dollars during his natural life which shall be independent of +the victuals and _cloaths_ he has been accustomed to receive; if he +_chuses_ the last alternative, but in full with his freedom, if he +prefers the first, and this I give him as a testimony of my sense of +his attachment to me and for his faithful services during the +Revolutionary War.” + +Two small incidents connected with Washington’s last illness are worth +noting. The afternoon before the night he was taken ill, although he +had himself been superintending his affairs on horseback in the storm +most of the day, yet when his secretary “carried some letters to him to +frank, intending to send them to the Post Office in the evening,” Lear +tells us “he franked the letters; but said the weather was too bad to +send a servant up to the office that evening.” Lear continues, “The +General’s servant, Christopher, attended his bed side & in the room, +when he was sitting up, through his whole illness…. In the [last] +afternoon the General observing that Christopher had been standing by +his bed side for a long time—made a motion for him to sit in a chair +which stood by the bed side.” + +A clause in Washington’s will directed that + +“Upon the decease of my wife it is my will and desire that all the +slaves which I hold in _my own right_ shall receive their freedom—To +emancipate them during her life, would, tho’ earnestly wished by me, be +attended with such insuperable difficulties, on account of their +intermixture of marriages with the Dower negroes as to excite the most +painful sensations—if not disagreeable consequences from the latter, +while both descriptions are in the occupancy of the same proprietor, it +not being in my power under the tenure by which the dower Negroes are +held to manumit them—And whereas among those who will receive freedom +according to this devise there may be some who from old age, or bodily +infirmities & others who on account of their infancy, that will be +unable to support themselves, it is my will and desire that all who +come under the first and second description shall be comfortably +cloathed and fed by my heirs while they live and that such of the +latter description as have no parents living, or if living are unable +or unwilling to provide for them, shall be bound by the Court until +they shall arrive at the age of twenty five years…. The negroes thus +bound are (by their masters and mistresses) to be taught to read and +write and to be brought up to some useful occupation.” + +In this connection Washington’s sentiments on slavery as an institution +may be glanced at. As early as 1784 he replied to Lafayette, when told +of a colonizing plan, “The scheme, my dear Marqs., which you propose as +a precedent to encourage the emancipation of the black people of this +Country from that state of Bondage in wch. they are held, is a striking +evidence of the benevolence of your Heart. I shall be happy to join you +in so laudable a work; but will defer going into a detail of the +business, till I have the pleasure of seeing you.” A year later, when +Francis Asbury was spending a day in Mount Vernon, the clergyman asked +his host if he thought it wise to sign a petition for the emancipation +of slaves. Washington replied that it would not be proper for him, but +added, “If the Maryland Assembly discusses the matter; I will address a +letter to that body on the subject, as I have always approved of it.” + +When South Carolina refused to pass an act to end the slave-trade, he +wrote to a friend in that State, “I must say that I lament the decision +of your legislature upon the question of importing slaves after March +1793. I was in hopes that motives of policy as well as other good +reasons, supported by the direful effects of slavery, which at this +moment are presented, would have operated to produce a total +prohibition of the importation of slaves, whenever the question came to +be agitated in any State, that might be interested in the measure.” For +his own State he expressed the “wish from my soul that the Legislature +of this State could see the policy of a gradual Abolition of Slavery; +it would prev’t much future mischief.” And to a Pennsylvanian he +expressed the sentiment, “I hope it will not be conceived from these +observations, that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people, who are +the subject of this letter, in slavery. I can only say, that there is +not a man living, who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan +adopted for the abolition of it; but there is only one proper and +effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is by +legislative authority; and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall +never be wanting.” + +Washington by no means restricted himself to slave servitors. Early in +life he took into his service John Alton at thirteen pounds per annum, +and this white man served as his body-servant in the Braddock campaign, +and Washington found in the march that “A most serious inconvenience +attended me in my sickness, and that was the losing the use of my +servant, for poor John Alton was taken about the same time that I was, +and with nearly the same disorder, and was confined as long; so that we +did not see each other for several days.” As elsewhere noticed, +Washington succeeded to the services of Braddock’s body-servant, Thomas +Bishop, on the death of the general, paying the man ten pounds a year. + +These two were his servants in his trip to Boston in 1756, and in +preparation for that journey Washington ordered his English agent to +send him “2 complete livery suits for servants; with a spare cloak and +all other necessary trimmings for two suits more. I would have you +choose the livery by our arms, only as the field of the arms is white, +I think the clothes had better not be quite so, but nearly like the +inclosed. The trimmings and facings of scarlet, and a scarlet waist +coat. If livery lace is not quite disused, I should be glad to have the +cloaks laced. I like that fashion best, and two silver laced hats for +the above servants.” + +For some reason Bishop left his employment, but in 1760 Washington +“wrote to my old servant Bishop to return to me again if he was not +otherwise engaged,” and, the man being “very desirous of returning,” +the old relation was reassumed. Alton in the mean time had been +promoted to be overseer of one of the plantations. In 1785 their master +noted in his diary, “Last night Jno Alton an Overseer of mine in the +Neck—an old & faithful Servant who has lived with me 30 odd years +died—and this evening the wife of Thos. Bishop, another old Servant who +had lived with me an equal number of years also died.” Both were +remembered in his will by a clause giving “To Sarah Green daughter of +the deceased Thomas Bishop, and to Ann Walker, daughter of John Alton, +also deceased I give each one hundred dollars, in consideration of the +attachment of their father[s] to me, each of whom having lived nearly +forty years in my family.” + +Of Washington’s general treatment of the serving class a few facts can +be gleaned. He told one of his overseers, in reference to the +sub-overseers, that “to treat them civilly is no more than what all men +are entitled to, but my advice to you is, to keep them at a proper +distance; for they will grow upon familiarity, in proportion as you +will sink in authority if you do not.” To a housekeeper he promised “a +warm, decent and comfortable room to herself, to lodge in, and will eat +of the victuals of our Table, but not set at it, or at any time _with +us_ be her appearance what it may; for if this was _once admitted_ no +line satisfactory to either party, perhaps could be drawn thereafter.” + +In visiting he feed liberally, good examples of which are given in the +cash account of the visit to Boston in 1756, when he “Gave to Servants +on ye Road 10/.” “By Cash Mr. Malbones servants £4.0.0.” “The +Chambermaid £1.2.6.” When the wife of his old steward, Fraunces, came +to need, he gave her “for Charity £1.17.6.” The majority will +sympathize rather than disapprove of his opinion when he wrote, +“Workmen in most Countries I believe are necessary plagues;—-in this +where entreaties as well as money must be used to obtain their work and +keep them to their duty they baffle all calculation in the +accomplishment of any plan or repairs they are engaged in;—and require +more attention to and looking after than can be well conceived.” + +The overseers of his many plantations, and his “master” carpenters, +millers, and gardeners, were quite as great trials as his slaves. First +“young Stephens” gave him much trouble, which his diary reports in a +number of sententious entries: “visited my Plantation. Severely +reprimanded young Stephens for his Indolence, and his father for +suffering it;” “forbid Stephens keeping any horses upon my expence;” +“visited my quarters & ye Mill, according to custom found young +Stephens absent;” “visited my Plantation and found to my great surprise +Stephens constantly at work;” “rid out to my Plantn. and to my +Carpenters. Found Richard Stephens hard at work with an ax—Very +extraordinary this!” + +Again he records, “Visited my Plantations—found Foster had been absent +from his charge since the 28th ulto. Left orders for him to come +immediately to me upon his return, and repremanded him severely.” Of +another, Simpson, “I never hear … without a degree of warmth & vexation +at his extreme stupidity,” and elsewhere he expresses his disgust at +“that confounded fellow Simpson.” A third spent all the fall and half +the winter in getting in his crop, and “if there was any way of making +such a rascal as Garner pay for such conduct, no punishment would be +too great for him. I suppose he never turned out of mornings until the +sun had warmed the earth, and if _he_ did not, the _negros_ would not.” +His chief overseer was directed to “Let Mr. Crow know that I view with +a very evil eye the frequent reports made by him of sheep dying;… +frequent _natural deaths_ is a very strong evidence to my mind of the +want of care or something worse.” + +Curious distinctions were made oftentimes. Thus, in the contract with +an overseer, one clause was inserted to the effect, “And whereas there +are a number of whiskey stills very contiguous to the said Plantations, +and many idle, drunken and dissolute People continually resorting to +the same, priding themselves in debauching sober and well-inclined +Persons, the said Edd Voilett doth promise as well for his own sake as +his employers to avoid them as he ought.” To the contrary, in hiring a +gardener, it was agreed as part of the compensation that the man should +have “four dollars at Christmas, with which he may be drunk for four +days and four nights; two dollars at Easter to effect the same purpose; +two dollars at Whitsuntide to be drunk for two days; a dram in the +morning, and a drink of grog at dinner at noon.” + +With more true kindness Washington wrote to one of his underlings, “I +was very glad to receive your letter of the 31st ultimo, because I was +afraid, from the accounts given me of your spitting blood,… that you +would hardly have been able to have written at all. And it is my +request that you will not, by attempting more than you are able to +undergo, with safety and convenience, injure yourself, and thereby +render me a disservice…. I had rather therefore hear that you had +nursed than exposed yourself. And the things which I sent from this +place (I mean the wine, tea, coffee and sugar) and such other matters +as you may lay in by the doctor’s direction for the use of the sick, I +desire you will make use of as your own personal occasions may +require.” + +Of one Butler he had employed to overlook his gardeners, but who proved +hopelessly unfit, Washington said, “sure I am, there is no obligation +upon me to retain him from charitable motives; when he ought rather to +be punished as an imposter: for he well knew the services he had to +perform, and which he promised to fulfil with zeal, activity, and +intelligence.” Yet when the man was discharged his employer gave him a +“character:” “If his activity, spirit, and ability in the management of +Negroes, were equal to his honesty, sobriety and industry, there would +not be the least occasion for a change,” and Butler was paid his full +wages, no deduction being made for lost time, “as I can better afford +to be without the money than he can.” + +Another thoroughly incompetent man was one employed to take charge of +the negro carpenters, of whom his employer wrote, “I am apprehensive … +that Green never will overcome his propensity to drink; that it is this +which occasions his frequent sickness, absences from work and poverty. +And I am convinced, moreover, that it answers no purpose to admonish +him.” Yet, though “I am so well satisfied of Thomas Green’s unfitness +to look after Carpenters,” for a time “the helpless situation in which +you find his family, has prevailed on me to retain him,” and when he +finally had to be discharged for drinking, Washington said, “Nothing +but compassion for his helpless family, has hitherto induced me to keep +him a moment in my service (so bad is the example he sets); but if he +has no regard for them himself, it is not to be expected that I am to +be a continual sufferer on this account for his misconduct.” His +successor needed the house the family lived in, but Washington could +not “bear the thought of adding to the distress I know they must be in, +by turning them adrift;… It would be better therefore on all accounts +if they were removed to some other place, even if I was to pay the +rent, provided it was low, or make some allowance towards it.” + +To many others, besides family, friends, and employees, Washington was +charitable. From an early date his ledger contains frequent items +covering gifts to the needy. To mention a tenth of them would take too +much space, but a few typical entries are worth quoting: + +“By Cash gave a Soldiers wife 5/;” “To a crippled man 5/;” “Gave a man +who had his House Burnt £1.;” “By a begging woman /5;” “By Cash gave +for the Sufferers at Boston by fire £12;” “By a wounded soldier 10/;” +“Alexandria Academy, support of a teacher of Orphan children £50;” “By +Charity to an invalid wounded Soldier who came from Redston with a +petition for Charity 18/;” “Gave a poor man by the President’s order +$2;” “Delivd to the President to send to two distress’d french women at +Newcastle $25;” “Gave Pothe a poor old man by the President’s order +$2;” “Gave a poor sailor by the Presdt order $1;” “Gave a poor blind +man by the Presdt order $1.50;” “By Madame de Seguer a french Lady in +distress gave her $50;” “By Subscription paid to Mr. Jas. Blythe +towards erecting and Supporting an Academy in the State of Kentucky +$100;” “By Subscription towards an Academy in the South Western +Territory $100;” “By Charity sent Genl Charles Pinckney in Columbus +Bank Notes, for the sufferers by the fire in Charleston So. Carolina +$300;” “By Charity gave to the sufferers by fire in Geo. Town $10;” “By +an annual Donation to the Academy at Alexandria pd. Dr. Cook $166.67;” +“By Charity to the poor of Alexandria deld. to the revd. Dr. Muir +$100.” + +To an overseer he said, concerning a distant relative, “Mrs. Haney +should endeavor to do what she can for herself—this is a duty incumbent +on every one; but you must not let her suffer, as she has thrown +herself upon me; your advances on this account will be allowed always, +at settlement; and I agree readily to furnish her with provisions, and +for the good character you give of her daughter make the latter a +present in my name of a handsome but not costly gown, and other things +which she may stand most in need of. You may charge me also with the +worth of your tenement in which she is placed, and where perhaps it is +better she should be than at a great distance from your attentions to +her.” + +After the terrible attack of fever in Philadelphia in 1793, Washington +wrote to a clergyman of that city,— + +“It has been my intention ever since my return to the city, to +contribute my mite towards the relief of the _most_ needy inhabitants +of it. The pressure of public business hitherto has suspended, but not +altered my resolution. I am at a loss, however, for whose benefit to +apply the little I can give, and in whose hands to place it; whether +for the use of the fatherless children and widows, made so by the late +calamity, who may find it difficult, whilst provisions, wood, and other +necessaries are so dear, to support themselves; or to other and better +purposes, if any, I know not, and therefore have taken the liberty of +asking your advice. I persuade myself justice will be done to my +motives for giving you this trouble. To obtain information, and to +render the little I can afford, without ostentation or mention of my +name, are the sole objects of these inquiries. With great and sincere +esteem and regard, I am, &c.” + +His adopted grandson he advised to “never let an indigent person ask, +without receiving _something_ if you have the means; always +recollecting in what light the widow’s mite was viewed.” And when he +took command of the army in 1775, the relative who took charge of his +affairs was told to “let the hospitality of the house, with respect to +the poor, be kept up. Let no one go hungry away. If any of this kind of +people should be in want of corn, supply their necessities, provided it +does not encourage them in idleness; and I have no objection to your +giving my money in charity, to the amount of forty or fifty pounds a +year, when you think it well bestowed. What I mean by having no +objection is, that it is my desire that it should be done. You are to +consider, that neither myself nor wife is now in the way to do these +good offices.” + + + + +VII +SOCIAL LIFE + + +There can be no doubt that Washington, like the Virginian of his time, +was pre-eminently social. It is true that late in life he complained, +as already quoted, that his home had become a “well resorted tavern,” +and that at his own table “I rarely miss seeing strange faces, come as +they say out of respect for me. Pray, would not the word curiosity +answer as well?” but even in writing this he added, “how different this +from having a few social friends at a cheerful board!” When a surveyor +he said that the greatest pleasure he could have would be to hear from +or be with “my Intimate friends and acquaintances;” to one he wrote, “I +hope you in particular will not Bauk me of what I so ardently wish +for,” and he groaned over being “amongst a parcel of barbarians.” While +in the Virginia regiment he complained of a system of rations which +“deprived me of the pleasure of inviting an officer or friend, which to +me would be more agreeable, than nick-nacks I shall meet with,” and +when he was once refused leave of absence by the governor, he replied +bitterly, “it was not to enjoy a party of pleasure I wanted a leave of +absence; I have been indulged with few of these, winter or summer!” At +Mount Vernon, if a day was spent without company the fact was almost +always noted in his diary, and in a visit, too, he noted that he had “a +very lonesome Evening at Colo Champe’s, not any Body favoring us with +their Company but himself.” + +The plantation system which prevented town life and put long distances +between neighbors developed two forms of society. One of these was +house parties, and probably nowhere else in the world was that form of +hospitality so unstinted as in this colony. Any one of a certain social +standing was privileged, even welcomed, to ride up to the seat of a +planter, dismount, and thus become a guest, ceasing to be such only +when he himself chose. Sometimes one family would go _en masse_ many +miles to stay a week with friends, and when they set out to return +their hosts would journey with them and in turn become guests for a +week. The second form of social life was called clubs. At all the +cross-roads and court-houses there sprang up taverns or ordinaries, and +in these the men of a neighborhood would gather, and over a bowl of +punch or a bottle of wine, the expense of which they “clubbed” to +share, would spend their evenings. + +Into this life Washington entered eagerly. As a mere lad his ledger +records expenditures: “By a club in Arrack at Mr. Gordon’s 2/6;” “Club +of a bottle of Rhenish at Mitchells 1/3;” “To part of the club at Port +Royal 1/;” “To Cash in part for a Bowl of fruit punch 1/7-1/2.” So, +too, he was a visitor at this time at some of the great Virginian +houses, as elsewhere noted. When he came into possession of Mount +Vernon he offered the same unstinted welcome that he had met with, and +even as a bachelor he writes of his “having much company,” and again of +being occupied with “a good deal of Company.” In two months of 1768 +Washington had company to dinner, or to spend the night, on twenty-nine +days, and dined or visited away from home on seven; and this is +typical. + +Whenever, too, trips were made to Williamsburg, Annapolis, +Philadelphia, or elsewhere, it was a rare occurrence when the various +stages of the journey were not spent with friends, and in those cities +he was dined and wined to a surfeit. + +During the Revolution all of Washington’s aides and his secretary lived +with him at head-quarters, and constituted what he always called “my +family.” In addition, many others sat down at table,—those who came on +business from a distance, as well as bidden guests,—-which frequently +included ladies from the neighborhood, who must have been belles among +the sixteen to twenty men who customarily sat down to dinner. “If … +convenient and agreeable to you to take pot luck with me to-day,” the +General wrote John Adams in 1776, “I shall be glad of your company.” +Pot luck it was for commander-in-chief and staff. Mention has been made +of how sometimes Washington slept on the ground, and even when under +cover there was not occasionally much more comfort. Pickering relates +that one night was passed in “Headquarters at Galloway’s, an old log +house. The General lodged in a bed, and his family on the floor about +him. We had plenty of sepawn and milk, and all were contented.” + +Oftentimes there were difficulties in the hospitality. “I have been at +my prest. quarters since the 1st day of Decr.,” Washington complained +to the commissary-general, “and have not a Kitchen to cook a Dinner in, +altho’ the Logs have been put together some considerable time by my own +Guard. Nor is there a place at this moment in which a servant can +lodge, with the smallest degree of comfort. Eighteen belonging to my +family, and all Mrs. Ford’s, are crowded together in her Kitchen, and +scarce one of them able to speak for the cold they have caught.” +Pickering, in telling how he tried to secure lodgings away from +head-quarters, gave for his reasons that “they are exceedingly pinched +for room…. Had I conceived how much satisfaction, quiet and even +leisure, I should have enjoyed at separate quarters, I would have taken +them six months ago. For at head-quarters there is a continual throng, +and my room, in particular, (when I was happy enough to get one,) was +always crowded by all that came to headquarters on business, because +there was no other for them, we having, for the most part, been in such +small houses.” + +There were other difficulties. “I cannot get as much cloth,” the +general wrote, “as will make cloaths for my servants, notwithstanding +one of them that attends my person and table is indecently and most +shamefully naked.” One of his aides said to a correspondent, jocularly, +“I take your Caution to me in Regard to my Health very kindly, but I +assure you, you need be under no Apprehension of my losing it on the +Score of Excess of living, that Vice is banished from this Army and the +General’s Family in particular. We never sup, but go to bed and are +early up.” “Only conceive,” Washington complained to Congress, “the +mortification they (even the general officers) must suffer, when they +cannot invite a French officer, a visiting friend, or a travelling +acquaintance, to a better repast, than stinking whiskey (and not always +that) and a bit of Beef without vegetables.” + +At times, too, it was necessary to be an exemplar. “Our truly +republican general,” said Laurens, “has declared to his officers that +he will set the example of passing the winter in a hut himself,” and +John Adams, in a time of famine, declared that “General Washington sets +a fine example. He has banished wine from his table, and entertains his +friends with rum and water.” + +Whenever it was possible, however, there was company at head-quarters. +“Since the General left Germantown in the middle of September last,” +the General Orders once read, “he has been without his baggage, and on +that account is unable to receive company in the manner he could wish. +He nevertheless desires the Generals, Field Officers and Brigades Major +of the day, to dine with him in future, at three o’clock in the +afternoon.” Again the same vehicle informed the army that “the hurry of +business often preventing particular invitations being given to +officers to dine with the General; He presents his compliments to the +Brigadiers and Field Officers of the day, and requests while the Camp +continues settled in the City, they will favor him with their company +to dinner, without further or special invitation.” + +Mrs. Drinker, who went with a committee of women to camp at Valley +Forge, has left a brief description of head-quarters hospitality: +“Dinner was served, to which he invited us. There were 15 Officers, +besides ye Gl. and his wife, Gen. Greene, and Gen. Lee. We had an +elegant dinner, which was soon over, when we went out with ye Genls +wife, up to her Chamber—and saw no more of him.” Claude Blanchard, too, +describes a dinner, at which “there was twenty-five covers used by some +officers of the army and a lady to whom the house belonged in which the +general lodged. We dined under the tent. I was placed along side of the +general. One of his aides-de-camp did the honors. The table was served +in the American style and pretty abundantly; vegetables, roast beef, +lamb, chickens, salad dressed with nothing but vinegar, green peas, +puddings, and some pie, a kind of tart, greatly in use in England and +among the Americans, all this being put upon the table at the same +time. They gave us on the same plate beef, green peas, lamb, &c.” + +Nor was the ménage of the General unequal to unexpected calls. +Chastellux tells of his first arrival in camp and introduction to +Washington: “He conducted me to his house, where I found the company +still at table, although the dinner had been long over. He presented me +to the Generals Knox, Waine, Howe, &c. and to his _family_, then +composed of Colonels Hamilton and Tilgman, his Secretaries and his +Aides de Camp, and of Major Gibbs, commander of his guards; for in +England and America, the Aides de Camp, Adjutants and other officers +attached to the General, form what is called his _family_. A fresh +dinner was prepared for me and mine; and the present was prolonged to +keep me company.” “At nine,” he elsewhere writes, “supper was served, +and when the hour of bed-time came, I found that the chamber, to which +the General conducted me was the very parlour I speak of, wherein he +had made them place a camp-bed.” Of his hospitality Washington himself +wrote,— + +“I have asked Mrs. Cochran & Mrs. Livingston to dine with me to-morrow; +but am I not in honor bound to apprize them of their fate? As I hate +deception, even where the imagination only is concerned; I will. It is +needless to premise, that my table is large enough to hold the ladies. +Of this they had ocular proof yesterday. To say how it is usually +covered, is rather more essential; and this shall be the purport of my +Letter. + +“Since our arrival at this happy spot, we have had a ham, (sometimes a +shoulder) of Bacon, to grace the head of the Table; a piece of roast +Beef adorns the foot; a dish of beans, or greens, (almost +imperceptible,) decorates the center. When the cook has a mind to cut a +figure, (which, I presume will be the case to-morrow) we have two +Beef-steak pyes, or dishes of crabs, in addition, one on each side of +the center dish, dividing the space & reducing the distance between +dish & dish to about 6 feet, which without them would be near 12 feet +apart. Of late he has had the surprising sagacity to discover, that +apples will make pyes; and its a question, if, in the violence of his +efforts, we do not get one of apples, instead of having both of +Beef-steaks. If the ladies can put up with such entertainment, and will +submit to partake of it in plates, once Tin but now Iron—(not become so +by the labor of scouring), I shall be happy to see them.” + +Dinners were not the only form of entertaining. In Cambridge, when Mrs. +Washington and Mrs. Jack Custis were at head-quarters, a reception was +held on the anniversary of Washington’s marriage, and at other times +when there was anything to celebrate,—the capitulation of Burgoyne, the +alliance with France, the birth of a dauphin, etc.,—parades, balls, +receptions, “feux-de-joie,” or cold collations were given. Perhaps the +most ambitious attempt was a dinner given on September 21, 1782, in a +large tent, to which ninety sat down, while a “band of American music” +added to the “gaiety of the company.” + +Whenever occasion called the General to attend on Congress there was +much junketing. “My time,” he wrote, “during my winter’s residence in +Philadelphia, was unusually (for me) divided between parties of +pleasure and parties of business.” When Reed pressed him to pass the +period of winter quarters in visiting him in Philadelphia, he replied, +“were I to give in to private conveniency and amusement, I should not +be able to resist the invitation of my friends to make Philadelphia, +instead of a squeezed up room or two, my quarters for the winter.” + +While President, a more elaborate hospitality was maintained. Both in +New York and Philadelphia the best houses procurable were rented as the +Presidential home,—for Washington “wholly declined living in any public +building,”—and a steward and fourteen lower servants attended to all +details, though a watchful supervision was kept by the President over +them, and in the midst of his public duties he found time to keep a +minute account of the daily use of all supplies, with their cost. His +payments to his stewards for mere servants’ wages and food (exclusive +of wine) were over six hundred dollars a month, and there can be little +doubt that Washington, who had no expense paid by the public, more than +spent his salary during his term of office. + +It was the President’s custom to give a public dinner once a week “to +as many as my table will hold,” and there was also a bi-weekly levee, +to which any one might come, as well as evening receptions by Mrs. +Washington, which were more distinctly social and far more exclusive. +Ashbel Green states that “Washington’s dining parties were entertained +in a very handsome style. His weekly dining day for company was +Thursday, and his dining hour was always four o’clock in the afternoon. +His rule was to allow five minutes for the variations of clocks and +watches, and then go to the table, be present or absent, whoever might. +He kept his own clock in the hall, just within the outward door, and +always exactly regulated. When lagging members of Congress came in, as +they often did, after the guests had sat down to dinner, the +president’s only apology was, ‘Gentlemen (or sir) we are too punctual +for you. I have a cook who never asks whether the company has come, but +whether the hour has come.’ The company usually assembled in the +drawing-room, about fifteen or twenty minutes before dinner, and the +president spoke to every guest personally on entering the room.” + +Maclay attended several of the dinners, and has left descriptions of +them. “Dined this day with the President,” he writes. “It was a great +dinner— all in the tastes of high life. I considered it as a part of my +duty as a Senator to submit to it, and am glad it is over. The +President is a cold, formal man; but I must declare that he treated me +with great attention. I was the first person with whom he drank a glass +of wine. I was often spoken to by him.” Again he says,— + +“At dinner, after my second plate had been taken away, the President +offered to help me to part of a dish which stood before him. Was ever +anything so unlucky? I had just before declined being helped to +anything more, with some expression that denoted my having made up my +dinner. Had, of course, for the sake of consistency, to thank him +negatively, but when the dessert came, and he was distributing a +pudding, he gave me a look of interrogation, and I returned the thanks +positive. He soon after asked me to drink a glass of wine with him.” On +another occasion he “went to the President’s to dinner…. The President +and Mrs. Washington sat opposite each other in the middle of the table; +the two secretaries, one at each end. It was a great dinner, and the +best of the kind I ever was at. The room, however, was disagreeably +warm. First the soup; fish roasted and boiled; meats, sammon, fowls, +etc…. The middle of the table was garnished in the usual tasty way, +with small images, flowers, (artificial), etc. The dessert was, apple +pies, pudding, etc.; then iced creams, jellies, etc.; then +water-melons, musk-melons, apples, peaches, nuts. It was the most +solemn dinner I ever was at. Not a health drank; scarce a word was said +until the cloth was taken away. Then the President filling a glass of +wine, with great formality drank to the health of every individual by +name round the table. Everybody imitated him, charged glasses, and such +a buzz of ‘health, sir,’ and ‘health, madam,’ and ‘thank you, sir,’ and +‘thank you, madam,’ never had I heard before…. The ladies sat a good +while, and the bottles passed about; but there was a dead silence +almost. Mrs. Washington at last withdrew with the ladies. I expected +the men would now begin, but the same stillness remained. The President +told of a New England clergyman who had lost a hat and wig in passing a +river called the Brunks. He smiled, and everybody else laughed. He now +and then said a sentence or two on some common subject, and what he +said was not amiss…. The President … played with the fork, striking on +the edge of the table with it. We did not sit long after the ladies +retired. The President rose, went up-stairs to drink coffee; the +company followed.” + + +[Illustration: PRESIDENTIAL DINNER INVITATION] + + +Bradbury gives the menu of a dinner at which he was, where “there was +an elegant variety of roast beef, veal, turkey, ducks, fowls, hams, +&c.; puddings, jellies, oranges, apples, nuts, almonds, figs, raisins, +and a variety of wines and punch. We took our leave at six, more than +an hour after the candles were introduced. No lady but Mrs. Washington +dined with us. We were waited on by four or five men servants dressed +in livery.” At the last official dinner the President gave, Bishop +White was present, and relates that “to this dinner as many were +invited as could be accommodated at the President’s table…. Much +hilarity prevailed; but on the removal of the cloth it was put an end +to by the President—certainly without design. Having filled his glass, +he addressed the company, with a smile on his countenance, saying: +‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last time I shall drink your health, +as a public man. I do it with sincerity, and wishing you all possible +happiness.’ There was an end of all pleasantry.” + +A glance at Mrs. Washington’s receptions has been given, but the levees +of the President remain to be described. William Sullivan, who attended +many, wrote,— + +“At three o’clock or at any time within a quarter of an hour afterward, +the visitor was conducted to this dining room, from which all seats had +been removed for the time. On entering, he saw” Washington, who “stood +always in front of the fire-place, with his face towards the door of +entrance. The visitor was conducted to him, and he required to have the +name so distinctly pronounced that he could hear it. He had the very +uncommon faculty of associating a man’s name, and personal appearance, +so durably in his memory, as to be able to call one by name, who made +him a second visit. He received his visitor with a dignified bow, while +his hands were so disposed of as to indicate, that the salutation was +not to be accompanied with shaking hands. This ceremony never occurred +in these visits, even with his most near friends, that no distinction +might be made. As visitors came in, they formed a circle round the +room. At a quarter past three, the door was closed, and the circle was +formed for that day. He then began on the right, and spoke to each +visitor, calling him by name, and exchanging a few words with him. When +he had completed his circuit, he resumed his first position, and the +visitors approached him in succession, bowed and retired. By four +o’clock the ceremony was over.” + +The ceremony of the dinners and levees and the liveried servants were +favorite impeachments of the President among the early Democrats before +they had better material, and Washington was charged with trying to +constitute a court, and with conducting himself like a king. Even his +bow was a source of criticism, and Washington wrote in no little +irritation in regard to this, “that I have not been able to make bows +to the taste of poor Colonel Bland, (who, by the by, I believe, never +saw one of them), is to be regretted, especially too, as (upon those +occasions), they were indiscriminately bestowed, and the best I was +master of, would it not have been better to throw the veil of charity +over them, ascribing their stiffness to the effects of age, or to the +unskillfulness of my teacher, than to pride and dignity of office, +which God knows has no charms for me? For I can truly say, I had rather +be at Mount Vernon with a friend or two about me, than to be attended +at the seat of government by the officers of state, and the +representatives of every power in Europe.” + +There can be no doubt that Washington hated ceremony as much as the +Democrats, and yielded to it only from his sense of fitness and the +opinions of those about him. Jefferson and Madison both relate how such +unnecessary form was used at the first levee by the master of +ceremonies as to make it ridiculous, and Washington, appreciating this, +is quoted as saying to the amateur chamberlain, “Well, you have taken +me in once, but, by God, you shall never take me in a second time.” His +secretary, in writing to secure lodgings in Philadelphia, when the +President and family were on their way to Mount Vernon, said, “I must +repeat, what I observed in a former letter, that as little ceremony & +parade may be made as possible, for the President wishes to command his +own time, which these things always forbid in a greater or less degree, +and they are to him fatiguing and oftentimes painful. He wishes not to +exclude himself from the sight or conversation of his fellow citizens, +but their eagerness to show their affection frequently imposes a heavy +tax on him.” + +This was still further shown in his diary of his tours through New +England and the Southern States. Nothing would do but for Boston to +receive him with troops, etc., and Washington noted, “finding this +ceremony not to be avoided, though I had made every effort to do it, I +named the hour.” In leaving Portsmouth he went “quietly, and without +any attendance, having earnestly entreated that all parade and ceremony +might be avoided on my return.” When travelling through North Carolina, +“a small party of horse under one Simpson met us at Greenville, and in +spite of every endeavor which could comport with decent civility, to +excuse myself from it, they would attend me to Newburn.” + +During the few years that Washington was at Mount Vernon subsequent to +the Revolution, the same unbounded hospitality was dispensed as in +earlier times, while a far greater demand was made upon it, and one so +variegated that at times the host was not a little embarrassed. Thus he +notes that “a Gentleman calling himself the Count de Cheiza D’Artigan +Officer of the French Guards came here to dinner; but bringing no +letters of introduction, nor any authentic testimonials of his being +either; I was at a loss how to receive or treat him,—he stayed to +dinner and the evening,” and the next day departed in Washington’s +carriage to Alexandria. “A farmer came here to see,” he says, “my drill +plow, and staid all night.” In another instance he records that a woman +whose “name was unknown to me dined here.” Only once were visitors +frowned on, and this was when a British marauding party came to Mount +Vernon during the Revolution. Even they, in Washington’s absence, were +entertained by his overseer, but his master wrote him, on hearing of +this, “I am little sorry of my own [loss]; but that which gives me most +concern is, that you should go on board the enemy’s vessels and furnish +them with refreshments. It would have been a less painful circumstance +to me to have heard, that in consequence of your non-compliance with +their request, they had burnt my House and laid the plantation in +ruins. You ought to have considered yourself as my representative, and +should have reflected on the bad example of communicating with the +enemy, and making a voluntary offer of refreshments to them with a view +to prevent a conflagration.” + +The hospitality at Mount Vernon was perfectly simple. A traveller +relates that he was taken there by a friend, and, as Washington was +“viewing his laborers,” we “were desired to tarry.” “When the President +returned he received us very politely. Dr. Croker introduced me to him +as a gentleman from Massachusetts who wished to see the country and pay +his respects. He thanked us, desired us to be seated, and to excuse him +a few moments…. The President came and desired us to walk in to dinner +and directed us where to sit, (no grace was said)…. The dinner was very +good, a small roasted pigg, boiled leg of lamb, roasted fowles, beef, +peas, lettice, cucumbers, artichokes, etc., puddings, tarts, etc., etc. +We were desired to call for what drink we chose. He took a glass of +wine with Mrs. Law first, which example was followed by Dr. Croker and +Mrs. Washington, myself and Mrs. Peters, Mr. Fayette and the young lady +whose name is Custis. When the cloth was taken away the President gave +‘All our Friends,’” + +Another visitor tells that he was received by Washington, and, “after … +half an hour, the General came in again, with his hair neatly powdered, +a clean shirt on, a new plain drab coat, white waistcoat and white silk +stockings. At three, dinner was on the table, and we were shown by the +General into another room, where everything was set off with a peculiar +taste and at the same time neat and plain. The General sent the bottle +about pretty freely after dinner, and gave success to the navigation of +the Potomac for his toasts, which he has very much at heart…. After Tea +General Washington retired to his study and left us with the … rest of +the Company. If he had not been anxious to hear the news of Congress +from Mr. Lee, most probably he would not have returned to supper, but +gone to bed at his usual hour, nine o’clock, for he seldom makes any +ceremony. We had a very elegant supper about that time. The General +with a few glasses of champagne got quite merry, and being with his +intimate friends laughed and talked a good deal. Before strangers he is +very reserved, and seldom says a word. I was fortunate in being in his +company with his particular acquaintances…. At 12 I had the honor of +being lighted up to my bedroom by the General himself.” + +This break on the evening hours was quite unusual, Washington himself +saying in one place that nine o’clock was his bedtime, and he wrote of +his hours after dinner, “the usual time of setting at table, a walk, +and tea, brings me within the dawn of candlelight; previous to which, +if not prevented by company I resolve, that as soon as the glimmering +taper supplies the place of the great luminary, I will retire to my +writing table and acknowledge the letters I have received; but when the +lights were brought, I feel tired and disinclined to engage in this +work, conceiving that the next night will do as well. The next comes, +and with it the same causes for postponement, and effect, and so on.” + +The foregoing allusion to Washington’s conversation is undoubtedly +just. All who met him formally spoke of him as taciturn, but this was +not a natural quality. Jefferson states that “in the circle of his +friends, where he might be unreserved with safety, he took a free share +in conversation,” and Madison told Sparks that, though “Washington was +not fluent nor ready in conversation, and was inclined to be taciturn +in general society,” yet “in the company of two or three intimate +friends, he was talkative, and when a little excited was sometimes +fluent and even eloquent” “The story so often repeated of his never +laughing,” Madison said, was “wholly untrue; no man seemed more to +enjoy gay conversation, though he took little part in it himself. He +was particularly pleased with the jokes, good humor, and hilarity of +his companions.” + +Washington certainly did enjoy a joke. Nelly Custis said, “I have +sometimes made him laugh most heartily from sympathy with my joyous and +extravagant spirits,” and many other instances of his laughing are +recorded. He himself wrote in 1775 concerning the running away of some +British soldiers, “we laugh at his idea of chasing the Royal Fusileers +with the stores. Does he consider them as inanimate, or as treasure?” +When the British in Boston sent out a bundle of the king’s speech, +“farcical enough, we gave great joy to them, (the red coats I mean), +without knowing or intending it; for on that day, the day which gave +being to the new army, (but before the proclamation came to hand,) we +had hoisted the union flag in compliment to the United Colonies. But, +behold, it was received in Boston as a token of the deep impression the +speech had made upon us, and as a signal of submission.” + +At times Washington would joke himself, though it was always somewhat +labored, as in the case of the Jack already cited. “Without a coinage,” +he wrote, “or unless a stop can be put to the cutting and clipping of +money, our dollars, pistareens, &c., will be converted, as Teague says, +into _five_ quarters.” When the Democrats were charging the Federalists +with having stolen from the treasury, he wrote to a Cabinet official, +“and pray, my good sir, what part of the $800.000 have come to your +share? As you are high in Office, I hope you did not disgrace yourself +in the acceptance of a paltry bribe—a $100.000 perhaps.” He once even +attempted a pun, by writing, “our enterprise will be ruined, and we +shall be stopped at the Laurel Hill this winter; but not to gather +laurels, (except of the kind that covers the mountains).” + +Probably the neatest turn was his course on one occasion with General +Tryon, who sent him some British proclamations with the request, “that +through your means, the officers and men under your command may be +acquainted with their contents.” Washington promptly replied that he +had given them “free currency among the officers and men under my +command,” and enclosed to Tryon a lot of the counter-proclamation, +asking him to “be instrumental in communicating its contents, so far as +it may be in your power, to the persons who are the objects of its +operation. The benevolent purpose it is intended to answer will I +persuade myself, sufficiently recommend it to your candor.” + +To a poetess who had sent him some laudatory verses about himself he +expressed his thanks, and added, “Fiction is to be sure the very life +and Soul of Poetry—all Poets and Poetesses have been indulged in the +free and indisputable use of it, time out of mind. And to oblige you to +make such an excellent Poem on such a subject without any materials but +those of simple reality, would be as cruel as the Edict of Pharoah +which compelled the children of Israel to manufacture Bricks without +the necessary Ingredients.” + +Twice he joked about his own death. “As I have heard,” he said after +Braddock’s defeat, “since my arrival at this place, a circumstancial +account of my death and dying speech, I take this early opportunity of +contradicting the first, and of assuring you, that I have not as yet +composed the latter.” Many years later, in draughting a letter for his +wife, he wrote,— + +“I am now by desire of the General to add a few words on his behalf; +which he desires may be expressed in the terms following, that is to +say,—that despairing of hearing what may be said of him, if he should +really go off in an apoplectic, or any other fit (for he thinks all +fits that issue in death are worse than a love fit, a fit of laughter, +and many other kinds which he could name)—he is glad to hear +_beforehand_ what will be said of him on that occasion; conceiving that +nothing extra will happen between _this_ and _then_ to make a change in +his character for better, or for worse. And besides, as he has entered +into an engagement … not to quit _this_ world before the year 1800, it +may be _relied upon_ that no breach of contract shall be laid to him on +that account, unless dire necessity should bring it about, maugre all +his exertions to the contrary. In that same, he shall hope they would +do by him as he would do by them—excuse it. At present there seems to +be no danger of his thus giving them the slip, as neither his health +nor spirits, were ever in greater flow, notwithstanding, he adds, he is +descending, and has almost reached the bottom of the hill; or in other +words, the shades below. For your particular good wishes on this +occasion he charges me to say that he feels highly obliged, and that he +reciprocates them with great cordiality.” + +Other social qualities of the man cannot be passed over. A marked trait +was his extreme fondness of afternoon tea. “Dined at Mr. Langdon’s, and +drank Tea there, with a large circle of Ladies;” “in the afternoon +drank Tea … with about 20 ladies, who had been assembled for the +occasion;” “exercised between 5 & 7 o’clock in the morning & drank Tea +with Mrs. Clinton (the Governor’s Lady) in the afternoon;” “Drank tea +at the Chief Justice’s of the U. States;” “Dined with the Citizens in +public; and in the afternoon, was introduced to upwards of 50 ladies +who had assembled (at a Tea party) on the occasion;” “Dined and drank +tea at Mr. Bingham’s in great splendor.” Such are the entries in his +diary whenever the was “kettle-a-boiling-be” was within reach. +Pickering’s journal shows that tea served regularly at head-quarters, +and at Mount Vernon it was drunk in summer on the veranda. In writing +to Knox of his visit to Boston, Washington mentioned his recollection +of the chats over tea-drinking, and of how “social and gay” they were. + +A fondness for picnics was another social liking. “Rid with Fanny +Bassett, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Shaw to meet a Party from Alexandria at +Johnsons Spring … where we dined on a cold dinner brought from Town by +water and spent the Afternoon agreeably—Returning home by Sun down or a +little after it,” is noted in his diary on one occasion, and on another +he wrote, “Having formed a Party, consisting of the Vice-President, his +lady, Son & Miss Smith; the Secretaries of State, Treasury & War, and +the ladies of the two latter; with all the Gentlemen of my family, Mrs. +Lear & the two Children, we visited the old position of Fort Washington +and afterwards dined on a dinner provided by Mr. Mariner.” Launchings, +barbecues, clambakes, and turtle dinners were other forms of social +dissipations. + +A distinct weakness was dancing. When on the frontier he sighed, “the +hours at present are melancholy dull. Neither the rugged toils of war, +nor the gentler conflict of A[ssembly] B[alls,] is in my choice.” His +diary shows him at balls and “Routs” frequently; when he was President +he was a constant attendant at the regular “Dancing Assemblies” in New +York and Philadelphia, and when at Mount Vernon he frequently went ten +miles to Alexandria to attend dances. Of one of these Alexandria balls +he has left an amusing description: “Went to a ball at Alexandria, +where Musick and dancing was the chief Entertainment, however in a +convenient room detached for the purpose abounded great plenty of bread +and butter, some biscuits, with tea and coffee, which the drinkers of +could not distinguish from hot water sweet’ned—Be it remembered that +pocket handkerchiefs servd the purposes of Table cloths & Napkins and +that no apologies were made for either. I shall therefore distinguish +this ball by the stile and title of the Bread & Butter Ball.” + +During the Revolution, too, he killed many a weary hour of winter +quarters by dancing. When the camp spent a day rejoicing over the +French alliance, “the celebration,” according to Thacher, “was +concluded by a splendid ball opened by his Excellency General +Washington, having for his partner the lady of General Knox.” Greene +describes how “we had a little dance at my quarters a few evenings +past. His Excellency and Mrs. Greene danced upwards of three hours +without once sitting down.” Knox, too, tells of “a most genteel +entertainment given by self and officers” at which Washington danced. +“Everybody allows it to be the first of the kind ever exhibited in this +State at least. We had above seventy ladies, all of the first ton in +the State, and between three and four hundred gentlemen. We danced all +night—an elegant room, the illuminating, fireworks, &c., were more than +pretty.” And at Newport, when Rochambeau gave a ball, by request it was +opened by Washington. The dance selected by his partner was “A +Successful Campaign,” then in high favor, and the French officers took +the instruments from the musicians and played while he danced the first +figure. + + +[Illustration: AGREEMENT FOR DANCING ASSEMBLY] + + +While in winter quarters he subscribed four hundred dollars (paper +money, equal to eleven dollars in gold) to get up a series of balls, of +which Greene wrote, “We have opened an assembly in Camp. From this +apparent ease, I suppose it is thought we must be in happy +circumstances. I wish it was so, but, alas, it is not. Our provisions +are in a manner, gone. We have not a ton of hay at command, nor +magazine to draw from. Money is extremely scarce and worth little when +we get it. We have been so poor in camp for a fortnight, that we could +not forward the public dispatches, for want of cash to support the +expresses.” At the farewell ball given at Annapolis, when the +commander-in-chief resigned his command, Tilton relates that “the +General danced in every set, that all the ladies might have the +pleasure of dancing with him; or as it has since been handsomely +expressed, ‘get a touch of him.’” He still danced in 1796, when +sixty-four years of age, but when invited to the Alexandria Assembly in +1799, he wrote to the managers, “Mrs. Washington and myself have been +honored with your polite invitation to the assemblies of Alexandria +this winter, and thank you for this mark of your attention. But, alas! +our dancing days are no more. We wish, however all those who have a +relish for so agreeable and innocent an amusement all the pleasure the +season will afford them; and I am, gentlemen, + +“Your most obedient and obliged humble servant, + +“GEO. WASHINGTON.” + + + + +VIII +TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS + + +A market trait of Washington’s character was his particularity about +his clothes; there can be little question that he was early in life a +good deal of a dandy, and that this liking for fine feathers never +quite left him. When he was about sixteen years old he wrote in his +journal, “Memorandum to have my Coat made by the following Directions +to be made a Frock with a Lapel Breast the Lapel to Contain on each +side six Button Holes and to be about 5 or 6 Inches wide all the way +equal and to turn as the Breast on the Coat does to have it made very +long Waisted and in Length to come down to or below the bent of the +knee the Waist from the armpit to the Fold to be exactly as long or +Longer than from thence to the Bottom not to have more than one fold in +the Skirt and the top to be made just to turn in and three Button Holes +the Lapel at the top to turn as the Cape of the Coat and Bottom to Come +Parallel with the Button Holes the Last Button hole in the Breast to be +right opposite to the Button on the Hip.” + +In 1754 he bought “a Superfine blue broad cloth Coat, with Silver +Trimmings,” “a fine Scarlet Waistcoat full Lac’d,” and a quantity of +“silver lace for a Hatt,” and from another source it is learned that at +this time he was the possessor of ruffled shirts. A little later he +ordered from London “As much of the best superfine blue Cotton Velvet +as will make a Coat, Waistcoat and Breeches for a Tall Man, with a fine +silk button to suit it, and all other necessary trimmings and linings, +together with garters for the Breeches,” and other orders at different +times were for “6 prs. of the Very neatest shoes,” “A riding waistcoat +of superfine scarlet cloth and gold Lace,” “2 prs. of fashionable mix’d +or marble Color’d Silk Hose,” “1 piece of finest and fashionable Stock +Tape,” “1 Suit of the finest Cloth & fashionable colour,” “a New Market +Great Coat with a loose hood to it, made of Bleu Drab or broad cloth, +with straps before according to the present taste,” “3 gold and scarlet +sword-knots, 3 silver and blue do, 1 fashionable gold-laced hat.” + +As these orders indicated, the young fellow strove to be in the +fashion. In 1755 he wrote his brother, “as wearing boots is quite the +mode, and mine are in a declining state, I must beg the favor of you to +procure me a pair that is good and neat.” “Whatever goods you may send +me,” he wrote his London agent, “let them be fashionable, neat and good +of their several kinds.” It was a great trial to him that his clothes +did not fit him. “I should have enclosed you my measure,” he wrote to +London, “but in a general way they are so badly taken here, that I am +convinced that it would be of very little service.” “I have hitherto +had my clothes made by one Charles Lawrence in Old Fish Street,” he +wrote his English factor. “But whether it be the fault of the tailor, +or the measure sent, I can’t say, but, certain it is, my clothes have +never fitted me well.” + +It must not be inferred, however, that Washington carried his dandyism +to weakness. When fine clothes were not in place, they were promptly +discarded. In his trip to the Ohio in 1753 he states that “I put myself +in an Indian walking Dress,” and “tied myself up in a Match Coat,”—that +is, an Indian blanket. In the campaign of 1758 he wrote to his superior +officer “that were I left to pursue my own Inclinations, I would not +only order the Men to adopt the Indian dress, but cause the Officers to +do it also, and be at the first to set the example myself. Nothing but +the uncertainty of its taking with the General causes me to hesitate a +moment at leaving my Regimentals at this place, and proceeding as light +as any Indian in the Woods. ’Tis an unbecoming dress, I confess, for an +officer; but convenience, rather than shew, I think should be +consulted.” And this was such good sense that the general gave him +leave, and it was done. + +With increase of years his taste in clothes became softened and more +sober. “On the other side is an invoice of clothes which I beg the +favor of you to purchase for me,” he wrote to London. “As they are +designed for wearing apparel for myself, I have committed the choice of +them to your fancy, having the best opinion of your taste. I want +neither lace nor embroidery. Plain clothes, with a gold or silver +button (if worn in genteel dress) are all I desire.” “Do not conceive,” +he told his nephew in 1783, “that fine clothes make fine men more than +fine feathers make fine Birds. A plain genteel dress is more admired, +and obtains more credit than lace and embroidery, in the Eyes of the +judicious and sensible.” And in connection with the provisional army he +decided that “on reconsidering the uniform of the Commander in Chief, +it has become a matter of doubt with me, (although, as it respects +myself _personally_, I was against _all_ embroidery,) whether +embroidery on the Cape, Cuffs, and Pockets of the Coat, and none on the +buff waistcoat would not have a disjointed and awkward appearance.” +Probably nowhere did he show his good taste more than in his treatment +of the idea of putting him in classic garments when his bust was made +by Houdon. + +“In answer to your obliging inquiries respecting the dress, attitude, +&c.,” he wrote, “which I would wish to have given to the statue in +question, I have only to observe, that, not having sufficient knowledge +in the art of sculpture to oppose my judgment to the taste of +connoisseurs, I do not desire to dictate in the matter. On the contrary +I shall be perfectly satisfied with whatever may be judged decent and +proper. I should even scarcely have ventured to suggest, that perhaps a +servile adherence to the garb of antiquity might not be altogether so +expedient, as some little deviation in favor of the modern costume.” + +Washington, as noted, bought his clothes in England; but it was from +necessity more than choice. “If there be any homespun Cloths in +Philadelphia which are tolerably fine, that you can come reasonably +at,” he said to his Philadelphia agent in 1784, “I would be obliged to +you to send me patterns of some of the best kinds—I should prefer that +which is mixed in the grain, because it will not so readily discover +its quality as a plain cloth.” Before he was inaugurated he wrote +“General Knox this day to procure me homespun broadcloth of the +Hartford fabric, to make a suit of clothes for myself,” adding, “I hope +it will not be a great while before it will be unfashionable for a +gentleman to appear in any other dress. Indeed, we have already been +too long subject to British prejudices.” At another time he noted in +his diary with evident pride, “on this occasion I was dressed in a suit +made at the Woolen Manufactory at Hartford, as the buttons also were.” +But then, as now, the foreign clothes were so much finer that his taste +overcame his patriotism, and his secretary wrote that “the President is +desireous of getting as much superfine blk broad Cloth as will make him +a suit of Clothes, and desires me to request that you would send him +that quantity … The best superfine French or Dutch black—exceedingly +fine—of a soft, silky texture—not glossy like the Engh cloths.” + +A caller during the Presidency spoke of him as dressed in purple satin, +and at his levees he is described by Sullivan as “clad in black velvet; +his hair in full dress, powdered and gathered behind in a large silk +bag; yellow gloves on his hands; holding a cocked hat with a cockade in +it, and the edges adorned with a black feather about an inch deep. He +wore knee and shoe buckles; and a long sword, with a finely wrought and +polished steel hilt, which appeared at the left hip; the coat worn over +the sword, so that the hilt, and the part below the coat behind, were +in view. The scabbard was white polished leather.” + +About his person Washington was as neat as he desired his clothes to +be. At seventeen when surveying he records that he was + +“Lighted into a Room & I not being so good a Woodsman as ye rest of my +Company striped myself very orderly & went in to ye Bed as they called +it when to my Surprize I found it to be nothing but a Little +Straw—Matted together without Sheets or any thing else but only one +thread Bear blanket with double its Weight of Vermin such as Lice, +Fleas &c. I was glad to get up (as soon as ye Light was carried from +us) I put on my Cloths & Lay as my Companions. Had we not have been +very tired I am sure we should not have slep’d much that night. I made +a Promise not to Sleep so from that time forward chusing rather to +sleep in ye open Air before a fire as will appear hereafter.” The next +day he notes that the party “Travell’d up to Frederick Town where our +Baggage came to us we cleaned ourselves (to get Rid of ye Game we had +catched y. Night before)” and slept in “a good Feather Bed with clean +Sheets which was a very agreeable regale.” + +Wherever he happened to be, the laundress was in constant demand. His +bill from the washer-lady for the week succeeding his inauguration as +President, and before his domestic ménage was in running order, was for +“6 Ruffled shirts, 2 plain shirts, 8 stocks, 3 pair Silk Hose, 2 White +hand. 2 Silk Handks. 1 pr. Flanl. Drawers, 1 Hair nett.” + +The barber, too, was a constant need, and Washington’s ledger shows +constant expenditures for perfumed hair-powder and pomatum, and also +for powder bags and puffs. Apparently the services of this individual +were only for the arranging of his hair, for he seems never to have +shaved Washington, that being done either by himself or by his valet. +Of this latter individual Washington said (when the injury to William +Lee unfitted him for the service), “I do not as yet know whether I +shall get a substitute for William: nothing short of excellent +qualities and a man of good appearance, would induce me to do it—and +under my present view of the matter, too, who would employ himself +otherwise than William did—that is as a butler as well as a valette, +for my wants of the latter are so trifling that any man (as William +was) would soon be ruined by idleness, who had only them to attend to.” + +In food Washington took what came with philosophy. “If you meet with +collegiate fare, it will be unmanly to complain,” he told his grandson, +though he once complained in camp that “we are debarred from the +pleasure of good living; which, Sir, (I dare say with me you will +concur,) to one who has always been used to it, must go somewhat hard +to be confined to a little salt provision and water.” Usually, however, +poor fare was taken as a matter of course. “When we came to Supper,” he +said in his journal of 1748, “there was neither a Cloth upon ye Table +nor a Knife to eat with but as good luck would have it we had Knives of +our own,” and again he wrote, “we pull’d out our Knapsack in order to +Recruit ourselves every one was his own Cook our Spits was Forked +Sticks our Plates was a Large Chip as for Dishes we had none.” Nor was +he squeamish about what he ate. In the voyage to Barbadoes he several +times ate dolphin; he notes that the bread was almost “eaten up by +Weavel & Maggots,” and became quite enthusiastic over some “very fine +Bristol tripe” and “a fine Irish Ling & Potatoes.” But all this may +have been due to the proverbial sea appetite. + +Samuel Stearns states that Washington “breakfasts about seven o’clock +on three small Indian hoe-cakes, and as many dishes of tea,” and Custis +relates that “Indian cakes, honey, and tea formed this temperate +repast.” These two writers tell us that at dinner “he ate heartily, but +was not particular in his diet, with the exception of fish, of which he +was excessively fond. He partook sparingly of dessert, drank a +home-made beverage, and from four to five glasses of Madeira wine” +(Custis), and that “he dines, commonly on a single dish, and drinks +from half a pint to a pint of Madeira wine. This, with one small glass +of punch, a draught of beer, and two dishes of tea (which he takes half +an hour before sun-setting) constitutes his whole sustenance till the +next day.” (Stearns.) Ashbel Green relates that at the state banquets +during the Presidency Washington “generally dined on one single dish, +and that of a very simple kind. If offered something either in the +first or second course which was very rich, his usual reply was—‘That +is too good for me.’” It is worth noting that he religiously observed +the fasts proclaimed in 1774 and 1777, going without food the entire +day. + +A special liking is mentioned above. In 1782 Richard Varick wrote to a +friend, “General Washington dines with me to-morrow; he is exceedingly +fond of salt fish; I have some coming up, & tho’ it will be here in a +few days, it will not be here in time—If you could conveniently lend me +as much fish as would serve a pretty large company to-morrow (at least +for one Dish), it will oblige me, and shall in a very few days be +returned in as good Dun Fish as ever you see. Excuse this freedom, and +it will add to the favor. Could you not prevail upon somebody to catch +some Trout for me early to-morrow morning?” When procurable, salt +codfish was Washington’s regular Sunday dinner. + +A second liking was honey. His ledger several times mentions purchases +of this, and in 1789 his sister wrote him, “when I last had the +Pleasure of seeing you I observ’d your fondness for Honey; I have got a +large Pot of very fine in the comb, which I shall send by the first +opportunity.” Among his purchases “sugar candy” is several times +mentioned, but this may have been for children, and not for himself. He +was a frequent buyer of fruit of all kinds and of melons. + +He was very fond of nuts, buying hazelnuts and shellbarks by the +barrel, and he wrote his overseer in 1792 to “tell house Frank I expect +he will lay up a more plenteous store of the black common walnuts than +he usually does.” The Prince de Broglie states that “at dessert he eats +an enormous quantity of nuts, and when the conversation is entertaining +he keeps eating through a couple of hours, from time to time giving +sundry healths, according to the English and American custom. It is +what they call ‘toasting.’” + +Washington was from boyhood passionately fond of horsemanship, and when +but seventeen owned a horse. Humphreys states that “all those who have +seen General Washington on horseback, at the head of his army, will +doubtless bear testimony with the author that they never saw a more +graceful or dignified person,” and Jefferson said of him that he was +“the best horseman of his age, and the most graceful figure that could +be seen on horseback.” His diary shows that he rode on various +occasions as much as sixty miles in a day, and Lawrence reports that he +“usually rode from Rockingham to Princeton, which is five miles, in +forty minutes.” John Hunter, in a visit to Mount Vernon in 1785, writes +that he went + +“to see his famous race-horse Magnolia—a most beautiful creature. A +whole length of his was taken a while ago, (mounted on Magnolia) by a +famous man from Europe on copper…. I afterwards went to his stables, +where among an amazing number of horses, I saw old Nelson, now 22 years +of age, that carried the General almost always during the war; +Blueskin, another fine old horse next to him, now and then had that +honor. Shaw also shewed me his old servant, that was reported to have +been taken, with a number of the General’s papers about him. They have +heard the roaring of many a cannon in their time. Blueskin was not the +favorite, on account of his not standing fire so well as venerable old +Nelson.” + +Chastellux relates, “he was so attentive as to give me the horse he +rode, the day of my arrival, which I had greatly commended—I found him +as good as he is handsome; but above all, perfectly well broke, and +well trained, having a good mouth, easy in hand and stopping short in a +gallop without bearing the bit—I mention these minute particulars, +because it is the general himself who breaks all his own horses; and he +is a very excellent and bold horseman, leaping the highest fences, and +going extremely quick, without standing upon his stirrups, bearing on +the bridle, or letting his horse run wild.” + +As a matter of course this liking for horses made Washington fond of +racing, and he not only subscribed liberally to most of the racing +purses, but ran horses at them, attending in person, and betting +moderately on the results. So, too, he was fond of riding to the +hounds, and when at Mount Vernon it was a favorite pastime. From his +diary excerpts of runs are,— + +“Went a Fox hunting with the Gentlemen who came here yesterday…. after +a very early breakfast—found a Fox just back of Muddy hole Plantation +and after a Chase of an hour and a quarter with my Dogs, & eight couple +of Doctor Smiths (brought by Mr. Phil Alexander) we put him into a +hollow tree, in which we fastened him, and in the Pincushion put up +another Fox which, in an hour & 13 Minutes was killed—We then after +allowing the Fox in the hole half an hour put the Dogs upon his trail & +in half a Mile he took to another hollow tree and was again put out of +it but he did not go 600 yards before he had recourse to the same +shift—finding therefore that he was a conquered Fox we took the Dogs +off, and came home to Dinner.” + +“After an early breakfast [my nephew] George Washington, Mr. Shaw and +Myself went into the Woods back of Muddy hole Plantation a hunting and +were joined by Mr. Lund Washington and Mr. William Peake. About half +after ten Oclock (being first plagued with the Dogs running Hogs) we +found a fox near Colo Masons Plantation on little Hunting Creek (West +fork) having followed on his Drag more than half a Mile; and run him +with Eight Dogs (the other 4 getting, as was supposed after a Second +Fox) close and well for an hour. When the Dogs came to a fault and to +cold Hunting until 20 minutes after when being joined by the missing +Dogs they put him up afresh and in about 50 Minutes killed up in an +open field of Colo Mason’s every Rider & every Dog being present at the +Death.” + +During the Revolution, when opportunity offered, he rode to the hounds, +for Hiltzheimer wrote in 1781, “My son Robert [having] been on a Hunt +at Frankfort says that His Excel’y Gen. Washington was there.” + +This liking made dogs an interest to him, and he took much pains to +improve the breed of his hounds. On one occasion he “anointed all my +Hounds (as well old Dogs as Puppies) which have the mange, with Hogs +Lard & Brimstone.” Mopsey, Pilot, Tartar, Jupiter, Trueman, Tipler, +Truelove, Juno, Dutchess, Ragman, Countess, Lady, Searcher, Rover, +Sweetlips, Vulcan, Singer, Music, Tiyal, and Forrester are some of the +names he gave them. In 1794, in the fall of his horse, as already +mentioned, he wrenched his back, and in consequence, when he returned +to Mount Vernon, this pastime was never resumed, and his pack was given +up. + +Kindred to this taste for riding to the hounds was one for gunning. A +few entries in his diary tell the nature of his sport. “Went a ducking +between breakfast and dinner and kill’d 2 Mallards & 5 bald faces.” “I +went to the Creek but not across it. Kill’d 2 ducks, viz. a sprig tail +and a Teal.” “Rid out with my gun but kill’d nothing.” In 1787 a man +asked for permission to shoot over Mount Vernon, and Washington refused +it because + +“my fixed determination is, that no person whatever shall hunt upon my +grounds or waters—To grant leave to one and refuse another would not +only be drawing a line of discrimination which would be offensive, but +would subject one to great inconvenience—for my strict and positive +orders to all my people are if they hear a gun fired upon my Land to go +immediately in pursuit of it…. Besides, as I have not lost my relish +for this sport when I find time to indulge myself in it, and Gentlemen +who come to the House are pleased with it, it is my wish not to have +game within my jurisdiction disturbed.” + +Fishing was another pastime. He “went a dragging for Sturgeon” +frequently, and sometimes “catch’d one” and sometimes “catch’d none.” +While in Philadelphia in 1787 he went up to the old camp at Valley +Forge and spent a day fishing, and in 1789 at Portsmouth, “having +lines, we proceeded to the Fishing Banks a little without the Harbour +and fished for Cod; but it not being a proper time of tide, we only +caught two.” After his serious sickness in 1790 a newspaper reports +that “yesterday afternoon the President of the United States returned +from Sandy Hook and the fishing banks, where he had been for the +benefit of the sea air, and to amuse himself in the delightful +recreation of fishing. We are told he has had excellent sport, having +himself caught a great number of sea-bass and black fish—the weather +proved remarkably fine, which, together with the salubrity of the air +and wholesome exercise, rendered this little voyage extremely +agreeable, and cannot fail, we hope, of being serviceable to a speedy +and complete restoration of his health.” + +Washington was fond of cards, and in bad weather even records “at home +all day, over cards.” How much time must have been spent in this way is +shown by the innumerable purchases of “1 dozen packs playing cards” +noted in his ledger. In 1748, when he was sixteen years old, he won two +shillings and threepence from his sister-in-law at whist and five +shillings at “Loo” (or, as he sometimes spells it, “Lue”) from his +brother, and he seems always to have played for small stakes, which +sometimes mounted into fairly sizable sums. The largest gain found is +three pounds, and the largest loss nine pounds fourteen shillings and +ninepence. He seems to have lost oftener than he won. + +Billiards was a rival of cards, and a game of which he seems to have +been fond. In his seventeenth year he won one shilling and threepence +by the cue, and from that time won and lost more or less money in this +way. Here, too, he seems to have been out of pocket, though not for so +much money, his largest winning noted being only seven shillings and +sixpence, and his largest loss being one pound and ten shillings. + +In 1751, at Barbadoes, Washington “was treated with a play ticket to +see the Tragedy of George Barnwell acted: the character of Barnwell and +several others was said to be well perform’d there was Musick a Dapted +and regularly conducted.” This presumptively was the lad’s first visit +to the playhouse, but from that time it was one of his favorite +amusements. At first his ledger shows expenditures of “Cash at the Play +House 1/3,” which proves that his purse would bear the cost of only the +cheapest seats; but later he became more extravagant in this respect, +and during the Presidency he used the drama for entertaining, his +ledger giving many items of tickets bought. A type entry in +Washington’s diary is, “Went to the play in the evening—sent tickets to +the following ladies and gentlemen and invited them to seats in my box, +viz:—Mrs. Adams (lady of the Vice-President,) General Schuyler and +lady, Mr. King and lady, Majr. Butler and lady, Colo Hamilton and lady, +Mrs. Green—all of whom accepted and came except Mrs. Butler, who was +indisposed.” + +Maclay describes the first of these theatre parties as follows: “I +received a ticket from the President of the United States to use his +box this evening at the theatre, being the first of his appearances at +the playhouse since his entering on his office. Went The President, +Governor of the State, foreign Ministers, Senators from New Hampshire, +Connecticut, Pennsylvania, M.[aryland] and South Carolina; and some +ladies in the same box. I am old, and notices or attentions are lost on +me. I could have wished some of my dear children in my place; they are +young and would have enjoyed it. Long might they live to boast of +having been seated in the same box with the first Character in the +world. The play was the ‘School for Scandal,’ I never liked it; indeed, +I think it an indecent representation before ladies of character and +virtue. Farce, the ‘Old Soldier.’ The house greatly crowded, and I +thought the players acted well; but I wish we had seen the _Conscious +Lovers_, or some one that inculcated more prudential manners.” + +Of the play, or rather interlude, of the “Old Soldier” its author, +Dunlap, gives an amusing story. It turned on the home-coming of an old +soldier, and, like the topical song of to-day, touched on local +affairs: + +“When Wignell, as Darby, recounts what had befallen him in America, in +New York, at the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and the +inauguration of the president, the interest expressed by the audience +in the looks and the changes of countenance of this great man +[Washington] became intense. He smiled at these lines, alluding to the +change in the government— + +There too I saw some mighty pretty shows; +A revolution, without blood or blows, +For, as I understood, the cunning elves, +The people all revolted from themselves. + + +But at the lines— + +A man who fought to free the land from we, +_Like me_, had left his farm, a-soldiering to go: +But having gain’d his point, he had _like me_, +Return’d his own potato ground to see. +But there he could not rest. With one accord +He’s called to be a kind of—not a lord— +I don’t know what, he’s not a _great man_, sure, +For poor men love him just as he were poor. +They love him like a father or a brother, + DERMOT. +As we poor Irishmen love one another. + + +The president looked serious; and when Kathleen asked, + +How looked he, Darby? Was he short or tall? + + +his countenance showed embarrassment, from the expectation or one of +those eulogiums which, he had been obliged to hear on many public +occasions, and which must doubtless have been a severe trial to his +feelings: but Darby’s answer that he had _not seen him_, because he had +mistaken a man ‘all lace and glitter, botherum and shine,’ for him, +until all the show had passed, relieved the hero from apprehension of +farther personality, and he indulged in that which was with him +extremely rare, a hearty laugh.” + +Washington did not even despise amateur performances. As already +mentioned, he expressed a wish to take part in “Cato” himself in 1758, +and a year before he had subscribed to the regimental “players at Fort +Cumberland,” His diary shows that in 1768 the couple at Mount Vernon “& +ye two children were up to Alexandria to see the Inconstant or ‘the way +to win him’ acted,” which was probably an amateur performance. +Furthermore, Duer tells us that “I was not only frequently admitted to +the presence of this most august of men, in _propria persona_, but once +had the honor of appearing before him as one of the _dramatis personae_ +in the tragedy of Julius Caesar, enacted by a young ‘American Company,’ +(the theatrical corps then performing in New York being called the ‘Old +American Company’) in the garret of the Presidential mansion, wherein +before the magnates of the land and the elite of the city, I performed +the part of Brutus to the Cassius of my old school-fellow, Washington +Custis.” + +The theatre was by no means the only show that appealed to Washington. +He went to the circus when opportunity offered, gave nine shillings to +a “man who brought an elk as a show,” three shillings and ninepence “to +hear the Armonica,” two dollars for tickets “to see the automatum,” +treated the “Ladies to ye Microcosm” and paid to see waxworks, puppet +shows, a dancing bear, and a lioness and tiger. Nor did he avoid a +favorite Virginia pastime, but attended cockfights when able. His +frequent going to concerts has been already mentioned. + +Washington seems to have been little of a reader except of books on +agriculture, which he bought, read, and even made careful abstracts of +many, and on this subject alone did he ever seem to write from +pleasure. As a lad, he notes in his journal that he is reading _The +Spectator_ and a history of England, but after those two brief entries +there is no further mention of books or reading in his daily memorandum +of “where and how my time is spent.” In his ledger, too, almost the +least common expenditure entered is one for books. Nor do his London +invoices, so far as extant, order any books but those which treated of +farming and horses. In the settlement of the Custis estate, “I had no +particular reason for keeping and handing down to his son, the books of +the late Colo Custis saving that I thought it would be taking the +advantage of a low appraisement, to make them my own property at it, +and that to sell them was not an object.” + +With the broadening that resulted from the command of the army more +attention was paid to books, and immediately upon the close of the +Revolution Washington ordered the following works: “Life of Charles the +Twelfth,” “Life of Louis the Fifteenth,” “Life and Reign of Peter the +Great,” Robertson’s “History of America,” Voltaire’s “Letters,” +Vertot’s “Revolution of Rome” and “Revolution of Portugal,” “Life of +Gustavus Adolphus,” Sully’s “Memoirs,” Goldsmith’s “Natural History,” +“Campaigns of Marshal Turenne,” Chambaud’s “French and English +Dictionary,” Locke “on the Human Understanding,” and Robertson’s +“Charles the Fifth.” From this time on he was a fairly constant +book-buyer, and subscribed as a “patron” to a good many forthcoming +works, while many were sent him as gifts. On politics he seems to have +now read with interest; yet in 1797, after his retirement from the +Presidency, in writing of the manner in which he spent his hours, he +said, “it may strike you that in this detail no mention is made of any +portion of time allotted to reading. The remark would be just, for I +have not looked into a book since I came home, nor shall I be able to +do it until I have discharged my workmen; probably not before the +nights grow long when possibly I may be looking into Doomsday book.” +There can be no doubt that through all his life Washington gave to +reading only the time he could not use on more practical affairs. + +His library was a curious medley of books, if those on military science +and agriculture are omitted. There is a fair amount of the standard +history of the day, a little theology, so ill assorted as to suggest +gifts rather than purchases, a miscellany of contemporary politics, and +a very little belles-lettres. In political science the only works in +the slightest degree noticeable are Smith’s “Wealth of Nations,” “The +Federalist,” and Rousseau’s “Social Compact,” and, as the latter was in +French, it could not have been read. In lighter literature Homer, +Shakespeare, and Burns, Lord Chesterfield, Swift, Smollett, Fielding, +and Sterne, and “Don Quixote,” are the only ones deserving notice. It +is worthy of mention that Washington’s favorite quotation was Addison’s +“’Tis not in mortals to command success,” but he also utilized with +considerable aptitude quotations from Shakespeare and Sterne. There +were half a dozen of the ephemeral novels of the day, but these were +probably Mrs. Washington’s, as her name is written in one, and her +husband’s in none. Writing to his grandson, Washington warned him that +“light reading (by this, I mean books of little importance) may amuse +for the moment, but leaves nothing solid behind.” + + +[Illustration: WASHINGTON’S BOOK-PLATE] + + +One element of Washington’s reading which cannot be passed over without +notice is that of newspapers. In his early life he presumably read the +only local paper of the time (the _Virginia Gazette_), for when an +anonymous writer, “Centinel,” in 1756, charged that Washington’s +regiment was given over to drunkenness and other misbehavior, he drew +up a reply, which he sent with ten shillings to the newspaper, but the +printer apparently declined to print it, for it never appeared. + +After the Revolution he complained to his Philadelphia agent, “I have +such a number of Gazettes, crowded upon me (many without orders) that +they are not only expensive, but really useless; as my other avocations +will not afford me time to read them oftentimes, and when I do attempt +it, find them more troublesome, than profitable; I have therefore to +beg, if you Should get Money into your hands on Acct of the Inclosed +Certificate, that you would be so good as to pay what I am owing to +Messrs Dunlap & Claypoole, Mr. Oswald & Mr. Humphrey’s. If they +consider me however as engaged for the year, I am Content to let the +matter run on to the Expiration of it” During the Presidency he +subscribed to the _Gazette of the United States_, Brown’s _Gazette_, +Dunlap’s _American Advertiser_, the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, Bache’s +_Aurora_, and the _New York Magazine_, Carey’s _Museum_, and the +_Universal Asylum_, though at this time he “lamented that the editors +of the different gazettes in the Union do not more generally and more +correctly (instead of stuffing their papers with scurrility and +nonsensical declamation, which few would read if they were apprised of +the contents,) publish the debates in Congress on all great national +questions.” + +Presently, for personal and party reasons, certain of the papers began +to attack him, and Jefferson wrote to Madison that the President was +“extremely affected by the attacks made and kept up on him in the +public papers. I think he feels these things more than any person I +ever met with.” Later the Secretary of State noted that at an interview +Washington “adverted to a piece in Freneau’s paper of yesterday, he +said that he despised all their attacks on him personally, but that +there never had been an act of government … that paper had not abused … +He was evidently sore and warm.” At a cabinet meeting, too, according +to the same writer, “the Presidt was much inflamed, got into one of +those passions when he cannot command himself, ran on much on the +personal abuse which had been bestowed on him, defied any man on earth +to produce a single act of his since he had been in the govmt which was +not done on the purest motives, that he had never repented but once the +having slipped the moment of resigning his office, & that was every +moment since, that _by god_ he had rather be in his grave than in his +present situation. That he had rather be on his farm than to be made +_emperor of the world_ and yet that they were charging him with wanting +to be a king. That that _rascal Freneau_ sent him 3 of his papers every +day, as if he thought he would become the distributor of his papers, +that he could see in this nothing but an impudent design to insult him. +He ended in this high tone. There was a pause.” + +To correspondents, too, Washington showed how keenly he felt the +attacks upon him, writing that “the publications in Freneau’s and +Bache’s papers are outrages on common decency; and they progress in +that style in proportion as their pieces are treated with contempt, and +are passed by in silence, by those at whom they are aimed,” and asked +“in what will this abuse terminate? The result, as it respects myself, +I care not; for I have consolation within, that no earthly efforts can +deprive me of, and that is, that neither ambitious nor interested +motives have influenced my conduct. The arrows of malevolence, +therefore however barbed and well pointed, never can reach the most +vulnerable part of me; though, whilst I am _up_ as a _mark_, they will +be continually aimed.” + +On another occasion he said, “I am beginning to receive, what I had +made my mind up for on this occasion, the abuse of Mr. Bache, and his +correspondents.” He wrote a friend, “if you read the Aurora of this +city, or those gazettes, which are under the same influence, you cannot +but have perceived with what malignant industry and persevering +falsehoods I am assailed, in order to weaken if not destroy the +confidence of the public.” + +When he retired from office he apparently cut off his subscriptions to +papers, for a few months later he inquired, “what is the character of +Porcupine’s Gazette? I had thought when I left Philadelphia, of +ordering it to be sent to me; then again, I thought it best not to do +it; and altho’ I should like to see both his and Bache’s, the latter +may, under all circumstances, be the best decision; I mean not +subscribing to either of them.” This decision to have no more to do +with papers did not last, for on the night he was seized with his last +illness Lear describes how “in the evening the papers having come from +the post office, he sat in the room with Mrs. Washington and myself, +reading them, till about nine o’clock when Mrs. Washington went up into +Mrs. Lewis’s room, who was confined, and left the General and myself +reading the papers. He was very cheerful; and, when he met with +anything which he thought diverting or interesting, he would read it +aloud as well as his hoarseness would permit. He desired me to read to +him the debates of the Virginia Assembly, on the election of a Senator +and Governor; which I did—and, on hearing Mr. Madison’s observations +respecting Mr. Monroe, he appeared much affected, and spoke with some +degree of asperity on the subject, which I endeavored to moderate, as I +always did on such occasions.” + + + + +IX +FRIENDS + + +The frequently repeated statement that Washington was a man without +friends is not the least curious of the myths that have obtained +general credence. That it should be asserted only goes to show how +absolutely his private life has been neglected in the study of his +public career. + +In his will Washington left tokens of remembrance “to the acquaintances +and friends of my juvenile years, Lawrence Washington and Robert +Washington of Chotanck,” the latter presumably the “dear Robin” of his +earliest letter, and these two very distant kinsmen, whom he had come +to know while staying at Wakefield, are the earliest friends of whom +any record exists. Contemporary with them was a “Dear Richard,” whose +letters gave Washington “unspeakable pleasure, as I am convinced I am +still in the memory of so worthy a friend,—a friendship I shall ever be +proud of increasing.” + +Next in time came his intimacy with the Fairfaxes and Carlyles, which +began with Washington’s visits to his brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon. +About four miles from that place, at Belvoir, lived the Fairfaxes; and +their kinspeople, the Carlyles, lived at Alexandria. Lawrence +Washington had married Ann Fairfax, and through his influence his +brother George was taken into the employment of Lord Fairfax, half as +clerk and half as surveyor of his great tract of land, “the northern +neck,” which he had obtained by marriage with a daughter of Lord +Culpeper, who in turn had obtained it from the “Merrie Monarch” by +means so disreputable that they are best left unstated. From that time +till his death Washington corresponded with several of the family and +was a constant visitor at Belvoir, as the Fairfaxes were at Mount +Vernon. + + +[Illustration: SURVEY OF WASHINGTON’S BIRTHPLACE (WAKEFIELD), 1743] + + +In 1755 Washington told his brother that “to that family I am under +many obligations, particularly the old gentleman,” but as time went on +he more than paid the debt. In 1757 he acted as pallbearer to William +Fairfax, and twelve years later his diary records, “Set off with Mrs. +Washington and Patsey,… in order to stand for Mr. B. Fairfax’s third +son, which I did together with my wife, Mr. Warner Washington and his +lady.” For one of the family he obtained an army commission, and for +another he undertook the care of his property during a visit to +England; a care which unexpectedly lengthened, and was resigned only +when Washington’s time became public property. Nor did that lessen his +services or the Fairfaxes’ need of them, for in the Revolution that +family were loyalists. Despite this, “the friendship,” Washington +assured them, “which I ever professed and felt for you, met no +diminution from the difference in our political sentiments,” and in +1778 he was able to secure the safety of Lord Fairfax from persecution +at the hands of the Whigs, a service acknowledged by his lordship in +the following words: + +“There are times when favors conferred make a greater impression than +at others, for, though I have received many, I hope I have not been +unmindful of them; yet that, at a time your popularity was at the +highest and mine at the lowest, and when it is so common for men’s +resentments to run up high against those, who differ from them in +opinion, you should act with your wonted kindness towards me, has +affected me more than any favor I have received; and could not be +believed by some in New York, it being above the run of common minds.” + +In behalf of another member of the family, threatened with +confiscation, he wrote to a member of the House of Delegates, “I hope, +I trust, that no act of Legislation in the State of Virginia has +affected, or can affect, the properly of this gentleman, otherwise than +in common with that of every good and well disposed citizen of +America,” and this was sufficient to put an end to the project At the +close of the war he wrote to this absentee, “There was nothing wanting +in [your] Letter to give compleat satisfaction to Mrs. Washington and +myself but some expression to induce us to believe you would once more +become our neighbors. Your house at Belvoir I am sorry to add is no +more, but mine (which is enlarged since you saw it), is most sincerely +and heartily at your service till you could rebuild it. As the path, +after being closed by a long, arduous, and painful contest, is to use +an Indian metaphor, now opened and made smooth, I shall please myself +with the hope of hearing from you frequently; and till you forbid me to +indulge the wish, I shall not despair of seeing you and Mrs. Fairfax +once more the inhabitants of Belvoir, and greeting you both there the +intimate companions of our old age, as you have been of our younger +years.” And to another he left a token of remembrance in his will. + +One of the most curious circle of friends was that composed of Indians. +After his mission among them in 1753, Washington wrote to a tribe and +signed himself “your friend and brother.” In a less general sense he +requested an Indian agent to “recommend me kindly to Mononcatoocha and +others; tell them how happy it would make Conotocarius to have an +opportunity of taking them by the hand.” A little later he had this +pleasure, and he wrote the governor, “the Indians are all around +teasing and perplexing me for one thing or another, so that I scarce +know what I write.” When Washington left the frontier this intercourse +ceased, but he was not forgotten, for in descending the Ohio in his +Western trip of 1770 a hunting party was met, and “in the person of +Kiashuto I found an old acquaintance, he being one of the Indians that +went [with me] to the French in 1753. He expressed satisfaction at +seeing me, and treated us with great kindness, giving us a quarter of +very fine buffalo. He insisted upon our spending that night with him, +and, in order to retard us as little as possible moved his camp down +the river.” + +With his appointment to the Virginia regiment came military friends. +From the earliest of these—Van Braam, who had served under Lawrence +Washington in the Carthagena expedition of 1742, and who had come to +live at Mount Vernon—Washington had previously taken lessons in +fencing, and when appointed the bearer of a letter to the French +commander on the Ohio he took Van Braam with him as interpreter. A +little later, on receiving his majority, Washington appointed Van Braam +his recruiting lieutenant, and recommended him to the governor for a +captain’s commission on the grounds that he was “an experienced good +officer.” To Van Braam fell the duty of translating the capitulation to +the French at Fort Necessity, and to his reading was laid the blunder +by which Washington signed a statement acknowledging himself as an +“assassin.” Inconsequence he became the scapegoat of the expedition, +was charged by the governor with being a “poltroon” and traitor, and +was omitted from the Assembly’s vote of thanks and extra pay to the +regiment. But Washington stood by him, and when himself burgess +succeeded in getting this latter vote rescinded. + +Another friend of the same period was the Chevalier Peyroney, whom +Washington first made an ensign, and then urged the governor to advance +him, promising that if the governor “should be pleased to indulge me in +this request, I shall look upon it in a very particular light.” +Peyroney was badly wounded at Fort Necessity and was furloughed, during +which he wrote his commander, “I have made my particular Business to +tray if any had some Bad intention against you here Below; But thank +God I meet allowais with a good wish for you from evry Mouth each one +entertining such Caracter of you as I have the honour to do myself.” He +served again in the Braddock march, and in that fiasco, Washington +wrote, “Captain Peyroney and all his officers down to a corporal, was +killed.” + +With Captain Stewart—“a gentleman whose assiduity and military capacity +are second to none in our Service”—Washington was intimate enough to +have Stewart apply in 1763 for four hundred pounds to aid him to +purchase a commission, a sum Washington did not have at his disposal. +But because of “a regard of that high nature that I could never see you +uneasy without feeling a part and wishing to remove the cause,” +Washington lent him three hundred pounds towards it, apparently without +much return, for some years later he wrote to a friend that he was +“very glad to learn that my friend Stewart was well when you left +London. I have not had a letter from him these five years.” At the +close of the Revolution he received a letter from Stewart containing +“affectionate and flattering expressions,” which gave Washington “much +pleasure,” as it “removed an apprehension I had long labored under, of +your having taken your departure for the land of Spirits. How else +could I account for a silence of 15 years. I shall always be happy to +see you at Mt. Vernon.” + +His friend William Ramsay—“well known, well-esteemed, and of +unblemished character”—he appointed commissary, and long after, in +1769, wrote,— + +“Having once or twice of late heard you speak highly in praise of the +Jersey College, as if you had a desire of sending your son William +there … I should be glad, if you have no other objection to it than +what may arise from the expense, if you would send him there as soon as +it is convenient, and depend on me for twenty-five pounds this currency +a year for his support, so long as it may be necessary for the +completion of his education. If I live to see the accomplishment of +this term, the sum here stipulated shall he annually paid; and if I die +in the mean while, this letter shall be obligatory upon my heirs, or +executors, to do it according to the true intent and meaning hereof. No +other return is expected, or wished, for this offer, than that you will +accept it with the same freedom and good will, with which it is made, +and that you may not even consider it in the light of an obligation or +mention it as such; for, be assured, that from me it will never be +known.” + +The dearest friendship formed in these years was with the doctor of the +regiment, James Craik, who in the course of his duties attended +Washington in two serious illnesses, and when the war was ended settled +near Mount Vernon. He was frequently a visitor there, and soon became +the family medical attendant. When appointed General, Washington wrote, +“tell Doctor Craik that I should be very glad to see him here if there +was anything worth his acceptance; but the Massachusetts people suffer +nothing to go by them that they lay hands upon.” In 1777 the General +secured his appointment as deputy surgeon-general of the Middle +Department, and three years later, when the hospital service was being +reformed, he used his influence to have him retained. Craik was one of +those instrumental in warning the commander-in-chief of the existence +of the Conway Cabal, because “my attachment to your person is such, my +friendship is so sincere, that every hint which has a tendency to hurt +your honor, wounds me most sensibly.” The doctor was Washington’s +companion, by invitation, in both his later trips to the Ohio, and his +trust in him was so strong that he put under his care the two nephews +whose charge he had assumed. In Washington’s ledger an entry tells of +another piece of friendliness, to the effect, “Dr. James Craik, paid +him, being a donation to his son, Geo. Washington Craik for his +education £30,” and after graduating the young man for a time served as +one of his private secretaries. After a serious illness in 1789, +Washington wrote to the doctor, “persuaded as I am, that the case has +been treated with skill, and with as much tenderness as the nature of +the complaint would admit, yet I confess I often wished for your +inspection of it,” and later he wrote, “if I should ever have occasion +for a Physician or Surgeon, I should prefer my old Surgeon, Dr. Craik, +who, from 40 years’ experience, is better qualified than a Dozen of +them put together.” Craik was the first of the doctors to reach +Washington’s bedside in his last illness, and when the dying man +predicted his own death, “the Doctor pressed his hand but could not +utter a word. He retired from the bedside and sat by the fire absorbed +in grief.” In Washington’s will he left “to my compatriot in arms and +old and intimate friend, Doctor Craik I give my Bureau (or as the +Cabinet makers called it, Tambour Secretary) and the circular chair, an +appendage of my study.” + +The arrival of Braddock and his army at Alexandria brought a new circle +of military friends. Washington “was very particularly noticed by that +General, was taken into his family as an extra aid, offered a Captain’s +commission by _brevet_ (which was the highest grade he had it in his +power to bestow) and had the compliment of several blank Ensigncies +given him to dispose of to the Young Gentlemen of his acquaintance.” In +this position he was treated “with much complaisance … especially from +the General,” which meant much, as Braddock seems to have had nothing +but curses for nearly every one else, and the more as Washington and he +“had frequent disputes,” which were “maintained with warmth on both +sides, especially on his.” But the general, “though his enmities were +strong,” in “his attachments” was “warm,” and grew to like and trust +the young volunteer, and had he “survived his unfortunate defeat, I +should have met with preferment,” having “his promise to that effect.” +Washington was by the general when he was wounded in the lungs, lifted +him into a covered cart, and “brought him over the _first_ ford of the +Monongahela,” into temporary safety. Three days later Braddock died of +his wounds, bequeathing to Washington his favorite horse and his +body-servant as tokens of his gratitude. Over him Washington read the +funeral service, and it was left to him to see that “the poor general” +was interred “with the honors of war.” + +Even before public service had made him known, Washington was a friend +and guest of many of the leading Virginians. Between 1747 and 1754 he +visited the Carters of Shirley, Nomony, and Sabine Hall, the Lewises of +Warner Hall, the Lees of Stratford, and the Byrds of Westover, and +there was acquaintance at least with the Spotswoods, Fauntleroys, +Corbins, Randolphs, Harrisons, Robinsons, Nicholases, and other +prominent families. In fact, one friend wrote him, “your health and +good fortune are the toast of every table,” and another that “the +Council and Burgesses are mostly your friends,” and those two bodies +included every Virginian of real influence. It was Richard Corbin who +enclosed him his first commission, in a brief note, beginning “Dear +George” and ending “your friend,” but in time relations became more or +less strained, and Washington suspected him “of representing my +character … with ungentlemanly freedom.” With John Robinson, “Speaker” +and Treasurer of Virginia, who wrote Washington in 1756, “our hopes, +dear George, are all fixed on you,” a close correspondence was +maintained, and when Washington complained of the governor’s course +towards him Robinson replied, “I beg dear friend, that you will bear, +so far as a man of honor ought, the discouragements and slights you +have too often met with.” The son, Beverly Robinson, was a +fellow-soldier, and, as already mentioned, was Washington’s host on his +visit to New York in 1756. The Revolution interrupted the friendship, +but it is alleged that Robinson (who was deep in the Arnold plot) made +an appeal to the old-time relation in an endeavor to save André. The +appeal was in vain, but auld lang syne had its influence, for the sons +of Beverly, British officers taken prisoners in 1779, were promptly +exchanged, so one of them asserted, “in consequence of the embers of +friendship that still remained unextinguished in the breasts of my +father and General Washington.” + +Outside of his own colony, too, Washington made friends of many +prominent families, with whom there was more or less interchange of +hospitality. Before the Revolution there had been visiting or breaking +of bread with the Galloways, Dulaneys, Carrolls, Calverts, Jenifers, +Edens, Ringgolds, and Tilghmans of Maryland, the Penns, Cadwaladers, +Morrises, Shippens, Aliens, Dickinsons, Chews, and Willings of +Pennsylvania, and the De Lanceys and Bayards of New York. + +Election to the Continental Congress strengthened some friendships and +added new ones. With Benjamin Harrison he was already on terms of +intimacy, and as long as the latter was in Congress he was the member +most in the confidence of the General. Later they differed in politics, +but Washington assured Harrison that “my friendship is not in the least +lessened by the difference, which has taken place in our political +sentiments, nor is my regard for you diminished by the part you have +acted.” Joseph Jones and Patrick Henry both took his part against the +Cabal, and the latter did him especial service in forwarding to him the +famous anonymous letter, an act for which Washington felt “most +grateful obligations.” Henry and Washington differed later in politics, +and it was reported that the latter spoke disparagingly of the former, +but this Washington denied, and not long after offered Henry the +Secretaryship of State. Still later he made a personal appeal to him to +come forward and combat the Virginia resolutions of 1798, an appeal to +which Henry responded. The intimacy with Robert Morris was close, and, +as already noted, Washington and his family were several times inmates +of his home. Gouverneur Morris was one of his most trusted advisers, +and, it is claimed, gave the casting vote which saved Washington from +being arrested in 1778, when the Cabal was fiercest. While President, +Washington sent him on a most important mission to Great Britain, and +on its completion made him Minister to France. From that post the +President was, at the request of France, compelled to recall him; but +in doing so Washington wrote him a private letter assuring Morris that +he “held the same place in my estimation” as ever, and signed himself +“yours affectionately.” Charles Carroll of Carrollton was a partisan of +the General, and very much disgusted a member of the Cabal by telling +him “almost literally that anybody who displeased or did not admire the +Commander-in-chief, ought not to be kept in the army.” And to Edward +Rutledge Washington wrote, “I can but love and thank you, and I do it +sincerely for your polite and friendly letter…. The sentiments +contained in it are such as have uniformly flowed from your pen, and +they are not the less flattering than pleasing to me.” + +The command of the Continental army brought a new kind of friend, in +the young aides of his staff. One of his earliest appointments was +Joseph Reed, and, though he remained but five months in the service, a +close friendship was formed. Almost weekly Washington wrote him in the +most confidential and affectionate manner, and twice he appealed to +Reed to take the position once more, in one instance adding that if +“you are disposed to continue with me, I shall think myself too +fortunate and happy to wish for a change.” Yet Washington none the less +sent Reed congratulations on his election to the Pennsylvania Assembly, +“although I consider it the coup-de-grace to my ever seeing you” again +a “member of my family,” to help him he asked a friend to endeavor to +get Reed legal business, and when all law business ceased and the +would-be lawyer was without occupation or means of support, he used his +influence to secure him the appointment of adjutant. + +Reed kept him informed as to the news of Philadelphia, and wrote even +such adverse criticism of the General as he heard, which Washington +“gratefully” acknowledged. But one criticism Reed did not write was +what he himself was saying of his general after the fall of Fort +Washington, for which he blamed the commander-in-chief in a letter to +Lee, and probably to others, for when later Reed and Arnold quarrelled, +the latter boasted that “I can say I never basked in the sunshine of my +general’s favor, and courted him to his face, when I was at the same +time treating him with the greatest disrespect and villifying his +character when absent. This is more than a ruling member of the Council +of Pennsylvania can say.” Washington learned of this criticism in a +letter from Lee to Reed, which was opened at head-quarters on the +supposition that it was on army matters, and “with no idea of its being +a private letter, much less the tendency of the correspondence,” as +Washington explained in a letter to Reed, which had not a word of +reproach for the double-dealing that must have cut the General keenly, +coming as it did at a moment of misfortune and discouragement. Reed +wrote a lame explanation and apology, and later sought to “regain” the +“lost friendship” by an earnest appeal to Washington’s generosity. Nor +did he appeal in vain, for the General replied that though “I felt +myself hurt by a certain letter … I was hurt … because the same +sentiments were not communicated immediately to myself.” The old-time +intimacy was renewed, and how little his personal feeling had +influenced Washington is shown in the fact that even previous to this +peace-making he had secured for Reed the appointment to command one of +the choicest brigades in the army. Perhaps the friendship was never +quite as close, but in writing him Washington still signed himself +“yours affectionately.” + +John Laurens, appointed an aide in 1777, quickly endeared himself to +Washington, and conceived the most ardent affection for his chief. The +young officer of twenty-four used all his influence with his father +(then President of Congress) against the Cabal, and in 1778, when +Charles Lee was abusing the commander-in-chief, Laurens thought himself +bound to resent it, “as well on account of the relation he bore to +General Washington, as from motives of personal friendship and respect +for his character,” and he challenged the defamer and put a bullet into +him. To his commander he signed himself “with the greatest veneration +and attachment your Excellency’s Faithful Aid,” and Washington in his +letters always addressed him as “my dear Laurens.” After his death in +battle, Washington wrote, in reply to an inquiry,— + +“You ask if the character of Colonel John Laurens, as drawn in the +_Independent Chronicle_ of 2d of December last, is just. I answer, that +such parts of the drawing as have fallen under my observation, is +literally so; and that it is my firm belief his merits and worth richly +entitle him to the whole picture. No man possessed more of the _amor +patriae_. In a word, he had not a fault, that I could discover, unless +intrepidity bordering upon rashness could come under that denomination; +and to this he was excited by the purest motives.” + +Of another aide, Tench Tilghman, Washington said, “he has been a +zealous servant and slave to the public, and a faithful assistant to me +for near five years, great part of which time he refused to receive +pay. Honor and gratitude interest me in his favor.” As an instance of +this, the commander-in-chief gave to him the distinction of bearing to +Congress the news of the surrender of Cornwallis, with the request to +that body that Tilghman should be honored in some manner. And in +acknowledging a letter Washington said, “I receive with great +sensibility and pleasure your assurances of affection and regard. It +would be but a renewal of what I have often repeated to you, that there +are few men in the world to whom I am more attached by inclination than +I am to you. With the Cause, I hope—most devoutly hope—there will be an +end to my Military Service, when as our places of residence will not be +far apart, I shall never be more happy than in your Company at Mt. +Vernon. I shall always be glad to hear from, and keep up a +correspondence with you.” When Tilghman died, Washington asserted that + +“He had left as fair a reputation as ever belonged to a human +character,” and to his father he wrote, “Of all the numerous +acquaintances of your lately deceased son, & midst all the sorrowings +that are mingled on that melancholy occasion, I may venture to assert +that (excepting those of his nearest relatives) none could have felt +his death with more regret than I did, because no one entertained a +higher opinion of his worth, or had imbibed sentiments of greater +friendship for him than I had done…. Midst all your grief, there is +this consolation to be drawn;—that while living, no man could be more +esteemed, and since dead, none more lamented than Colo. Tilghman.” + +To David Humphreys, a member of the staff, Washington gave the honor of +carrying to Congress the standards captured at Yorktown, recommending +him to the notice of that body for his “attention, fidelity, and good +services.” This aide escorted Washington to Mount Vernon at the close +of the Revolution, and was “the last officer belonging to the army” who +parted from “the Commander-in-chief.” Shortly after, Humphreys returned +to Mount Vernon, half as secretary and half as visitor and companion, +and he alluded to this time in his poem of “Mount Vernon,” when he +said,— + +“Twas mine, return’d from Europe’s courts +To share his thoughts, partake his sports.” + + +When Washington was accused of cruelty in the Asgill case, Humphreys +published an account of the affair, completely vindicating his friend, +for which he was warmly thanked. He was frequently urged to come to +Mount Vernon, and Washington on one occasion lamented “the cause which +has deprived us of your aid in the attack of Christmas pies,” and on +another assured Humphreys of his “great pleasure [when] I received the +intimation of your spending the winter under this Roof. The invitation +was not less sincere, than the reception will be cordial. The only +stipulations I shall contend for are, that in all things you shall do +as you please—I will do the same; and that no ceremony may be used or +any restraint be imposed on any one.” Humphreys was visiting him when +the notification of his election as President was received, and was the +only person, except servants, who accompanied Washington to New York. +Here he continued for a time to give his assistance, and was +successively appointed Indian commissioner, informal agent to Spain, +and finally Minister to Portugal. While holding this latter position +Washington wrote to him, “When you shall think with the poet that ‘the +post of honor is a private station’—& may be inclined to enjoy yourself +in my shades … I can only tell you that you will meet with the same +cordial reception at Mount Vernon that you have always experienced at +that place,” and when Humphreys answered that his coming marriage made +the visit impossible, Washington replied, “The desire of a companion in +my latter days, in whom I could confide … induced me to express too +strongly … the hope of having you as an inmate.” On the death of +Washington, Humphreys published a poem expressing the deepest affection +and admiration for “my friend.” + + +[Illustration: WASHINGTON FAMILY RECORD] + + +The longest and closest connection was that with Hamilton. This very +young and obscure officer attracted Washington’s attention in the +campaign of 1776, early in the next year was appointed to the staff, +and quickly became so much a favorite that Washington spoke of him as +“my boy.” Whatever friendliness this implied was not, however, +reciprocated by Hamilton. After four years of service, he resigned, +under circumstances to which he pledged Washington to secrecy, and then +himself, in evident irritation, wrote as follows: + +“Two days ago, the General and I passed each other on the stairs. He +told me he wanted to speak to me. I answered that I would wait upon him +immediately. I went below, and delivered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be +sent to the commissary, containing an order of a pressing and +interesting nature. Returning to the General, I was stopped on the way +by the Marquis de Lafayette, and we conversed together about a minute +on a matter of business. He can testify how impatient I was to get +back, and that I left him in a manner which, but for our intimacy would +have been more than abrupt. Instead of finding the General, as is +usual, in his room, I met him at the head of the stairs, where, +accosting me in an angry tone, ‘Colonel Hamilton,’ said he ‘you have +kept me waiting at the head of the stairs these ten minutes. I must +tell you, sir, you treat me with disrespect.’ I replied without +petulancy, but with decision: ‘I am not conscious of it, sir; but since +you have thought it necessary to tell me so, we part.’ ‘Very well, +sir,’ said he, ‘if it be your choice,’ or something to this effect, and +we separated. I sincerely believe my absence, which gave so much +umbrage, did not last two minutes. In less than an hour after, Tilghman +came to me in the General’s name, assuring me of his great confidence +in my abilities, integrity, usefulness, etc, and of his desire, in a +candid conversation, to heal a difference which could not have happened +but in a moment of passion. I requested Mr Tilghman to tell him—1st. +That I had taken my resolution in a manner not to be revoked … Thus we +stand … Perhaps you may think I was precipitate in rejecting the +overture made by the General to an accomodation. I assure you, my dear +sir, it was not the effect of resentment; it was the deliberate result +of maxims I had long formed for the government of my own conduct…. I +believe you know the place I held in the General’s confidence and +counsels, which will make more extraordinary to you to learn that for +three years past I have felt no friendship for him and have professed +none. The truth is, our dispositions are the opposites of each other, +and the pride of my temper would not suffer me to profess what I did +not feel. Indeed, when advances of this kind have been made to me on +his part, they were received in a manner that showed at least that I +had no desire to court them, and that I desired to stand rather upon a +footing of military confidence than of private attachment.” + +Had Washington been the man this letter described he would never have +forgiven this treatment. On the contrary, only two months later, when +compelled to refuse for military reasons a favor Hamilton asked, he +said that “my principal concern arises from an apprehension that you +will impute my refusal to your request to other motives.” On this +refusal Hamilton enclosed his commission to Washington, but “Tilghman +came to me in his name, pressed me to retain my commission, with an +assurance that he would endeavor, by all means, to give me a command.” +Later Washington did more than Hamilton himself had asked, when he gave +him the leading of the storming party at Yorktown, a post envied by +every officer in the army. + +Apparently this generosity lessened Hamilton’s resentment, for a +correspondence on public affairs was maintained from this time on, +though Madison stated long after “that Hamilton often spoke +disparagingly of Washington’s talents, particularly after the +Revolution and at the first part of the presidentcy,” and Benjamin Rush +confirms this by a note to the effect that “Hamilton often spoke with +contempt of General Washington. He said that … his heart was a stone.” +The rumor of the ill feeling was turned to advantage by Hamilton’s +political opponents in 1787, and compelled the former to appeal to +Washington to save him from the injury the story was doing. In response +Washington wrote a letter intended for public use, in which he said,— + +“As you say it is insinuated by some of your political adversaries, and +may obtain credit, ‘that you _palmed_ yourself upon me, and was +_dismissed_ from my family,’ and call upon me to do you justice by a +recital of the facts, I do therefore explicitly declare, that both +charges are entirely unfounded. With respect to the first, I have no +cause to believe, that you took a single step to accomplish, or had the +most distant idea of receiving an appointment in my family till you +were invited in it; and, with respect to the second, that your quitting +it was altogether the effect of your own choice.” + +With the appointment as Secretary of the Treasury warmer feelings were +developed. Hamilton became the President’s most trusted official, and +was tireless in the aid he gave his superior. Even after he left office +he performed many services equivalent to official ones, for which +Washington did “not know how to thank” him “sufficiently,” and the +President leaned on his judgment to an otherwise unexampled extent. +This service produced affection and respect, and in 1792 Washington +wrote from Mount Vernon, “We have learnt … that you have some thoughts +of taking a trip this way. I felt pleasure at hearing it, and hope it +is unnecessary to add, that it would be considerably increased by +seeing you under this roof; for you may be assured of the sincere and +affectionate regard of yours, &c.” and signed other letters “always and +affectionately yours,” or “very affectionately,” while Hamilton +reciprocated by sending “affectionate attachment.” + +On being appointed lieutenant-general in 1798, Washington at once +sought the aid of Hamilton for the highest position under him, assuring +the Secretary of War that “of the abilities and fitness of the +gentleman you have named for a high command in the _provisional army_, +I think as you do, and that his services ought to be secured at almost +any price.” To this the President, who hated Hamilton, objected, but +Washington refused to take the command unless this wish was granted, +and Adams had to give way. They stood in this relation when Washington +died, and almost the last letter he penned was to this friend. On +learning of the death, Hamilton wrote of “our beloved +Commander-in-chief,”— + +“The very painful event … filled my heart with bitterness. Perhaps no +man in this community has equal cause with myself to deplore the loss. +I have been much indebted to the kindness of the General, and he was an +_Ægis very essential to me_. But regrets are unavailing. For great +misfortunes it is the business of reason to seek consolation. The +friends of General Washington have very noble ones. If virtue can +secure happiness in another world, he is happy.” + +Knox was the earliest army friend of those who rose to the rank of +general, and was honored by Washington with absolute trust. After the +war the two corresponded, and Knox expressed “unalterable affection” +for the “thousand evidences of your friendship.” He was appointed +Secretary of War in the first administration, and in taking command of +the provisional army Washington secured his appointment as a +major-general, and at this time asserted that, “with respect to General +Knox I can say with truth there is no man in the United States with +whom I have been in habits of greater intimacy, no one whom I have +loved more sincerely nor any for whom I have had a greater friendship.” + +Greene was perhaps the closest to Washington of all the generals, and +their relations might be dwelt upon at much length. But the best +evidence of friendship is in Washington’s treatment of a story +involving his financial honesty, of which he said, “persuaded as I +always have been of Genl Greene’s integrity and worth, I spurned those +reports which tended to calumniate his conduct … being perfectly +convinced that whenever the matter should be investigated, his motives +… would appear pure and unimpeachable.” When on Greene’s death +Washington heard that his family was left in embarrassed circumstances, +he offered, if Mrs. Greene would “entrust my namesake G. Washington +Greene to my care, I will give him as good an education as this country +(I mean the United States) will afford, and will bring him up to either +of the genteel professions that his frds. may chuse, or his own +inclination shall lead him to pursue, at my own cost & expence.” + +For “Light-horse Harry” Lee an affection more like that given to the +youngsters of the staff was felt Long after the war was over, Lee began +a letter to him “Dear General,” and then continued,— + +“Although the exalted station, which your love of us and our love of +you has placed you in, calls for change in mode of address, yet I +cannot so quickly relinquish the old manner. Your military rank holds +its place in my mind, notwithstanding your civic glory; and, whenever I +do abandon the title which used to distinguish you, I shall do it with +awkwardness…. My reluctance to trespass a moment on your time would +have operated to a further procrastination of my wishes, had I not been +roused above every feeling of ceremony by the heart rending +intelligence, received yesterday, that your life was despaired of. Had +I had wings in the moment, I should have wafted myself to your bedside, +only again to see the first of men; but alas! despairing as I was, from +the account received, after the affliction of one day and night, I was +made most happy by receiving a letter, now before me from New York, +announcing the restoration of your health. May heaven preserve it!” + +It was Lee who first warned Washington that Jefferson was slandering +him in secret, and who kept him closely informed as to the political +manuvres in Virginia. Washington intrusted to him the command of the +army in the Whiskey Insurrection, and gave him an appointment in the +provisional army. Lee was in Congress when the death of the great +American was announced to that body, and it was he who coined the +famous “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his +countrymen.” + +As need hardly be said, however, the strongest affection among the +general officers was that between Washington and Lafayette. In the +advent of this young Frenchman the commander saw only “embarassment,” +but he received “the young volunteer,” so Lafayette said, “in the most +friendly manner,” invited him to reside in his house as a member of his +military family, and as soon as he came to know him he recommended +Congress to give him a command. As Lafayette became popular with the +army, an endeavor was made by the Cabal to win him to their faction by +bribing him with an appointment to lead an expedition against Canada, +independent of control by Washington. Lafayette promptly declined the +command, unless subject to the General, and furthermore he “braved the +whole party (Cabal) and threw them into confusion by making them drink +the health of their general.” At the battle of Monmouth Washington gave +the command of the attacking party to Lafayette, and after the conflict +the two, according to the latter, “passed the night lying on the same +mantle, talking.” In the same way Washington distinguished him by +giving him the command of the expedition to rescue Virginia from +Cornwallis, and to his division was given the most honorable position +at Yorktown. When the siege of that place was completed, Lafayette +applied for leave of absence to spend the winter in France, and as he +was on the point of sailing he received a personal letter from +Washington, for “I owe it to friendship and to my affectionate regard +for you my dear Marquis, not to let you leave this country without +carrying fresh marks of my attachment to you,” and in his absence +Washington wrote that a mutual friend who bore a letter “can tell you +more forcibly, than I can express how much we all love and wish to +embrace you.” + +A reunion came in 1784, looked forward to by Lafayette with an +eagerness of which he wrote, “by Sunday or Monday, I hope at last to be +blessed with a sight of my dear General. There is no rest for me till I +go to Mount Vernon. I long for the pleasure to embrace you, my dear +General; and the happiness of being once more with you will be so +great, that no words can ever express it. Adieu, my dear General; in a +few days I shall be at Mount Vernon, and I do already feel delighted +with so charming a prospect.” After this visit was over Washington +wrote, “In the moment of our separation, upon the road as I travelled, +and every hour since, I have felt all that love, respect and attachment +for you, with which length of years, close connexion, and your merits +have inspired me. I often asked myself, as our carriages separated, +whether that was the last sight I ever should have of you?” And to this +letter Lafayette replied,— + +“No my beloved General, our late parting was not by any means a last +interview. My whole soul revolts at the idea; and could I harbour it an +instant, indeed, my dear General, it would make me miserable. I well +see you will never go to France. The inexpressible pleasure of +embracing you in my own house, of welcoming you in a family where your +name is adored, I do not much expect to experience; but to you I shall +return, and, within the walls of Mount Vernon, we shall yet speak of +olden times. My firm plan is to visit now and then my friend on this +side of the Atlantic; and the most beloved of all friends I ever had, +or ever shall have anywhere, is too strong an inducement for me to +return to him, not to think that whenever it is possible I shall renew +my so pleasing visits to Mount Vernon…. Adieu, adieu, my dear General. +It is with inexpressible pain that I feel I am going to be severed from +you by the Atlantic. Everything, that admiration, respect, gratitude, +friendship, and fillial love, can inspire, is combined in my +affectionate heart to devote me most tenderly to you. In your +friendship I find a delight which words cannot express. Adieu, my dear +General. It is not without emotion that I write this word, although I +know I shall soon visit you again. Be attentive to your health. Let me +hear from you every month. Adieu, adieu.” + +The correspondence begged was maintained, but Lafayette complained that +“To one who so tenderly loves you, who so happily enjoyed the times we +have passed together, and who never, on any part of the globe, even in +his own house, could feel himself so perfectly at home as in your +family, it must be confessed that an irregular, lengthy correspondence +is quite insufficient I beseech you, in the name of our friendship, of +that paternal concern of yours for my happiness, not to miss any +opportunity to let me hear from my dear General.” + +One letter from Washington told Lafayette of his recovery from a +serious illness, and Lafayette responded, “What could have been my +feelings, had the news of your illness reached me before I knew my +beloved General, my adopted father, was out of danger? I was struck at +the idea of the situation you have been in, while I, uninformed and so +distant from you, was anticipating the long-waited-for pleasure to hear +from you, and the still more endearing prospect of visiting you and +presenting you the tribute of a revolution, one of your first +offsprings. For God’s sake, my dear General, take care of your health!” + +Presently, as the French Revolution gathered force, the anxiety was +reversed, Washington writing that “The lively interest which I take in +your welfare, my dear Sir, keeps my mind in constant anxiety for your +personal safety.” This fear was only too well founded, for shortly +after Lafayette was a captive in an Austrian prison and his wife was +appealing to her husband’s friend for help. Our ministers were told to +do all they could to secure his liberty, and Washington wrote a +personal letter to the Emperor of Austria. Before receiving her letter, +on the first news of the “truly affecting” condition of “poor Madame +Lafayette,” he had written to her his sympathy, and, supposing that +money was needed, had deposited at Amsterdam two hundred guineas +“subject to your orders.” + +When she and her daughters joined her husband in prison, Lafayette’s +son, and Washington’s godson, came to America; an arrival of which the +godfather wrote that, “to express all the sensibility, which has been +excited in my breast by the receipt of young Lafayette’s letter, from +the recollection of his father’s merits, services, and sufferings, from +my friendship for him, and from my wishes to become a friend and father +to his son is unnecessary.” The lad became a member of the family, and +a visitor at this time records that “I was particularly struck with the +marks of affection which the General showed his pupil, his adopted son +of Marquis de Lafayette. Seated opposite to him, he looked at him with +pleasure, and listened to him with manifest interest.” With Washington +he continued till the final release of his father, and a simple +business note in Washington’s ledger serves to show both his delicacy +and his generosity to the boy: “By Geo. W. Fayette, gave for the +purpose of his getting himself such small articles of Clothing as he +might not choose to ask for $100.” Another item in the accounts was +three hundred dollars “to defray his exps. to France,” and by him +Washington sent a line to his old friend, saying, “this letter I hope +and expect will be presented to you by your son, who is highly +deserving of such parents as you and your amiable lady.” + +Long previous to this, too, a letter had been sent to Virginia +Lafayette, couched in the following terms: + +“Permit me to thank my dear little correspondent for the favor of her +letter of the 18 of June last, and to impress her with the idea of the +pleasure I shall derive from a continuance of them. Her papa is +restored to her with all the good health, paternal affection, and +honors, which her tender heart could wish. He will carry a kiss to her +from me (which might be more agreeable from a pretty boy), and give her +assurances of the affectionate regard with which I have the pleasure of +being her well-wisher, + +George Washington.” + +In this connection it is worth glancing at Washington’s relations with +children, the more that it has been frequently asserted that he had no +liking for them. As already shown, at different times he adopted or +assumed the expenses and charge of not less than nine of the children +of his kith and kin, and to his relations with children he seldom wrote +a letter without a line about the “little ones.” His kindnesses to the +sons of Ramsay, Craik, Greene, and Lafayette have already been noticed. +Furthermore, whenever death or illness came among the children of his +friends there was sympathy expressed. Dumas relates of his visit to +Providence with Washington, that “we arrived there at night; the whole +of the population had assembled from the suburbs; we were surrounded by +a crowd of children carrying torches, reiterating the acclamations of +the citizens; all were eager to approach the person of him whom they +called their father, and pressed so closely around us that they +hindered us from proceeding. General Washington was much affected, +stopped a few moments, and, pressing my hand, said, ‘We may be beaten +by the English; it is the chance of war; but behold an army which they +can never conquer,’” + +In his journey through New England, not being able to get lodgings at +an inn, Washington spent a night in a private house, and when all +payment was refused, he wrote his host from his next stopping-place,— + +“Being informed that you have given my name to one of your sons, and +called another after Mrs. Washington’s family, and being moreover very +much pleased with the modest and innocent looks of your two daughters, +Patty and Polly, I do for these reasons send each of these girls a +piece of chintz; and to Patty, who bears the name of Mrs. Washington, +and who waited upon us more than Polly did, I send five guineas, with +which she may buy herself any little ornaments she may want, or she may +dispose of them in any other manner more agreeable to herself. As I do +not give these things with a view to have it talked of, or even of its +being known, the less there is said about the matter the better you +will please me; but, that I may be sure the chintz and money have got +safe to hand, let Patty, who I dare say is equal to it, write me a line +informing me thereof, directed to ‘The President of the United States +at New York.’” + +Miss Stuart relates that “One morning while Mr. Washington was sitting +for his picture, a little brother of mine ran into the room, when my +father thinking it would annoy the General, told him he must leave; but +the General took him upon his knee, held him for some time, and had +quite a little chat with him, and, in fact, they seemed to be pleased +with each other. My brother remembered with pride, as long as he lived, +that Washington had talked with him.” + +For the son of his secretary, Lear, there seems to have been great +fondness, and in one instance the father was told that “It gave Mrs. +Washington, myself and all who know him, sincere pleasure to hear that +our little favorite had arrived safe, and was in good health at +Portsmouth. We sincerely wish him a long continuance of the latter—that +he may always be as charming and promising as he now is—and that he may +live to be a comfort and blessing to you, and an ornament to his +country. As a testimony of my affection for him I send him a ticket in +the lottery which is now drawing in the Federal City; and if it should +be his fortune to draw the hotel it will add to the pleasure I have in +giving it.” A second letter condoled with “little Lincoln,” because +owing to the collapse of the lottery the “poor little fellow” will not +even get enough to “build him a baby house.” + +For the father, Tobias Lear, who came into his employment in 1786 and +remained with him till his death, Washington felt the greatest +affection and trust. It was he who sent for the doctor in the beginning +of the last illness, and he was in the sickroom most of the time. +Holding Washington’s hand, he received from him his last orders, and +later when Washington “appeared to be in great pain and distress from +the difficulty of breathing … I lay upon the bed and endeavored to +raise him, and turn him with as much ease as possible. He appeared +penetrated with gratitude for my attentions, and often said ‘I am +afraid I shall fatigue you too much.’” Still later Lear “aided him all +in my power, and was gratified in believing he felt it; for he would +look upon me with eyes speaking gratitude, but unable to utter a word +without great distress.” At the final moment Lear took his hand “and +laid it upon his breast.” When all was over, “I kissed the cold hand, +laid it down, and was … lost in profound grief.” + + + + +X +ENEMIES + + +Any man of force is to be known quite as much by the character of his +enemies as by that of his friends, and this is true of Washington. The +subject offers some difficulties, for most of his enemies later in life +went out of their way to deny all antagonism, and took pains to destroy +such proof as they could come at of ill-feeling towards him. Yet enough +remains to show who were in opposition to him, and on what grounds. + +The first of those now known to be opposed to him was George Muse, +lieutenant-colonel in 1754 under Washington. At Fort Necessity he was +guilty of cowardice, he was discharged in disgrace, and his name was +omitted from the Assembly’s vote of thanks to the regiment. Stung by +this action, he took his revenge in a manner related by Peyroney, who +wrote Washington,— + +“Many enquired to me about Muse’s Braveries, poor Body I had pity him +ha’nt he had the weakness to Confes his Coardise himself, & the +impudence to taxe all the reste of the oficers without exception of the +same imperfection for he said to many of the Consulars and Burgeses +that he was Bad But th’ the reste was as Bad as he—To speak francly, +had I been in town at that time I cou’nt help’d to make use of my +horses [whip] whereas for to vindicate the injury of that vilain. He +Contrived his Business so that several ask me if it was true that he +had Challeng’d you to fight: My Answer was no other But that he should +rather chuse to go to hell than doing of it—for he had Such thing +declar’d: that was his Sure Road.” + +Washington seems to have cherished no personal ill-will for Muse’s +conduct, and when the division of the “bounty lands” was being pushed, +he used his influence that the broken officer should receive a quotum. +Not knowing this, or else being ungrateful, Muse seems to have written +a letter to Washington which angered him, for he replied,— + +“Sir, Your impertinent letter was delivered to me yesterday. As I am +not accustomed to receive such from any man, nor would have taken the +same language from you personally, without letting you feel some marks +of my resentment, I would advise you to be cautious in writing me a +second of the same tenor. But for your stupidity and sottishness you +might have known, by attending to the public gazette, that you had your +full quantity of ten thousand acres of land allowed you, that is, nine +thousand and seventy-three acres in the great tract, and the remainder +in the small tract. But suppose you had really fallen short, do you +think your superlative merit entitles you to greater indulgence than +others? Or, if it did, that I was to make it good to you, when it was +at the option of the Governor and Council to allow but five hundred +acres in the whole, if they had been so inclined? If either of these +should happen to be your opinion, I am very well convinced that you +will be singular in it; and all my concern is, that I ever engaged in +behalf of so ungrateful a fellow as you are. But you may still be in +need of my assistance, as I can inform you, that your affairs, in +respect to these lands, do not stand upon so solid a basis as you +imagine, and this you may take by way of hint. I wrote to you a few +days ago concerning the other distribution, proposing an easy method of +dividing our lands; but since I find in what temper you are, I am sorry +I took the trouble of mentioning the land or your name in a letter, as +I do not think you merit the least assistance from me.” + +The Braddock campaign brought acquaintance with one which did not end +in friendship, however amicable the beginning. There can be little +doubt that there was cameraderie with the then Lieutenant-Colonel Gage, +for in 1773, when in New York for four days, Washington “Dined with +Gen. Gage,” and also “dined at the entertainment given by the citizens +of New York to Genl. Gage.” When next intercourse was resumed, it was +by formal correspondence between the commanders-in-chief of two hostile +armies, Washington inquiring as to the treatment of prisoners, and as a +satisfactory reply was not obtained, he wrote again, threatening +retaliation, and “closing my correspondence with you, perhaps forever,” +—a letter which Charles Lee thought “a very good one, but Gage +certainly deserved a stronger one, such as it was before it was +softened.” One cannot but wonder what part the old friendship played in +this “softening.” + +Relations with the Howes began badly by a letter from Lord Howe +addressed “George Washington, Esq.,” which Washington declined to +receive as not recognizing his official position. A second one to +“George Washington, Esq. &c. &c. &c.” met with the same fate, and +brought the British officer “to change my superscription.” A little +after this brief war of forms, a letter from Washington to his wife was +intercepted with others by the enemy, and General Howe enclosed it, +“happy to return it without the least attempt being made to discover +any part of the contents.” This courtesy the American commander +presently was able to reciprocate by sending “General Washington’s +compliments to General Howe,—does himself the pleasure to return to him +a dog, which accidentally fell into his hands, and, by the inscription +on the collar, appears to belong to General Howe.” Even politeness had +its objections, however, at moments, and Washington once had to write +Sir William,— + +“There is one passage of your letter, which I cannot forbear taking +particular notice of. No expression of personal politeness to me can be +acceptable, accompanied by reflections on the representatives of a free +people, under whose authority I have the honor to act. The delicacy I +have observed, in refraining from everything offensive in this way, +entitles me to expect a similar treatment from you. I have not indulged +myself in invective against the present rulers of Great Britain, in the +course of our correspondence, nor will I even now avail myself of so +fruitful a theme.” + +Apparently when Sir Henry Clinton succeeded to the command of the +British army the same old device to insult the General was again tried, +for Dumas states that Washington “received a despatch from Sir Henry +Clinton, addressed to ‘Mr. Washington.’ Taking it from the hands of the +flag of truce, and seeing the direction, ‘This letter,’ said he, ‘is +directed to a planter of the state of Virginia. I shall have it +delivered to him after the end of the war; till that time it shall not +be opened.’ A second despatch was addressed to his Excellency General +Washington.” A better lesson in courtesy was contained in a letter from +Washington to him, complaining of “wanton, unprecedented and inhuman +murder,” which closed with the following: “I beg your Excellency to be +persuaded, that it cannot be more disagreeable to you to be addressed +in this language, than it is to me to offer it; but the subject +requires frankness and decision.” + +Quite as firm was one addressed to Cornwallis, which read,— + +“It is with infinite regret, I am again compelled to remonstrate +against that spirit of wanton cruelty, that has in several instances +influenced the conduct of your soldiery. A recent exercise of it +towards an unhappy officer of ours, Lieutenant Harris, convinces me, +that my former representations on this subject have been unavailing. +That Gentleman by the fortunes of war, on Saturday last was thrown into +the hands of a party of your horse, and unnecessarily murdered with the +most aggravated circumstances of barbarity. I wish not to wound your +Lordship’s feelings, by commenting on this event; but I think it my +duty to send his mangled body to your lines as an undeniable testimony +of the fact, should it be doubted, and as the best appeal to your +humanity for the justice of our complaint.” + +A pleasanter intercourse came with the surrender of Yorktown, after +which not merely were Cornwallis and his officers saved the +mortification of surrendering their swords, but the chief among them +were entertained at dinner by Washington. At this meal, so a +contemporary account states, “Rochhambeau, being asked for a toast, +gave _‘The United States’_. Washington gave _‘The King of France’_. +Lord Cornwallis, simply _‘The King’_; but Washington, putting that +toast, added, _‘of England’_, and facetiously, _‘confine him there, +I’ll drink him a full bumper’_, filling his glass till it ran over. +Rochambeau, with great politeness, was still so French, that he would +every now and then be touching on points that were improper, and a +breach of real politeness. Washington often checked him, and showed in +a more saturnine manner, the infinite esteem he had for his gallant +prisoner, whose private qualities the Americans admired even in a foe, +that had so often filled them with the most cruel alarms.” Many years +later, when Cornwallis was governor-general of India, he sent a verbal +message to his old foe, wishing “General Washington a long enjoyment of +tranquility and happiness,” adding that for himself he “continued in +troubled waters.” + + +[Illustration: MRS WASHINGTON] + + +Turning from these public rather than personal foes, a very different +type of enemies is encountered in those inimical to Washington in his +own army. Chief of these was Horatio Gates, with whom Washington had +become acquainted in the Braddock campaign, and with whom there was +friendly intercourse from that time until the Revolution. In 1775, at +Washington’s express solicitation, Gates was appointed adjutant- and +brigadier-general, and in a letter thanking Washington for the favor he +professed to have “the greatest respect for your character and the +sincerest attachment to your person.” Nevertheless, he very early in +the war suggested that a committee of Congress be sent to camp to keep +watch on Washington, and as soon as he was in a separate command he +began to curry favor with Congress and scheme against his commander. +This was not unknown to Washington, who afterwards wrote, “I discovered +very early in the war symptoms of coldness & constraint in General +Gates’ behavior to me. These increased as he rose into greater +consequence.” + +When Burgoyne capitulated to Gates, he sent the news to Congress and +not to Washington, and though he had no further need for troops the +commander-in-chief had sent him, he endeavored to prevent their return +at a moment when every man was needed in the main army. His attitude +towards Washington was so notorious that his friends curried favor with +him by letters criticising the commander, and when, by chance, the +General learned of the contents of one of these letters, and news to +that effect reached the ears of Gates, he practically charged +Washington with having obtained his knowledge by dishonorable means; +but Washington more than repaid the insult, in telling Gates how he had +learned of the affair, by adding that he had “considered the +information as coming from yourself, and given with a friendly view to +forewarn and consequently forearm me, against a secret enemy … but in +this, as in other matters of late, I have found myself mistaken.” +Driven to the wall, Gates wrote to Washington a denial that the letter +contained the passage in question, which was an absolute lie, and this +untruth typifies his character. Without expressing either belief or +disbelief in this denial, Washington replied,— + +“I am as averse to controversy as any man, and had I not been forced +into it, you never would have had occasion to impute to me, even the +shadow of disposition towards it. Your repeatedly and solemnly +disclaiming any offensive views in those matters, which have been the +subject of our past correspondence makes me willing to close with the +desire, you express, of burying them hereafter in silence, and, as far +as future events will permit, oblivion. My temper leads me to peace and +harmony with all men; and it is peculiarly my wish to avoid any +personal feuds or dissentions with those who are embarked in the same +great national interest with, myself; as every difference of this kind +must in its consequence be very injurious.” + +After this affair subsided, Washington said,— + +“I made a point of treating Gen. Gates with all the attention and +cordiality in my power, as well from a sincere desire of harmony, as +from an unwillingness to give any cause of triumph among ourselves. I +can appeal to the world, and to the whole army, whether I have not +cautiously avoided offending Gen. Gates in any way. I am sorry his +conduct to me has not been equally generous, and that he is continually +giving me fresh proofs of malevolence and opposition. It will not be +doing him injustice to say, that, besides the little underhand +intrigues which he is frequently practising, there has hardly been any +great military question, in which his advice has been asked, that it +has not been given in an equivocal and designing manner, apparently +calculated to afford him an opportunity of censuring me, on the failure +of whatever measures might be adopted.” + +After the defeat of Gates at Camden, the Prince de Broglie wrote that +“I saw General Gates at the house of General Washington, with whom he +had had a misunderstanding…. This interview excited the curiosity of +both armies. It passed with a most perfect propriety on the part of +both gentlemen. Mr. Washington treated Mr. Gates with a politeness +which had a frank and easy air, while the other responded with that +shade of respect which was proper towards his general.” And how +fair-minded Washington was is shown by his refusal to interfere in an +army matter, because, “considering the delicate situation in which I +stand with respect to General Gates, I feel an unwillingness to give +any opinion (even in a confidential way) in a matter in which he is +concerned, lest my sentiments (being known) should have unfavorable +interpretations ascribed to them by illiberal Minds.” Yet the +friendship was never restored, and when the two after the war were +associated in the Potomac company, Washington’s sense of the old +treachery was still so keen that he alluded to the appointment of “my +bosom friend Genl G-tes, who being at Richmond, contrived to edge +himself in to the commission.” + +Thomas Conway was Washington’s traducer to Gates. He was an +Irish-French soldier of fortune who unfortunately had been made a +brigadier-general in the Continental army. Having made friends of the +New England delegates in Congress, it was then proposed by them to +advance him to the rank of major-general, which Washington opposed, on +the grounds that “his merit and importance exist more in his +imagination than in reality.” For the moment this was sufficient to +prevent Conway’s promotion, and even if he had not before been opposed +to his commander, he now became his bitter enemy. To more than Gates he +said or wrote, “A great & good God has decreed that America shall be +free, or Washington and weak counsellors would have ruined her long +ago.” Upon word of this reaching Washington, so Laurens tells, “The +genl immediately copied the contents of the paper, introducing them +with ‘sir,’ and concluding with, ‘I am your humble servt,’ and sent +this copy in the form of a letter to Genl Conway. This drew an answer, +in which he first attempts to deny the fact, and then in a most +shameless manner, to explain away the matter. The perplexity of his +style, and evident insincerity of his compliments, betray his weak +sentiments, and expose his guilt.” + +Yet, though detected, Conway complained to the Continental Congress +that Washington was not treating him properly, and in reply to an +inquiry from a member the General acknowledged that,— + +“If General Conway means by cool receptions mentioned in the last +paragraph of his letter of the 31st ultimo, that I did not receive him +in the language of a warm and cordial friend, I readily confess the +charge. I did not, nor shall I ever, till I am capable of the arts of +dissimulation. These I despise, and my feelings will not permit me to +make professions of friendship to the man I deem my enemy, and whose +system of conduct forbids it. At the same time, truth authorizes me to +say, that he was received and treated with proper respect to his +official character, and that he has had no cause to justify the +assertion, that he could not expect any support for fulfilling the +duties of his appointment.” + +In spite of Washington’s opposition, Conway’s friends were numerous +enough in the Congress finally to elect him major-general, at the same +time appointing him inspector-general. Elated with this evident +partiality of the majority of that body for him, he went even further, +and Laurens states that he was guilty of a “base insult” to Washington, +which “affects the General very sensibly,” and he continues,— + +“It is such an affront as Conway would never have dared to offer, if +the General’s situation had not assured him of the impossibility of its +being revenged in a private way. The Genl, therefore, has determined to +return him no answer at all, but to lay the whole matter before +Congress; they will determine whether Genl W. is to be sacrificed to +Genl. C., for the former can never consent to be concern’d in any +transaction with the latter, from whom he has received such +unpardonable insults.” + +Fortunately, Conway did not limit his “insulting letters” to the +commander-in-chief alone, and presently he sent one to Congress +threatening to resign, which so angered that body that they took him at +his word. Moreover, his open abuse of Washington led an old-time friend +of the latter to challenge him, and to lodge a ball, with almost poetic +justice, in Conway’s mouth. Thinking himself on the point of death, he +wrote a farewell line to Washington “expressing my sincere grief for +having done, written or said anything disagreeable to your Excellency…. +You are in my eyes a great and good man.” And with this recantation he +disappeared from the army. A third officer in this “cabal” was Thomas +Mifflin. He was the first man appointed on Washington’s staff at the +beginning of the war, but did not long remain in that position, being +promoted by Washington to be quartermaster-general. In this position +the rumor reached the General that Mifflin was “concerned in trade,” +and Washington took “occasion to hint” the suspicion to him, only to +get a denial from the officer. Whether this inquiry was a cause for +ill-feeling or not, Mifflin was one of the most outspoken against the +commander-in-chief as his opponents gathered force, and Washington +informed Henry that he “bore the second part in the cabal.” Mifflin +resigned from the army and took a position on the board of war, but +when the influence of that body broke down with the collapse of the +Cabal, he applied for a reappointment,—a course described by Washington +in plain English as follows: + +“I was not a little surprised to find a certain gentleman, who, some +time ago (when a cloud of darkness hung heavy over us, and our affairs +looked gloomy,) was desirous of resigning, now stepping forward in the +line of the army. But if he can reconcile such conduct to his own, +feelings, as an officer and a man of honor, and Congress hath no +objections to his leaving his seat in another department, I have +nothing personally to oppose it. Yet I must think, that gentleman’s +stepping in and out, as the sun happens to beam forth or obscure, is +not _quite_ the thing, nor _quite_ just, with respect to those +officers, who take ye bitter with the sweet.” + +Not long after Greene wrote that “I learn that General Mifflin has +publicly declared that he looked upon his Excellency as the best friend +he ever had in his life, so that is a plain sign that the Junto has +given up all ideas of supplanting our excellent general from a +confidence of the impracticability of such an attempt.” + +A very minor but most malignant enemy was Dr. Benjamin Rush. In 1774 +Washington dined with him in Philadelphia, which implied friendship. +Very early in the war, however, an attempt was made to remove the +director-general of hospitals, in which, so John Armstrong claimed, +“Morgan was the ostensible—Rush the real prosecutor of Shippen—the +former acting from revenge,… the latter from a desire to obtain the +directorship. In approving the sentence of the court, Washington +stigmatized the prosecution as one originating in bad motives, which +made Rush his enemy and defamer as long as he lived.” Certain it is he +wrote savage letters of criticism about his commander-in-chief of which +the following extract is a sample: + +“I have heard several officers who have served under General Gates +compare his army to a well regulated family. The same gentlemen have +compared Gen’l Washington’s imitation of an army to an unformed mob. +Look at the characters of both! The one on the pinnacle of military +glory—exulting in the success of schemes planned with wisdom, & +executed with vigor and bravery—and above all see a country saved by +his exertions. See the other outgeneral’d and twice heated—obliged to +witness the march of a body of men only half their number thro’ 140 +Miles of a thick settled country— forced to give up a city the capitol +of a state & after all outwitted by the same army in a retreat.” + +Had Rush written only this, there would be no grounds for questioning +his methods; but, not content with spreading his opinions among his +friends, he took to anonymous letter-writing, and sent an unsigned +letter abusing Washington to the governor of Virginia (and probably to +others), with the request that the letter should be burned. Instead of +this, Henry sent it to Washington, who recognized at once the +handwriting, and wrote to Henry that Rush “has been elaborate and +studied in his professions of regard to me, and long since the letter +to you.” An amusing sequel to this incident is to be found in Rush +moving heaven and earth on the publication of Marshall’s “Life of +Washington” to prevent his name from appearing as one of the +commander-in-chief’s enemies. + +After the collapse of the attempt Washington wrote to a friend, “I +thank you sincerely for the part you acted at York respecting C—-y, and +believe with you that matters have and will turn out very different to +what that party expected. G—-s has involved himself in his letters to +me in the most absurd contradictions. M—- has brought himself into a +scrape that he does not know how to get out of with a gentleman of this +State, and C—-, as you know is sent upon an expedition which all the +world knew, and the event has proved, was not practicable. In a word, I +have a good deal of reason to believe that the machination of this +junta will recoil upon their own heads, and be a means of bringing some +matters to light which, by getting me out of the way, some of them +thought to conceal.” + +Undoubtedly the most serious army antagonist was General Charles Lee, +and, but for what seem almost fatalistic chances, he would have been a +dangerous rival. He was second in command very early in the war, and at +this time he asserted that “no man loves, respects and reverences +another more than I do General Washington. I esteem his virtues, +private and public. I know him to be a man of sense, courage and +firmness.” But four months later he was lamenting Washington’s “fatal +indecision,” and by inference was calling him “a blunderer.” In another +month he wrote, “_entre nous_ a certain great man is most damnably +deficient.” At this point, fortunately, Lee was captured by the +British, so that his influence for the time being was destroyed. While +a prisoner he drew up a plan for the English general, showing how +America could be conquered. + +When he had been exchanged, and led the American advance at the battle +of Monmouth, he seems to have endeavored to aid the British in another +way, for after barely engaging, he ordered a retreat, which quickly +developed into a rout, and would have ended in a serious defeat had +not, as Laurens wrote, “fortunately for the honor of the army, and the +welfare of America, Genl Washington met the troops retreating in +disorder, and without any plan to make an opposition. He ordered some +pieces of artillery to be brought up to defend the pass, and some +troops to form and defend the pieces. The artillery was too distant to +be brought up readily, so that there was but little opposition given +here. A few shot though, and a little skirmishing in the wood checked +the enemy’s career. The Genl expressed his astonishment at this +unaccountable retreat Mr. Lee indecently replied that the attack was +contrary to his advice and opinion in council.” + +In a fit of temper Lee wrote Washington two imprudent letters, +expressed “in terms [so] highly improper” that he was ordered under +arrest and tried by a court-martial, which promptly found him guilty of +disobedience and disrespect, as well as of making a “disorderly and +unnecessary retreat.” To this Lee retorted, “I aver that his +Excellencies letter was from beginning to the end a most abominable +lie—I aver that my conduct will stand the strictest scrutiny of every +military judge—I aver that my Court Martial was a Court of +Inquisition—that there was not a single member with a military idea—at +least if I may pronounce from the different questions they put to the +evidences.” + +In this connection it is of interest to note a letter from Washington’s +friend Mason, which said, “You express a fear that General Lee will +challenge our friend. Indulge in no such apprehensions, for he too well +knows the sentiments of General Washington on the subject of duelling. +From his earliest manhood I have heard him express his contempt of the +man who sends and the man who accepts a challenge, for he regards such +acts as no proof of moral courage; and the practice he abhors as a +relic of old barbarisms, repugnant alike to sound morality and +Christian enlightenment.” + +A little later, still smarting from this court-martial, Lee wrote to a +newspaper a savage attack on his late commander, apparently in the +belief, as he said in a private letter, that “there is … a visible +revolution … in the minds of men, I mean that our Great Gargantua, or +Lama Babak (for I know not which Title is the properest) begins to be +no longer consider’d as an infallible Divinity—and that those who have +been sacrificed or near sacrific’d on his altar, begin to be esteem’d +as wantonly and foolishly offer’d up.” Lee very quickly found his +mistake, for the editor of the paper which contained his attack was +compelled by a committee of citizens to publish an acknowledgment that +in printing it “I have transgressed against truth, justice and my duty +as a good citizen,” and, as Washington wrote to a friend, “the author +of the Queries, ‘Political and Military,’ has had no cause to exult in +the favorable reception of them by the public.” With Lee’s +disappearance the last army rival dropped from the ranks, and from that +time there was no question as to who should command the armies of +America. Long after, a would-be editor of Lee’s papers wrote to +Washington to ask if he had any wishes in regard to the publication, +and was told in the reply that,— + +“I never had a difference with that gentleman, but on public ground, +and my conduct towards him upon this occasion was such only, as I +conceived myself indispensably bound to adopt in discharge of the +public trust reposed in me. If this produced in him unfavorable +sentiments of me, I yet can never consider the conduct I pursued, with +respect to him, either wrong or improper, however I may regret that it +may have been differently viewed by him and that it excited his censure +and animadversions. Should there appear in General Lee’s writings any +thing injurious or unfriendly to me, the impartial and dispassionate +world must decide how far I deserved it from the general tenor of my +conduct.” + +These attempts to undermine Washington owed their real vitality to the +Continental Congress, and it is safe to say that but for Washington’s +political enemies no army rival would have ventured to push forward. In +what the opposition in that body consisted, and to what length it went, +are discussed elsewhere, but a glance at the reasons of hostility to +him is proper here. + +John Adams declared himself “sick of the Fabian systems,” and in +writing of the thanksgiving for the Saratoga Convention, he said that +“one cause of it ought to be that the glory of turning the tide of arms +is not immediately due to the commander-in-chief…. If it had, idolatry +and adulation would have been unbounded.” James Lovell asserted that +“Our affairs are Fabiused into a very disagreeable posture,” and wrote +that “depend upon it for every ten soldiers placed under the command of +our Fabius, five recruits will be wanted annually during the war.” +William Williams agreed with Jonathan Trumbull that the time had come +when “a much exalted character should make way for a _general_” and +suggested if this was not done “voluntarily,” those to whom the public +looked should “see to it.” Abraham Clark thought “we may talk of the +Enemy’s Cruelty as we will, but we have no greater Cruelty to complain +of than the Management of our Army.” Jonathan D. Sargent asserted that +“we want a general—thousands of Lives & Millions of Property are yearly +sacrificed to the Insufficiency of our Commander-in-Chief—Two Battles +he has lost for us by two such Blunders as might have disgraced a +Soldier of three months standing, and yet we are so attached to this +Man that I fear we shall rather sink with him than throw him off our +Shoulders. And sink we must under his Management. Such Feebleness, & +Want of Authority, such Confusion & Want of Discipline, such Waste, +such destruction would exhaust the Wealth of both the Indies & +annihilate the armies of all Europe and Asia.” Richard Henry Lee agreed +with Mifflin that Gates was needed to “procure the indispensable +changes in our Army.” Other Congressmen who were inimical to +Washington, either by openly expressed opinion or by vote, were +Elbridge Gerry, Samuel Adams, William Ellery, Eliphalet Dyer, Roger +Sherman, Samuel Chase, and F.L. Lee. Later, when Washington’s position +was more secure, Gerry and R.H. Lee wrote to him affirming their +friendship, and to both the General replied without a suggestion of +ill-feeling, nor does he seem, in later life, to have felt a trace of +personal animosity towards any one of the men who had been in +opposition to him in Congress. Of this enmity in the army and Congress +Washington wrote,— + +“It is easy to bear the first, and even the devices of private enemies +whose ill will only arises from their common hatred to the cause we are +engaged in, are to me tolerable; yet, I confess, I cannot help feeling +the most painful sensations, whenever I have reason to believe I am the +object of persecution to men, who are embarked in the same general +interest, and whose friendship my heart does not reproach me with, ever +having done any thing to forfeit. But with many, it is a sufficient +cause to hate and wish the ruin of a man, because he has been happy +enough, to be the object of _his country’s_ favor.” + +The political course of Washington while President produced the +alienation of the two Virginians whom he most closely associated with +himself in the early part of his administration. With Madison the break +does not seem to have come from any positive ill-feeling, but was +rather an abandonment of intercourse as the differences of opinion +became more pronounced. The disagreement with Jefferson was more acute, +though probably never forced to an open rupture. To his political +friends Jefferson in 1796 wrote that the measures pursued by the +administration were carried out “under the sanction of a name which has +done too much good not to be sufficient to cover harm also,” and that +he hoped the President’s “honesty and his political errors may not +furnish a second occasion to exclaim, ‘curse on his virtues, they’ve +undone his country.’” Henry Lee warned Washington of the undercurrent +of criticism, and when Jefferson heard indirectly of this he wrote his +former chief that “I learn that [Lee] has thought it worth his while to +try to sow tares between you and me, by representing me as still +engaged in the bustle of politics & in turbulence & intrigue against +the government. I never believed for a moment that this could make any +impression on you, or that your knowledge of me would not overweigh the +slander of an intriguer dirtily employed in sifting the conversations +of my table.” To this Washington replied,— + +“As you have mentioned the subject yourself, it would not be frank, +candid or friendly to conceal, that your conduct has been represented +as derogating from that opinion _I_ had conceived you entertained of +me; that, to your particular friends and connexions you have described, +and they have denounced me as a person under a dangerous influence; and +that, if I would listen more to some _other_ opinions, all would be +well. My answer invariably has been, that I had never discovered any +thing in the conduct of Mr. Jefferson to raise suspicions in my mind of +his insincerity; that, if he would retrace my public conduct while he +was in the administration, abundant proofs would occur to him, that +truth and right decisions were the _sole_ objects of my pursuit; that +there was as many instances within his own knowledge of my having +decided _against_ as in _favor_ of the opinions of the person evidently +alluded to; and, I was no believer in the infallibility of the politics +or measures of _any man living_. In short that I was no party man +myself and the first wish of my heart was, if parties did exist, to +reconcile them.” + +As proof upon proof of Jefferson’s secret enmity accumulated, +Washington ceased to trust his disclaimers, and finally wrote to one of +his informants, “Nothing short of the evidence you have adduced, +corroborative of intimations which I had received long before through +another channel, could have shaken my belief in the sincerity of a +friendship, which I had conceived as possessed for me by the person to +whom you allude. But attempts to injure those, who are supposed to +stand well in the estimation of the people, and are stumbling blocks in +the way, by misrepresenting their political tenets, thereby to destroy +all confidence in them, are among the means by which the government is +to be assailed, and the constitution destroyed.” + +Once convinced, all relations with Jefferson were terminated. It is +interesting in this connection to note something repeated by Madison, +to the effect that “General Lafayette related to me the following +anecdote, which I shall repeat as nearly as I can in his own words. +‘When I last saw Mr. Jefferson,’ he observed, ‘we conversed a good deal +about General Washington, and Mr. Jefferson expressed high admiration +of his character. He remarked particularly that he and Hamilton often +disagreed when they were members of the Cabinet, and that General +Washington would sometimes favor the opinion of one and sometimes the +other, with an apparent strict impartiality. And Mr. Jefferson added +that, so sound was Washington’s judgment, that he was commonly +convinced afterwards of the accuracy of his decision, whether it +accorded with the opinion he had himself first advanced or not.’” + + +[Illustration: EARLIEST SIGNATURE OF WASHINGTON] + + +A third Virginian who was almost as closely associated was Edmund +Randolph. There had been a friendship with his father, until he turned +Tory and went to England, when, according to Washington’s belief, he +wrote the “forged letters” which gave Washington so much trouble. For +the sake of the old friendship, however, he gave the son a position on +his staff, and from that time was his friend and correspondent. In the +first administration he was made Attorney-General, and when Jefferson +retired from office he became Secretary of State. In this position he +was charged with political dishonesty. Washington gave him a chance to +explain, but instead he resigned from office and published what he +called “a vindication,” in which he charged the President with +“prejudging,” “concealment,” and “want of generosity.” Continuing, he +said, “never … could I have believed that in addressing you … I should +use any other language than that of a friend. From my early period of +life, I was taught to esteem you—as I advanced in years, I was +habituated to revere you:—you strengthened my prepossessions by marks +of attention.” And in another place he acknowledged the weakness of his +attack by saying, “still however, those very objections, the very +reputation which you have acquired, will cause it to be asked, why you +should be suspected of acting towards me, in any other manner, than +deliberately, justly and even kindly?” + +In the preparation of this pamphlet Randolph wrote the President a +letter which the latter asserted was “full of innuendoes,” and one +statement in the pamphlet he denounced as being “as impudent and +insolent an assertion as it is false.” And his irritation at this +treatment from one he had always befriended gave rise to an incident, +narrated by James Ross, at a breakfast at the President’s, when “after +a little while the Secretary of War came in, and said to Washington, +‘Have you seen Mr. Randolph’s pamphlet?’ ‘I have,’ said Washington, +‘and, by the eternal God, he is the damnedest liar on the face of the +earth!’ and as he spoke he brought his fist down upon the table with +all his strength, and with a violence which made the cups and plates +start from their places.” Fortunately, the attack was ineffective; +indeed, Hamilton wrote that “I consider it as amounting to a confession +of guilt; and I am persuaded this will be the universal opinion. His +attempts against you are viewed by all whom I have seen, as base. They +will certainly fail of their aim, and will do good rather than harm, to +the public cause and to yourself. It appears to me that, by you, no +notice can be, or ought to be, taken of the publication. It contains +its own antidote.” + +Not content with this double giving up of what to any man of honor was +confidential, Randolph, a little later, rested under Washington’s +suspicions of a third time breaking the seal of official secrecy by +sending a Cabinet paper to the newspapers for no other purpose than to +stir up feeling against Washington. But after his former patron’s death +regret came, and Randolph wrote to Bushrod Washington, “If I could now +present myself before your venerated uncle it would be my pride to +confess my contrition that I suffered my irritation, be the cause what +it might, to use some of those expressions respecting him which, at +this moment … I wish to recall as being inconsistent with my subsequent +convictions.” + +Another type of enemy, more or less the result of this differing with +Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Randolph, was sundry editors and +writers who gathered under their patronage and received aids of money +or of secret information. One who prospered for a time by abusing +Washington was Philip Freneau. He was a college friend of Madison’s, +and was induced to undertake the task by his and Jefferson’s urging, +though the latter denied this later. As aid to the undertaking, +Jefferson, then Secretary of State, gave Freneau an office, and thus +produced the curious condition of a clerk in the government writing and +printing savage attacks on the President. Washington was much irritated +at the abuse, and Jefferson in his “Anas” said that he “was evidently +sore & warm and I took his intention to be that I should interpose in +some way with Freneau, perhaps withdraw his appointment of translating +clerk to my office. But I will not do it.” According to the French +minister, some of the worst of these articles were written by Jefferson +himself, and Freneau is reported to have said, late in life, that many +of them were written by the Secretary of State. + +Far more indecent was the paper conducted by Benjamin Franklin Bache, +who, early in the Presidency, applied for a place in the government, +which for some reason not now known was refused. According to Cobbett, +who hated him, “this … scoundrel … spent several years in hunting +offices under the Federal Government, and being constantly rejected, he +at last became its most bitter foe. Hence his abuse of General +Washington, whom at the time he was soliciting a place he panegyrized +up to the third heaven.” Certain it is that under his editorship the +_General Advertiser_ and _Aurora_ took the lead in all criticisms of +Washington, and not content with these opportunities for daily and +weekly abuse, Bache (though the fact that they were forgeries was +notorious) reprinted the “spurious letters which issued from a certain +press in New York during the war, with a view to destroy the confidence +which the army and community might have had in my political +principles,—and which have lately been republished with greater avidity +and perseverance than ever, by Mr. Bache to answer the same nefarious +purpose with the latter,” and Washington added that “immense pains has +been taken by this said Mr. Bache, who is no more than the agent or +tool of those who are endeavoring to destroy the confidence of the +people, in the officers of Government (chosen by themselves) to +disseminate these counterfeit letters.” In addition Bache wrote a +pamphlet, with the avowal that “the design of these remarks is to prove +the want of claim in Mr. Washington either to the gratitude or +confidence of his country…. Our chief object … is to _destroy undue +impressions in favor of Mr. Washington_.” Accordingly it charged that +Washington was “treacherous,” “mischievous,” “inefficient;” dwelt upon +his “farce of disinterestedness,” his “stately journeyings through the +American continent in search of personal incense,” his “ostentatious +professions of piety,” his “pusillanimous neglect,” his “little +passions,” his “ingratitude,” his “want of merit,” his +“insignificance,” and his “spurious fame.” + +The successor of Bache as editor of these two journals, William Duane, +came to the office with an equal hatred of Washington, having already +written a savage pamphlet against him. In this the President was +charged with “treacherous mazes of passion,” and with having +“discharged the loathings of a sick mind.” Furthermore it asserted +“that had you obtained promotion … after Braddock’s defeat, your sword +would have been drawn against your country,” that Washington “retained +the barbarous usages of the feudal system and kept men in Livery,” and +that “posterity will in vain search for the monuments of wisdom in your +administration;” the purpose of the pamphlet, by the author’s own +statement, being “to expose the _Personal Idolatry_ into which we have +been heedlessly running,” and to show the people the “fallibility of +the most favored of men.” + +A fourth in this quartet of editors was the notorious James Thomson +Callender, whose publications were numerous, as were also his +impeachments against Washington. By his own account, this writer +maintained, “Mr. Washington has been twice a traitor,” has “authorized +the robbery and ruin of the remnants of his own army,” has “broke the +constitution,” and Callender fumes over “the vileness of the adulation +which has been paid” to him, claiming that “the extravagant popularity +possessed by this citizen reflects the utmost ridicule on the +discernment of America.” + +The bitterest attack, however, was penned by Thomas Paine. For many +years there was good feeling between the two, and in 1782, when Paine +was in financial distress, Washington used his influence to secure him +a position “out of friendship for me,” as Paine acknowledged. +Furthermore, Washington tried to get the Virginia Legislature to +pension Paine or give him a grant of land, an endeavor for which the +latter was “exceedingly obliged.” When Paine published his “Rights of +Man” he dedicated it to Washington, with an inscription dwelling on his +“exemplary virtue” and his “benevolence;” while in the body of the work +he asserted that no monarch of Europe had a character to compare with +Washington’s, which was such as to “put all those men called kings to +shame.” Shortly after this, however, Washington refused to appoint him +Postmaster-General; and still later, when Paine had involved himself +with the French, the President, after consideration, decided that +governmental interference was not proper. Enraged by these two acts, +Paine published a pamphlet in which he charged Washington with +“encouraging and swallowing the greatest adulation,” with being “the +patron of fraud,” with a “mean and servile submission to the insults of +one nation, treachery and ingratitude to another,” with “falsehood,” +“ingratitude,” and “pusillanimity;” and finally, after alleging that +the General had not “served America with more disinterestedness or +greater zeal, than myself, and I know not if with better effect,” Paine +closed his attack by the assertion, “and as to you, sir, _treacherous +in private friendship_, and a _hypocrite_ in public life, the world +will be puzzled to decide, whether you are an _apostate_ or an +_impostor_; whether you have _abandoned good principles_, or whether +_you ever had any?_” + +Washington never, in any situation, took public notice of these +attacks, and he wrote of a possible one, “I am gliding down the stream +of life, and wish, as is natural, that my remaining days may be +undisturbed and tranquil; and, conscious of my integrity, I would +willingly hope, that nothing would occur tending to give me anxiety; +but should anything present itself in this or any other publication, I +shall never undertake the painful task of recrimination, nor do I know +that I should even enter upon my justification.” To a friend he said, +“my temper leads me to peace and harmony with all men; and it is +peculiarly my wish to avoid any feuds or dissentions with those who are +embarked in the same great national interest with myself; as every +difference of this kind must in its consequence be very injurious.” + + + + +XI +SOLDIER + + +“My inclinations,” wrote Washington at twenty-three, “are strongly bent +to arms,” and the tendency was a natural one, coming not merely from +his Indian-fighting great-grandfather, but from his elder brother +Lawrence, who had held a king’s commission in the Carthagena +expedition, and was one of the few officers who gained repute in that +ill-fated attempt. At Mount Vernon George must have heard much of +fighting as a lad, and when the ill health of Lawrence compelled +resignation of command of the district militia, the younger brother +succeeded to the adjutancy. This quickly led to the command of the +first Virginia regiment when the French and Indian War was brewing. +Twice Washington resigned in disgust during the course of the war, but +each time his natural bent, or “glowing zeal,” as he phrased it, drew +him back into the service. The moment the news of Lexington reached +Virginia he took the lead in organizing an armed force, and in the +Virginia Convention of 1775, according to Lynch, he “made the most +eloquent speech … that ever was made. Says he, ‘I will raise one +thousand men, enlist them at my own expense, and march myself at their +head for the relief of Boston.’” At fifty-three, in speaking of war, +Washington said, “my first wish is to see this plague to mankind +banished from off the earth;” but during his whole life, when there was +fighting to be done, he was among those who volunteered for the +service. + +The personal courage of the man was very great. Jefferson, indeed, said +“he was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calmest +unconcern.” Before he had ever been in action, he noted of a certain +position that it was “a charming field for an encounter,” and his first +engagement he described as follows: “I fortunately escaped without any +wound, for the right wing, where I stood, was exposed to and received +all the enemy’s fire, and it was the part where the man was killed, and +the rest wounded. I heard the bullets whistle, and, believe me, there +is something charming in the sound.” In his second battle, though he +knew that he was “to be attacked and by unequal numbers,” he promised +beforehand to “withstand” them “if there are five to one,” adding, “I +doubt not, but if you hear I am beaten, but you will, at the same +[time,] hear that we have done our duty, in fighting as long [as] there +was a possibility of hope,” and in this he was as good as his word. +When sickness detained him in the Braddock march, he halted only on +condition that he should receive timely notice of when the fighting was +to begin, and in that engagement he exposed himself so that “I had four +bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped +unhurt, altho’ death was levelling my companions on every side of me!” +Not content with such an experience, in the second march on Fort +Duquesne he “prayed” the interest of a friend to have his regiment part +of the “light troops” that were to push forward in advance of the main +army. + +The same carelessness of personal danger was shown all through the +Revolution. At the battle of Brooklyn, on New York Island, at Trenton, +Germantown, and Monmouth, he exposed himself to the enemy’s fire, and +at the siege of Yorktown an eyewitness relates that “during the +assault, the British kept up an incessant firing of cannon and musketry +from their whole line. His Excellency General Washington, Generals +Lincoln and Knox with their aids, having dismounted, were standing in +an exposed situation waiting the result. Colonel Cobb, one of General +Washington’s aids, solicitous for his safety, said to his Excellency, +‘Sir, you are too much exposed here, had you not better step back a +little?’ ‘Colonel Cobb,’ replied his Excellency, ‘if you are afraid, +you have liberty to step back.’” It is no cause for wonder that an +officer wrote, “our army love their General very much, but they have +one thing against him, which is the little care he takes of himself in +any action. His personal bravery, and the desire he has of animating +his troops by example, make him fearless of danger. This occasions us +much uneasiness.” + + +[Illustration: WASHINGTON’S TRANSCRIPT OF THE RULES OF CIVILITY, +CIRCA 1744] + + +This fearlessness was equally shown by his hatred and, indeed, +non-comprehension of cowardice. In his first battle, upon the French +surrendering, he wrote to the governor, “if the whole Detach’t of the +French behave with no more Resolution than this chosen Party did, I +flatter myself we shall have no g’t trouble in driving them to the +d—-.” At Braddock’s defeat, though the regiment he had commanded +“behaved like men and died like soldiers,” he could hardly find words +to express his contempt for the conduct of the British “cowardly +regulars,” writing of their “dastardly behavior” when they “broke and +ran as sheep before hounds,” and raging over being “most scandalously” +and “shamefully beaten.” When the British first landed on New York +Island, and two New England brigades ran away from “a small party of +the enemy,” numbering about fifty, without firing a shot, he completely +lost his self-control at their “dastardly behavior,” and riding in +among them, it is related, he laid his cane over the officers’ backs, +“damned them for cowardly rascals,” and, drawing his sword, struck the +soldiers right and left with the flat of it, while snapping his pistols +at them. Greene states that the fugitives “left his Excellency on the +ground within eighty yards of the enemy, so vexed at the infamous +conduct of the troops, that he sought death rather than life,” and +Gordon adds that the General was only saved from his “hazardous +position” by his aides, who “caught the bridle of his horse and gave +him a different direction.” At Monmouth an aide stated that when he met +a man running away he was “exasperated … and threatened the man … he +would have him whipped,” and General Scott says that on finding Lee +retreating, “he swore like an angel from heaven.” Wherever in his +letters he alludes to cowardice it is nearly always coupled with the +adjectives “infamous,” “scandalous,” or others equally indicative of +loss of temper. + +There can be no doubt that Washington had a high temper. Hamilton’s +allusion to his not being remarkable for “good temper” has already been +quoted, as has also Stuart’s remark that “all his features were +indicative of the strongest and most ungovernable passions, and had he +been born in the forests, he would have been the fiercest man among the +savage tribes.” Again Stuart is quoted by his daughter as follows: + +“While talking one day with General Lee, my father happened to remark +that Washington had a tremendous temper, but held it under wonderful +control. General Lee breakfasted with the President and Mrs. Washington +a few days afterwards. + +“‘I saw your portrait the other day,’ said the General, ‘but Stuart +says you have a tremendous temper.’ + +“‘Upon my word,’ said Mrs. Washington, coloring, ‘Mr. Stuart takes a +great deal upon himself to make such a remark.’ + +“‘But stay, my dear lady,’ said General Lee, ‘he added that the +president had it under wonderful control.’ + +“With something like a smile, General Washington remarked, ‘He is +right.’” + +Lear, too, mentions an outburst of temper when he heard of the defeat +of St. Clair, and elsewhere records that in reading politics aloud to +Washington “he appeared much affected, and spoke with some degree of +asperity on the subject, which I endeavored to moderate, as I always +did on such occasions.” How he swore at Randolph and at Freneau is +mentioned elsewhere. Jefferson is evidence that “his temper was +naturally irritable and high-toned, but reflection and resolution had +obtained a firm and habitual ascendency over it. If however it broke +its bonds, he was most tremendous in his wrath.” + +Strikingly at variance with these personal qualities of courage and hot +blood is the “Fabian” policy for which he is so generally credited, and +a study of his military career goes far to dispel the conception that +Washington was the cautious commander that he is usually pictured. + +In the first campaign, though near a vastly superior French force, +Washington precipitated the conflict by attacking and capturing an +advance party, though the delay of a few days would have brought him +large reinforcements. As a consequence he was very quickly surrounded, +and after a day’s fighting was compelled to surrender. In what light +his conduct was viewed at the time is shown in two letters, Dr. William +Smith writing, “the British cause,… has received a fatal Blow by the +entire defeat of Washington, whom I cannot but accuse of Foolhardiness +to have ventured so near a vigilant enemy without being certain of +their numbers, or waiting for Junction of some hundreds of our best +Forces, who are within a few Days’ March of him,” and Ann Willing +echoed this by saying, “the melancholy news has just arrived of the +loss of sixty men belonging to Col. Washington’s Company, who were +killed on the spot, and of the Colonel and Half-King being taken +prisoners, all owing to the obstinacy of Washington, who would not wait +for the arrival of reinforcements.” + +Hardly less venturesome was he in the Braddock campaign, for “the +General (before they met in council,) asked my opinion concerning the +expedition. I urged it, in the warmest terms I was able, to push +forward, if we even did it with a small but chosen band, with such +artillery and light stores as were absolutely necessary; leaving the +heavy artillery, baggage, &c. with the rear division of the army, to +follow by slow and easy marches, which they might do safely, while we +were advanced in front.” How far the defeat of that force was due to +the division thus urged it is not possible to say, but it undoubtedly +made the French bolder and the English more subject to panic. + +The same spirit was manifested in the Revolution. During the siege of +Boston he wrote to Reed, “I proposed [an assault] in council; but +behold, though we had been waiting all the year for this favorable +event the enterprise was thought too dangerous. Perhaps it was; perhaps +the irksomeness of my situation led me to undertake more than could be +warranted by prudence. I did not think so, and I am sure yet, that the +enterprise, if it had been undertaken with resolution, must have +succeeded.” He added that “the enclosed council of war:… being almost +unanimous, I must suppose it to be right; although, from a thorough +conviction of the necessity of attempting something against the +ministerial troops before a reinforcement should arrive, and while we +were favored with the ice, I was not only ready but willing, and +desirous of making the assault,” and a little later he said that had he +but foreseen certain contingencies “all the generals upon earth should +not have convinced me of the propriety of delaying an attack upon +Boston.” + +In the defence of New York there was no chance to attack, but even when +our lines at Brooklyn had been broken and the best brigades in the army +captured, Washington hurried troops across the river, and intended to +contest the ground, ordering a retreat only when it was voted in the +affirmative by a council of war. At Harlem plains he was the attacking +party. + +How with a handful of troops he turned the tide of defeat by attacking +at Trenton and Princeton is too well known to need recital. At +Germantown, too, though having but a few days before suffered defeat, +he attacked and well-nigh won a brilliant victory, because the British +officers did not dream that his vanquished army could possibly take the +initiative. When the foe settled down into winter quarters in +Philadelphia Laurens wrote, “our Commander-in-chief wishing ardently to +gratify the public expectation by making an attack upon the enemy … +went yesterday to view the works.” On submitting the project to a +council, however, they stood eleven to four against the attempt. + +The most marked instance of Washington’s un-Fabian preferences, and +proof of the old saying that “councils of war never fight,” is +furnished in the occurrences connected with the battle of Monmouth. +When the British began their retreat across New Jersey, according to +Hamilton “the General unluckily called a council of war, the result of +which would have done honor to the most honorable society of mid-wives +and to them only. The purport was, that we should keep at a comfortable +distance from the enemy, and keep up a vain parade of annoying them by +detachment … The General, on mature reconsideration of what had been +resolved on, determined to pursue a different line of conduct at all +hazards.” Concerning this decision Pickering wrote,— + +“His great caution in respect to the enemy, acquired him the name of +the American Fabius. From this _governing_ policy he is said to have +departed, when” at Monmouth he “indulged the most anxious desire to +close with his antagonist in general action. Opposed to his wishes was +the advice of his general officers. To this he for a time yielded; but +as soon as he discovered that the enemy had reached Monmouth Court +House, not more than twelve miles from the heights of Middletown, he +determined that he should not escape without a blow.” + +Pickering considered this a “departure” from Washington’s “usual +practice and policy,” and cites Wadsworth, who said, in reference to +the battle of Monmouth, that the General appeared, on that occasion, +“to act from the impulses of his own mind.” + +Thrice during the next three years plans for an attack on the enemy’s +lines at New York were matured, one of which had to be abandoned +because the British had timely notice of it by the treachery of an +American general, a second because the other generals disapproved the +attempt, and, on the authority of Humphreys, “the accidental +intervention of some vessels prevented [another] attempt, which was +more than once resumed afterwards. Notwithstanding this favorite +project was not ultimately effected, it was evidently not less bold in +conception or feasible in accomplishment, than that attempted so +successfully at Trenton, or than that which was brought to so glorious +an issue in the successful siege of Yorktown.” + +As this _résumé_ indicates, the most noticeable trait of Washington’s +military career was a tendency to surrender his own opinions and wishes +to those over whom he had been placed, and this resulted in a general +agreement not merely that he was disposed to avoid action, but that he +lacked decision. Thus his own aide, Reed, in obvious contrast to +Washington, praised Lee because “you have decision, a quality often +wanted in minds otherwise valuable,” continuing, “Oh! General, an +indecisive mind is one of the greatest misfortunes that can befall an +army; how often have I lamented it this campaign,” and Lee in reply +alluded to “that fatal indecision of mind.” Pickering relates meeting +General Greene and saying to him, “‘I had once conceived an exalted +opinion of General Washington’s military talents; but since I have been +with the army, I have seen nothing to increase that opinion.’ Greene +answered, ‘Why, the General does want decision: for my part, I decide +in a moment.’ I used the word ‘increase,’ though I meant ‘support,’ but +did not dare speak it.” Wayne exclaimed “if our worthy general will but +follow his own good judgment without listening too much to some +counsel!” Edward Thornton, probably repeating the prevailing public +estimate of the time rather than his own conclusion, said, “a certain +degree of indecision, however, a want of vigor and energy, may be +observed in some of his actions, and are indeed the obvious result of +too refined caution.” + +Undoubtedly this leaning on others and the want of decision were not +merely due to a constitutional mistrust of his own ability, but also in +a measure to real lack of knowledge. The French and Indian War, being +almost wholly “bush-fighting,” was not of a kind to teach strategic +warfare, and in his speech accepting the command Washington requested +that “it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room, that I this +day declare with the utmost sincerity I do not think myself equal to +the command I am honored with.” Indeed, he very well described himself +and his generals when he wrote of one officer, “his wants are common to +us all—the want of experience to move upon a large scale, for the +limited and contracted knowledge, which any of us have in military +matters, stands in very little stead.” There can be no question that in +most of the “field” engagements of the Revolution Washington was +out-generalled by the British, and Jefferson made a just distinction +when he spoke of his having often “failed in the field, and rarely +against an enemy in station, as at Boston and York.” + +The lack of great military genius in the commander-in-chief has led +British writers to ascribe the results of the war to the want of +ability in their own generals, their view being well summed up by a +writer in 1778, who said, “in short, I am of the opinion … that any +other General in the world than General Howe would have beaten General +Washington; and any other General in the world than General Washington +would have beaten General Howe.” + +This is, in effect, to overlook the true nature of the contest, for it +was their very victories that defeated the British. They conquered New +Jersey, to meet defeat; they captured Philadelphia, only to find it a +danger; they established posts in North Carolina, only to abandon them; +they overran Virginia, to lay down their arms at Yorktown. As +Washington early in the war divined, the Revolution was “a war of +posts,” and he urged the danger of “dividing and subdividing our Force +too much [so that] we shall have no one post sufficiently guarded,” +saying, “it is a military observation strongly supported by experience, +‘that a superior army may fall a sacrifice to an inferior, by an +injudicious division.’” It was exactly this which defeated the British; +every conquest they made weakened their force, and the war was not a +third through when Washington said, “I am well convinced myself, that +the enemy, long ere this, are perfectly well satisfied, that the +possession of our towns, while we have an army in the field, will avail +them little.” As Franklin said, when the news was announced that Howe +had captured Philadelphia, “No, Philadelphia has captured Howe.” + +The problem of the Revolution was not one of military strategy, but of +keeping an army in existence, and it was in this that the +commander-in-chief’s great ability showed itself. The British could and +did repeatedly beat the Continental army, but they could not beat the +General, and so long as he was in the field there was a rallying ground +for whatever fighting spirit there was. + +The difficulty of this task can hardly be over-magnified. When +Washington assumed command of the forces before Boston, he “found a +mixed multitude of people … under very little discipline, order, or +government,” and “confusion and disorder reigned in every department, +which, in a little time, must have ended either in the separation of +the army or fatal contests with one another.” Before he was well in the +saddle his general officers were quarrelling over rank, and resigning; +there was such a scarcity of powder that it was out of the question for +some months to do anything; and the British sent people infected with +small-pox to the Continental army, with a consequent outbreak of that +pest. + +Hardly had he brought order out of chaos when the army he had taken +such pains to discipline began to melt away, having been by political +folly recruited for short terms, and the work was to be all done over. +Again and again during the war regiments which had been enlisted for +short periods left him at the most critical moment. Very typical +occurrences he himself tells of, when Connecticut troops could “not be +prevailed upon to stay longer than their term (saving those who have +enlisted for the next campaign, and mostly on furlough), and such a +dirty, mercenary spirit pervades the whole, that I should not be at all +surprised at any disaster that may happen,” and when he described how +in his retreat through New Jersey, “The militia, instead of calling +forth their utmost efforts to a brave and manly opposition in order to +repair our losses, are dismayed, intractable, and impatient to return. +Great numbers of them have gone off; in some instances, almost by whole +regiments, by half ones, and by companies at a time.” Another instance +of this evil occurred when “the Continental regiments from the eastern +governments … agreed to stay six weeks beyond their term of +enlistment…. For this extraordinary mark of their attachment to their +country, I have agreed to give them a bounty of ten dollars per man, +besides their pay running on.” The men took the bounty, and nearly +one-half went off a few days after. + +Nor was this the only evil of the policy of short enlistments. Another +was that the new troops not merely were green soldiers, but were +without discipline. At New York Tilghman wrote that after the battle of +Brooklyn the “Eastern” soldiers were “plundering everything that comes +in their way,” and Washington in describing the condition said, “every +Hour brings the most distressing complaints of the Ravages of our own +Troops who are become infinitely more formidable to the poor Farmers +and Inhabitants than the common Enemy. Horses are taken out of the +Continental Teams; the Baggage of Officers and the Hospital Stores, +even the Quarters of General Officers are not exempt from Rapine.” At +the most critical moment of the war the New Jersey militia not merely +deserted, but captured and took with them nearly the whole stores of +the army. As the General truly wrote, “the Dependence which the +Congress have placed upon the militia, has already greatly injured, and +I fear will totally ruin our cause. Being subject to no controul +themselves, they introduce disorder among the troops, whom you have +attempted to discipline, while the change in their living brings on +sickness; this makes them Impatient to get home, which spreads +universally, and introduces abominable desertions.” “The collecting +militia,” he said elsewhere, “depends entirely upon the prospects of +the day. If favorable they throng in to you; if not, they will not +move.” + +To make matters worse, politics were allowed to play a prominent part +in the selection of officers, and Washington complained that “the +different States [were], without regard to the qualifications of an +officer, quarrelling about the appointments, and nominating such as are +not fit to be shoeblacks, from the attachments of this or that member +of Assembly.” As a result, so he wrote of New England, “their officers +are generally of the lowest class of the people; and, instead of +setting a good example to their men, are leading them into every kind +of mischief, one species of which is plundering the inhabitants, under +the pretence of their being Tories.” To this political motive he +himself would not yield, and a sample of his appointments was given +when a man was named “because he stands unconnected with either of +these Governments; or with this, or that or tother man; for between you +and me there is more in this than you can easily imagine,” and he +asserted that “I will not have any Gentn. introduced from family +connexion, or local attachments, to the prejudice of the Service.” + +To misbehaving soldiers Washington showed little mercy. In his first +service he had deserters and plunderers “flogged,” and threatened that +if he could “lay hands” on one particular culprit, “I would try the +effect of 1000 lashes.” At another time he had “a Gallows near 40 feet +high erected (which has terrified the _rest_ exceedingly) and I am +determined if I can be justified in the proceeding, to hang two or +three on it, as an example to others.” When he took command of the +Continental army he “made a pretty good slam among such kind of +officers as the Massachusetts Government abound in since I came to this +Camp, having broke one Colo, and two Captains for cowardly behavior in +the action on Bunker’s Hill,—two Captains for drawing more provisions +and pay than they had men in their Company—and one for being absent +from his Post when the Enemy appeared there and burnt a House just by +it Besides these, I have at this time—one Colo., one Major, one Captn., +& two subalterns under arrest for tryal—In short I spare none yet fear +it will not at all do as these People seem to be too inattentive to +every thing but their Interest” “I am sorry,” he wrote, “to be under a +Necessity of making frequent Examples among the Officers,” but “as +nothing can be more fatal to an Army, than Crimes of this kind, I am +determined by every Motive of Reward and Punishment to prevent them in +future.” Even when plundering was avoided there were short commons for +those who clung to the General. The commander-in-chief wrote Congress +that “they have often, very often, been reduced to the necessity of +Eating Salt Porke, or Beef not for a day, or a week but months together +without Vegetables, or money to buy them;” and again, he complained +that “the Soldiers [were forced to] eat every kind of horse food but +Hay. Buckwheat, common wheat, Rye and Indn. Corn was the composition of +the Meal which made their bread. As an Army they bore it, [but] +accompanied by the want of Cloaths, Blankets, &c., will produce +frequent desertions in all armies and so it happens with us, tho’ it +did not excite a mutiny.” Even the horses suffered, and Washington +wrote to the quartermaster-general, “Sir, my horses I am told have not +had a mouthful of long or short forage for three days. They have eaten +up their mangers and are now, (though wanted for immediate use,) +scarcely able to stand.” + +Two results were sickness and discontent. At times one-fourth of the +soldiers were on the sick-list. Three times portions of the army +mutinied, and nothing but Washington’s influence prevented the disorder +from spreading. At the end of the war, when, according to Hamilton, +“the army had secretly determined not to lay down their arms until due +provision and a satisfactory prospect should be offered on the subject +of their pay,” the commander-in-chief urged Congress to do them +justice, writing, “the fortitude—the long, & great suffering of this +army is unexampled in history; but there is an end to all things & I +fear we are very near to this. Which, more than probably will oblige me +to stick very close to my flock this winter, & try like a careful +physician, to prevent, if possible, the disorders getting to an +incurable height.” In this he judged rightly, for by his influence +alone was the army prevented from adopting other than peaceful measures +to secure itself justice. + +A chief part of these difficulties the Continental Congress is directly +responsible for, and the reason for their conduct is to be found +largely in the circumstances of Washington’s appointment to the +command. + + +[Illustration: LIFE MASK OF WASHINGTON] + + +When the Second Congress met, in May, 1775, the battle of Lexington had +been fought, and twenty thousand minute-men were assembled about +Boston. To pay and feed such a horde was wholly beyond the ability of +New England, and her delegates came to the Congress bent upon getting +that body to assume the expense, or, as the Provincial Congress of +Massachusetts naively put it, “we have the greatest Confidence in the +Wisdom and Ability of the Continent to support us.” + +The other colonies saw this in a different light. Massachusetts, +without our advice, has begun a war and embodied an army; let +Massachusetts pay her own bills, was their point of view. “I have found +this Congress like the last,” wrote John Adams. “When we first came +together, I found a strong jealousy of us from New England, and the +Massachusettes in particular, suspicions entertained of designs of +independency, an American republic, Presbyterian principles, and twenty +other things. Our sentiments were heard in Congress with great caution, +and seemed to make but little impression.” Yet “every post brought me +letters from my friends … urging in pathetic terms the impossibility of +keeping their men together without the assistance of Congress.” “I was +daily urging all these things, but we were embarrassed with more than +one difficulty, not only with the party in favor of the petition to the +King, and the party who were zealous of independence, but a third +party, which was a southern party against a Northern, and a jealousy +against a New England army under the command of a New England General.” + +Under these circumstances a political deal was resorted to, and +Virginia was offered by John and Samuel Adams, as the price of an +adoption and support of the New England army, the appointment of +commander-in-chief, though the offer was not made with over-good grace, +and only because “we could carry nothing without conceding it.” There +was some dissension among the Virginia delegates as to who should +receive the appointment, Washington himself recommending an old +companion in arms, General Andrew Lewis, and “more than one,” Adams +says of the Virginia delegates, were “very cool about the appointment +of Washington, and particularly Mr. Pendleton was very clear and full +against it” Washington himself said the appointment was due to +“partiality of the Congress, joined to a political motive;” and, hard +as it is to realize, it was only the grinding political necessity of +the New England colonies which secured to Washington the place for +which in the light of to-day he seems to have been created. + +As a matter of course, there was not the strongest liking felt for the +General thus chosen by the New England delegates, and this was steadily +lessened by Washington’s frank criticism of the New England soldiers +and officers already noticed. Equally bitter to the New England +delegates and their allies were certain army measures that Washington +pressed upon the attention of Congress. He urged and urged that the +troops should be enlisted for the war, that promotions should be made +from the army as a whole, and not from the colony- or State-line alone, +and most unpopular of all, that since Continental soldiers could not +otherwise be obtained, a bounty should be given to secure them, and +that as compensation for their inadequate pay half-pay should be given +them after the war. He eventually carried these points, but at the +price of an entire alienation of the democratic party in the Congress, +who wished to have the war fought with militia, to have all the +officers elected annually, and to whom the very suggestion of pensions +was like a red rag to a bull. + +A part of their motive in this was unquestionably to prevent the danger +of a standing army, and of allowing the commander-in-chief to become +popular with the soldiers. Very early in the war Washington noted “the +_jealousy_ which Congress unhappily entertain of the army, and which, +if reports are right, some members labor to establish.” And he +complained that “I see a distrust and jealousy of military power, that +the commander-in-chief has not an opportunity, even by recommendation, +to give the least assurance of reward for the most essential services.” +The French minister told his government that when a committee was +appointed to institute certain army reforms, delegates in Congress +“insisted on the danger of associating the Commander-in-chief with it, +whose influence, it was stated, was already too great,” and when France +sent money to aid the American cause, with the provision that it should +be subject to the order of the General, it aroused, a writer states, +“the jealousy of Congress, the members of which were not satisfied that +the head of the army should possess such an agency in addition to his +military power.” + +His enemies in the Congress took various means to lessen his influence +and mortify him. Burke states that in the discussion of one question +“Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina voted for +expunging it; the four Eastern States, Virginia and Georgia for +retaining it. There appeared through this whole debate a great desire, +in some of the delegates from the Eastern States, and in one from New +Jersey, to insult the General,” and a little later the Congress passed +a “resolve which,” according to James Lovell, “was meant to rap a Demi +G—over the knuckles.” Nor was it by commission, but as well by +omission, that they showed their ill feeling. John Laurens told his +father that + +“there is a conduct observed towards” the General “by certain great +men, which as it is humiliating, must abate his happiness…. The +Commander in Chief of this army is not sufficiently informed of all +that is known by Congress of European affairs. Is it not a galling +circumstance, for him to collect the most important intelligence +piecemeal, and as they choose to give it, from gentlemen who come from +York? Apart from the chagrin which he must necessarily feel at such an +appearance of slight, it should be considered that in order to settle +his plan of operations for the ensuing campaign, he should take into +view the present state of European affairs, and Congress should not +leave him in the dark.” + +Furthermore, as already noted, Washington was criticised for his Fabian +policy, and in his indignation he wrote to Congress, “I am informed +that it is a matter of amazement, and that reflections have been thrown +out against this army, for not being more active and enterprising than, +in the opinion of some, they ought to have been. If the charge is just, +the best way to account for it will be to refer you to the returns of +our strength, and those which I can produce of the enemy, and to the +enclosed abstract of the clothing now actually wanting for the army.” +“I can assure those gentlemen,” he said, in reply to political +criticism, “that it is a much easier and less distressing thing to draw +remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good fireside, than to occupy +a cold, bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow, without clothes or +blankets.” + +The ill feeling did not end with insults. With the defeats of the years +1776 and 1777 it gathered force, and towards the end of the latter year +it crystallized in what has been known in history as the Conway Cabal. +The story of this conspiracy is so involved in shadow that little is +known concerning its adherents or its endeavors. But in a general way +it has been discovered that the New England delegates again sought the +aid of the Lee faction in Virginia, and that this coalition, with the +aid of such votes as they could obtain, schemed several methods which +should lessen the influence of Washington, if they did not force him to +resign. Separate and detached commands were created, which were made +independent of the commander-in-chief, and for this purpose even a +scheme which the General called “a child of folly” was undertaken. +Officers notoriously inimical to Washington, yet upon whom he would be +forced to rely, were promoted. A board of war made up of his enemies, +with powers “in effect paramount,” Hamilton says, “to those of the +commander-in-chief,” was created It is even asserted that it was moved +in Congress that a committee should be appointed to arrest Washington, +which was defeated only by the timely arrival of a new delegate, by +which the balance of power was lost to the Cabal. + +Even with the collapse of the army Cabal the opposition in Congress was +maintained. “I am very confident,” wrote General Greene, “that there is +party business going on again, and, as Mifflin is connected with it, I +doubt not its being a revival of the old scheme;” again writing, +“General Schuyler and others consider it a plan of Mifflin’s to injure +your Excellency’s operations. I am now fully convinced of the reality +of what I suggested to you before I came away.” In 1779 John Sullivan, +then a member of Congress, wrote,— + +“Permit me to inform your Excellency, that the faction raised against +you in 1777, is not yet destroyed. The members are waiting to collect +strength, and seize some favorable moment to appear in force. I speak +not from conjecture, but from certain knowledge. Their plan is to take +every method of proving the danger arising from a commander, who enjoys +the full and unlimited confidence of his army, and alarm the people +with the prospects of imaginary evils; nay, they will endeavor to +convert your virtue into arrows, with which, they will seek to wound +you.” + +But Washington could not be forced into a resignation, ill-treat and +slight him as they would, and at no time were they strong enough to +vote him out of office. For once a Congressional “deal” between New +England and Virginia did not succeed, and as Washington himself wrote, +“I have a good deal of reason to believe that the machination of this +junto will recoil on their own heads, and be a means of bringing some +matters to light which by getting me out of the way, some of them +thought to conceal,” In this he was right, for the re-elections of both +Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee were put in danger, and for some +time they were discredited even in their own colonies. “I have happily +had,” Washington said to a correspondent, “but few differences with +those with whom I have had the honor of being connected in the service. +With whom, and of what nature these have been, you know. I bore much +for the sake of peace and the public good” + +As is well known, Washington served without pay during his eight years +of command, and, as he said, “fifty thousand pounds would not induce me +again to undergo what I have done.” No wonder he declared “that the God +of armies may incline the hearts of my American brethren to support the +present contest, and bestow sufficient abilities on me to bring it to a +speedy and happy conclusion, thereby enabling me to sink into sweet +retirement, and the full enjoyment of that peace and happiness, which +will accompany a domestic life, is the first wish and most fervent +prayer of my soul.” + +The day finally came when his work was finished, and he could be, as he +phrased it, “translated into a private citizen.” Marshall describes the +scene as follows: “At noon, the principal officers of the army +assembled at Frances’ tavern; soon after which, their beloved commander +entered the room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed. Filling +a glass, he turned to them and said, ‘With a heart full of love and +gratitude, I now take leave of you; I most devoutly wish that your +latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as your former ones have +been glorious and honorable.’ Having drunk, he added, ‘I cannot come to +each of you to take my leave; but shall be obliged to you, if each of +you will come and take me by the hand.’ General Knox, being nearest, +turned to him. Incapable of utterance, Washington grasped his hand, and +embraced him. In the same affectionate manner he took leave of each +succeeding officer. In every eye was the tear of dignified sensibility, +and not a word was articulated to interrupt the majestic silence, and +the tenderness of the scene. Leaving the room, he passed through the +corps of light infantry, and walked to Whitehall, where a barge waited +to convey him to Powles-hook. The whole company followed in mute and +solemn procession, with dejected countenance … Having entered the +barge, he turned to the company, and, waving his hat, bade them a +silent adieu.” + + + + +XII +CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER + + +Washington became a government servant before he became a voter, by +receiving in 1749, or when he was seventeen years of age, the +appointment of official surveyor of Culpepper County, the salary of +which, according to Boucher, was about fifty pounds Virginia currency a +year. The office was certainly not a very fat berth, for it required +the holder to live in a frontier county, to travel at times, as +Washington in his journal noted, over “ye worst Road that ever was trod +by Man or Beast,” to sometimes lie on straw, which once “catch’d a +Fire,” and we “was luckily Preserved by one of our Mens waking,” +sometimes under a tent, which occasionally “was Carried quite of[f] +with ye Wind and” we “was obliged to Lie ye Latter part of ye night +without covering,” and at other times driven from under the tent by +smoke. Indeed, one period of surveying Washington described to a friend +by writing,— + +“[Since] October Last I have not sleep’d above three Nights or four in +a bed but after Walking a good deal all the Day lay down before the +fire upon a Little Hay Straw Fodder or bearskin which-ever is to be had +with Man Wife and Children like a Parcel of Dogs or Catts & happy’s he +that gets the Birth nearest the fire there’s nothing would make it pass +of tolerably but a good Reward a Dubbleloon is my constant gain every +Day that the Weather will permit my going out and some time Six +Pistoles the coldness of the Weather will not allow my making a long +stay as the Lodging is rather too cold for the time of Year. I have +never had my Cloths of but lay and sleep in them like a Negro except +the few Nights I have lay’n in Frederick Town.” + +In 1751, when he was nineteen, Washington bettered his lot by becoming +adjutant of one of the four military districts of Virginia, with a +salary of one hundred pounds and a far less toilsome occupation. This +in turn led up to his military appointment in 1754, which he held +almost continuously till 1759, when he resigned from the service. + +Next to a position on the Virginia council, a seat in the House of +Burgesses, or lower branch of the Legislature, was most sought, and +this position had been held by Washington’s great-grandfather, father, +and elder brother. It was only natural, therefore, that in becoming the +head of the family George should desire the position. As early as 1755, +while on the frontier, he wrote to his brother in charge of Mount +Vernon inquiring about the election to be held in the county, and +asking him to “come at Colo Fairfax’s intentions, and let me know +whether he purposes to offer himself as a candidate.” “If he does not, +I should be glad to take a poll, if I thought my chance tolerably +good.” His friend Carlyle, Washington wrote, had “mentioned it to me in +Williamsburg in a bantering way,” and he begged his brother to +“discover Major Carlyle’s real sentiments on this head,” as also those +of the other prominent men of the county, and especially of the +clergymen. “_Sound_ their pulse,” he wrote, “with an air of +indifference and unconcern … without disclosing much of _mine_.” “If +they seem inclinable to promote my interest, and things should be +drawing to a crisis, you may declare my intention and beg their +assistance. If on the contrary you find them more inclined to favor +some other, I would have the affair entirely dropped.” Apparently the +county magnates disapproved, for Washington did not stand for the +county. + + +[Illustration: TITLE-PAGE OF WASHINGTON’S JOURNAL] + + +In 1757 an election for burgesses was held in Frederick County, in +which Washington then was (with his soldiers), and for which he offered +himself as a candidate. The act was hardly a wise one, for, though he +had saved Winchester and the surrounding country from being overrun by +the Indians, he was not popular. Not merely was he held responsible for +the massacres of outlying inhabitants, whom it was impossible to +protect, but in this very defence he had given cause for ill-feeling. +He himself confessed that he had several times “strained the law,”—he +had been forced to impress the horses and wagons of the district, and +had in other ways so angered some of the people that they had +threatened “to blow out my brains.” But he had been guilty of a far +worse crime still in a political sense. Virginia elections were based +on liquor, and Washington had written to the governor, representing +“the great nuisance the number of tippling houses in Winchester are to +the soldiers, who by this means, in spite of the utmost care and +vigilance, are, so long as their pay holds, incessantly drunk and unfit +for service,” and he wished that “the new commission for this county +may have the intended effect,” for “the number of tippling houses kept +here is a great grievance.” As already noted, the Virginia regiment was +accused in the papers of drunkenness, and under the sting of that +accusation Washington declared war on the publicans. He whipped his men +when they became drunk, kept them away from the ordinaries, and even +closed by force one tavern which was especially culpable. “Were it not +too tedious,” he wrote the governor, “I cou’d give your Honor such +instances of the villainous Behavior of those Tippling House-keepers, +as wou’d astonish any person.” + +The conduct was admirable, but it was not good politics, and as soon as +he offered himself as a candidate, the saloon element, under the +leadership of one Lindsay, whose family were tavern-keepers in +Winchester for at least one hundred years, united to oppose him. +Against the would-be burgess they set up one Captain Thomas Swearingen, +whom Washington later described as “a man of great weight among the +meaner class of people, and supposed by them to possess extensive +knowledge.” As a result, the poll showed Swearingen elected by two +hundred and seventy votes, and Washington defeated with but forty +ballots. + +This sharp experience in practical politics seems to have taught the +young candidate a lesson, for when a new election came in 1758 he took +a leaf from his enemy’s book, and fought them with their own weapons. +The friendly aid of the county boss, Colonel John Wood, was secured, as +also that of Gabriel Jones, a man of much local force and popularity. +Scarcely less important were the sinews of war employed, told of in the +following detailed account. A law at that time stood on the Virginia +statutes forbidding all treating or giving of what were called +“ticklers” to the voters, and declaring illegal all elections which +were thus influenced. None the less, the voters of Frederick enjoyed at +Washington’s charge— + +40 gallons of Rum Punch @ 3/6 pr. galn 7 0 0 15 gallons of Wine @ +10/ pr. galn 7 10 0 Dinner for your Friends 3 0 0 13½ gallons +of Wine @ 10/ 6 15 3½ pts. of Brandy @ 1/3 4 4½ 13 Galls. Beer +@ 1/3 16 3 8 qts. Cyder Royl @ 1/6 0 12 0 Punch 3 9 30 +gallns. of strong beer @ 8d pr. gall 1 0 1 hhd & 1 Barrell of +Punch, consisting of 26 gals. best Barbadoes rum, 5/ 6 10 0 12 +lbs. S. Refd. Sugar 1/6 18 9 3 galls. and 3 quarts of Beer @ 1/ pr. +gall 3 9 10 Bowls of Punch @ 2/6 each 1 5 0 9 half pints of +rum @ 7½ d. each 5 7½ 1 pint of wine 1 6 + +After the election was over, Washington wrote Wood that “I hope no +Exception was taken to any that voted against me, but that all were +alike treated, and all had enough. My only fear is that you spent with +too sparing a hand.” It is hardly necessary to say that such methods +reversed the former election; Washington secured three hundred and ten +votes, and Swearingen received forty-five. What is more, so far from +now threatening to blow out his brains, there was “a general applause +and huzzaing for Colonel Washington.” + +From this time until he took command of the army Washington was a +burgess. Once again he was elected from Frederick County, and then, in +1765, he stood for Fairfax, in which Mount Vernon was located. Here he +received two hundred and eight votes, his colleague getting but one +hundred and forty-eight, and in the election of 1768 he received one +hundred and eighty-five, and his colleague only one hundred and +forty-two. Washington spent between forty and seventy-five pounds at +each of these elections, and usually gave a ball to the voters on the +night he was chosen. Some of the miscellaneous election expenses noted +in his ledger are, “54 gallons of Strong Beer,” “52 Do. of Ale,” +“£1.0.0. to Mr. John Muir for his fiddler,” and “For cakes at the +Election £7.11.1.” + +The first duty which fell to the new burgess was service on a committee +to draught a law to prevent hogs from running at large in Winchester. +He was very regular in his attendance; and though he took little part +in the proceedings, yet in some way he made his influence felt, so that +when the time came to elect deputies to the First Congress he stood +third in order among the seven appointed to attend that body, and a +year later, in the delegation to the Continental Congress, he stood +second, Peyton Randolph receiving one more vote only, and all the other +delegates less. + +This distinction was due to the sound judgment of the man rather than +to those qualities that are considered senatorial. Jefferson said, “I +served with General Washington in the legislature of Virginia before +the revolution, and, during it, with Dr. Franklin in Congress. I never +heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any but the +main point which was to decide the question. They laid their shoulders +to the great points, knowing that the little ones would follow of +themselves.” + +Through all his life Washington was no speechmaker. In 1758, by an +order of the Assembly, Speaker Robinson was directed to return its +thanks to Colonel Washington, on behalf of the colony, for the +distinguished military services which he had rendered to the country. +As soon as he took his seat in the House, the Speaker performed this +duty in such glowing terms as quite overwhelmed him. Washington rose to +express his acknowledgments for the honor, but was so disconcerted as +to be unable to articulate a word distinctly. He blushed and faltered +for a moment, when the Speaker relieved him from his embarrassment by +saying, “Sit down, Mr. Washington, your modesty equals your valor, and +that surpasses the power of any language that I possess.” + +This stage-fright seems to have clung to him. When Adams hinted that +Congress should “appoint a General,” and added, “I had no hesitation to +declare that I had but one gentleman in my mind for that important +command, and that was a gentleman whose skill and experience as an +officer, whose independent fortune, great talents, and excellent +universal character, would command the approbation of all America, and +unite the cordial exertions of all the Colonies better than any other +person in the Union,” he relates that “Mr. Washington who happened to +sit near the door, as soon as he heard me allude to him, from his usual +modesty, darted into the library-room.” + +So, too, at his inauguration as President, Maclay noted that “this +great man was agitated and embarrassed more than ever he was by the +leveled cannon or pointed musket. He trembled, and several times could +scarce make out to read [his speech], though it must be supposed he had +often read it before,” and Fisher Ames wrote, “He addressed the two +Houses in the Senate-chamber; it was a very touching scene and quite of +a solemn kind. His aspect grave, almost to sadness; his modesty +actually shaking; his voice deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to +call for close attention,” + +There can be little doubt that this non-speech-making ability was not +merely the result of inaptitude, but was also a principle, for when his +favorite nephew was elected a burgess, and made a well-thought-of +speech in his first attempt, his uncle wrote him, “You have, I find, +broke the ice. The only advice I will offer to you on the occasion (if +you have a mind to command the attention of the House,) is to speak +seldom, but to important subjects, except such as particularly relate +to your constituents; and, in the former case, make yourself perfectly +master of the subject. Never exceed a decent warmth, and submit your +sentiments with diffidence. A dictatorial stile, though it may carry +conviction, is always accompanied with disgust.” To a friend writing of +this same speech he said, “with great pleasure I received the +information respecting the commencement of my nephew’s political +course. I hope he will not be so bouyed by the favorable impression it +has made, as to become a babbler.” + +Even more indicative of his own conceptions of senatorial conduct is +advice given in a letter to Jack Custis, when the latter, too, achieved +an election to the Assembly. + +“I do not suppose,” he wrote, “that so young a senator as you are, +little versed in political disquisitions, can yet have much influence +in a populous assembly, composed of Gentln. of various talents and of +different views. But it is in your power to be punctual in your +attendance (and duty to the trust reposed in you exacts it of you), to +hear dispassionately and determine coolly all great questions. To be +disgusted at the decision of questions, because they are not consonant +to your own ideas, and to withdraw ourselves from public assemblies, or +to neglect our attendance at them, upon suspicion that there is a party +formed, who are inimical to our cause, and to the true interest of our +country, is wrong, because these things may originate in a difference +of opinion; but, supposing the fact is otherwise, and that our +suspicions are well founded, it is the indispensable duty of every +patriot to counteract them by the most steady and uniform opposition.” + +In the Continental Congress, Randolph states, “Washington was +prominent, though silent. His looks bespoke a mind absorbed in +meditation on his country’s fate; but a positive concert between him +and Henry could not more effectually have exhibited him to view, than +when Henry ridiculed the idea of peace ‘when there was no peace,’ and +enlarged on the duty of preparing for war.” Very quickly his attendance +on that body was ended by its appointing him general. + +His political relations to the Congress have been touched upon +elsewhere, but his attitude towards Great Britain is worth attention. +Very early he had said, “At a time when our lordly masters in Great +Britain will be satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation of +American freedom, it seems highly necessary that something should be +done to avert the stroke, and maintain the liberty, which we have +derived from our ancestors. But the manner of doing it, to answer the +purpose effectually, is the point in question. That no man should +scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use a—s in defence of so valuable a +blessing, on which all the good and evil of life depends, is clearly my +opinion.” When actual war ensued, he was among the first to begin to +collect and drill a force, even while he wrote, “unhappy it is, though +to reflect, that a brother’s sword has been sheathed in a brother’s +breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are +either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves. Sad +alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?” + +Not till early in 1776 did he become a convert to independence, and +then only by such “flaming arguments as were exhibited at Falmouth and +Norfolk,” which had been burned by the British. At one time, in 1776, +he thought “the game will be pretty well up,” but “under a full +persuasion of the justice of our cause, I cannot entertain an Idea, +that it will finally sink, tho’ it may remain for some time under a +cloud,” and even in this time of terrible discouragement he maintained +that “nothing short of independence, it appears to me, can possibly do. +A peace on other terms would, if I may be allowed the expression, be a +peace of war.” + +Pickering, who placed a low estimate on his military ability, said +that, “upon the whole, I have no hesitation in saying that General +Washington’s talents were much better adapted to the Presidency of the +United States than to the command of their armies,” and this is +probably true. The diplomatist Thornton said of the President, that if +his “circumspection is accompanied by discernment and penetration, as I +am informed it is, and as I should be inclined to believe from the +judicious choice he has generally made of persons to fill public +stations, he possesses the two great requisites of a statesman, the +faculty of concealing his own sentiments and of discovering those of +other men.” + +To follow his course while President is outside of the scope of this +work, but a few facts are worth noting. Allusion has already been made +to his use of the appointing power, but how clearly he held it as a +“public trust” is shown in a letter to his longtime friend Benjamin +Harrison, who asked him for an office. “I will go to the chair,” he +replied, “under no pre-engagement of any kind or nature whatsoever. +But, when in it, to the best of my judgment, discharge the duties of +the office with that impartiality and zeal for the public good, which +ought never to suffer connection of blood or friendship to intermingle +so as to have the least sway on the decision of a public nature.” This +position was held to firmly. John Adams wrote an office-seeker, “I must +caution you, my dear Sir, against having any dependence on my influence +or that of any other person. No man, I believe, has influence with the +President. He seeks information from all quarters, and judges more +independently than any man I ever knew. It is of so much importance to +the public that he should preserve this superiority, that I hope I +shall never see the time that any man will have influence with him +beyond the powers of reason and argument.” + +Long after, when political strife was running high, Adams said, +“Washington appointed a multitude of democrats and jacobins of the +deepest die. I have been more cautious in this respect; but there is +danger of proscribing under imputations of democracy, some of the +ablest, most influential, and best characters in the Union.” In this he +was quite correct, for the first President’s appointments were made +with a view to destroy party and not create it, his object being to +gather all the talent of the country in support of the national +government, and he bore many things which personally were disagreeable +in an endeavor to do this. + +Twice during Washington’s terms he was forced to act counter to the +public sentiment. The first time was when a strenuous attempt was made +by the French minister to break through the neutrality that had been +proclaimed, when, according to John Adams, “ten thousand people in the +streets of Philadelphia, day after day, threatened to drag Washington +out of his house, and effect a revolution in the government, or compel +it to declare in favor of the French revolution and against England.” +The second time was when he signed the treaty of 1795 with Great +Britain, which produced a popular outburst from one end of the country +to the other. In neither case did Washington swerve an iota from what +he thought right, writing, “these are unpleasant things, but they must +be met with firmness.” Eventually the people always came back to their +leader, and Jefferson sighed over the fact that “such is the popularity +of the President that the people will support him in whatever he will +do or will not do, without appealing to their own reason or to anything +but their feelings towards him.” + + +[Illustration: PRESIDENTIAL MANSION, PHILADELPHIA] + + +It is not to be supposed from this that Washington was above +considering the popular bent, or was lacking in political astuteness. +John Adams asserted that “General Washington, one of the most attentive +men in the world to the manner of doing things, owed a great proportion +of his celebrity to this circumstance,” and frequently he is to be +found considering the popularity or expediency of courses. In 1776 he +said, “I have found it of importance and highly expedient to yield to +many points in fact, without seeming to have done it, and this to avoid +bringing on a too frequent discussion of matters which in a political +view ought to be kept a little behind the curtain, and not to be made +too much the subjects of disquisition. Time only can eradicate and +overcome customs and prejudices of long standing—they must be got the +better of by slow and gradual advances.” + +Elsewhere he wrote, “In a word, if a man cannot act in all respects as +he would wish, he must do what appears best, under the circumstances he +is in. This I aim at, however short I may fall of the end;” of a +certain measure he thought, “it has, however, like many other things in +which I have been involved, two edges, neither of which can be avoided +without falling on the other;” and that even in small things he tried +to be politic is shown in his journey through New England, when he +accepted an invitation to a large public dinner at Portsmouth, and the +next day, being at Exeter, he wrote in his diary, “a jealousy subsists +between this town (where the Legislature alternately sits) and +Portsmouth; which, had I known it in time, would have made it necessary +to have accepted an invitation to a public dinner, but my arrangements +having been otherwise made, I could not.” + +Nor was Washington entirely lacking in finesse. He offered Patrick +Henry a position after having first ascertained in a roundabout manner +that it would be refused, and in many other ways showed that he +understood good politics. Perhaps the neatest of his dodges was made +when the French revolutionist Volney asked him for a general letter of +introduction to the American people. This was not, for political and +personal reasons, a thing Washington cared to give, yet he did not +choose to refuse, so he wrote on a sheet of paper,— + +“C. Volney + needs no recommendation from + Geo. Washington.” + + +There is a very general belief that success in politics and +truthfulness are incompatible, yet, as already shown, Washington +prospered in politics, and the Rev. Mason L. Weems is authority for the +popular statement that at six years of age George could not tell a lie. +Whether this was so, or whether Mr. Weems was drawing on his +imagination for his facts, it seems probable that Washington partially +outgrew the disability in his more mature years. + +When trying to win the Indians to the English cause in 1754, Washington +in his journal states that he “let the young Indians who were in our +camp know that the French wanted to kill the Half King,” a diplomatic +statement he hardly believed, which the writer says “had its desired +effect,” and which the French editor declared to be an “imposture.” In +this same campaign he was forced to sign a capitulation which +acknowledged that he had been guilty of assassination, and this raised +such a storm in Virginia when it became known that Washington hastened +to deny all knowledge of the charge having been contained among the +articles, and alleged that it had not been made clear to him when the +paper had been translated and read. On the contrary, another officer +present at the reading states that he refused to “sign the Capitulation +because they charged us with Assasination in it.” + +In writing to an Indian agent in 1755, Washington was “greatly +enraptured” at hearing of his approach, dwelt upon the man’s “hearty +attachment to our glorious Cause” and his “Courage of which I have had +very great proofs.” Inclosing a copy of the letter to the governor, +Washington said, “the letter savors a little of flattery &c., &c., but +this, I hope is justifiable on such an occasion.” + +With his London agent there was a little difficulty in 1771, and +Washington objected to a letter received “because there is one +paragraph in particular in it … which appears to me to contain an +implication of my having deviated from the truth.” A more general +charge was Charles Lee’s: “I aver that his Excellencies letter was from +beginning to the end a most abominable lie.” + +As a _ruse de guerre_ Washington drew up for a spy in 1779 a series of +false statements as to the position and number of his army for him to +report to the British. And in preparation for the campaign of 1781 +“much trouble was taken and finesse used to misguide and bewilder Sir +Henry Clinton by making a deceptive provision of ovens, forage and +boats in his neighborhood.” “Nor were less pains taken to deceive our +own army,” and even “the highest military as well as civil officers” +were deceived at this time, not merely that the secret should not leak +out, but also “for the important purpose of inducing the eastern and +middle states to make greater exertions.” + +When travelling through the South in 1791, Washington entered in his +diary, “Having suffered very much by the dust yesterday—and finding +that parties of Horse, & a number of other Gentlemen were intending to +attend me part of the way to-day, I caused their enquiries respecting +the time of my setting out, to be answered that, I should endeavor to +do it before eight o’clock; but I did it a little after five, by which +means I avoided the inconveniences above mentioned.” + +Weld, in his “Travels in America,” published that “General Washington +told me that he never was so much annoyed by the mosquitos in any part +of America as in Skenesborough, for that they used to bite through the +thickest boot.” When this anecdote appeared in print, good old Dr. +Dwight, shocked at the taradiddle, and fearing its evil influence on +Washington’s fame, spoiled the joke by explaining in a book that “a +gentleman of great respectability, who was present when General +Washington made the observation referred to, told me that he said, when +describing those mosquitoes to Mr. Weld, that they ‘bit through his +stockings above the boots.’” Whoever invented the explanation should +also have evolved a type of boots other than those worn by Washington, +for unfortunately for the story Washington’s military boots went above +his “small clothes,” giving not even an inch of stocking for either +mosquito or explanation. In 1786, Washington declared that “I do not +recollect that in the course of my life, I ever forfeited my word, or +broke a promise made to any one,” and at another time he wrote, “I +never say any thing of a Man that I have the smallest scruple of saying +_to him_.” + +From 1749 till 1784, and from 1789 till 1797, or a period of forty +years, Washington filled offices of one kind or another, and when he +died he still held a commission. Thus, excluding his boyhood, there +were but seven years of his life in which he was not engaged in the +public service. Even after his retirement from the Presidency he served +on a grand jury, and before this he had several times acted as petit +juror. In another way he was a good citizen, for when at Mount Vernon +he invariably attended the election, rain or shine, though it was a +ride of ten miles to the polling town. + +Both his enemies and his friends bore evidence to his honesty. +Jefferson said, “his integrity was most pure, his justice the most +inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity +or friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was indeed +in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man.” +Pickering wrote that “to the excellency of his _virtues_ I am not +disposed to set any limits. All his views were upright, all his actions +just” Hamilton asserted that “the General is a very honest Man;” and +Tilghman spoke of him as “the honestest man that I believe ever adorned +human nature.” + + + + +INDEX. + + +ADAMS, John, opinion of Washington, use of appointing power, +deal arranged by, +dislike of Washington, +quoted, + +——, Samuel, opposed to Washington, + +Agriculture, Washington’s fondness for, +Ague, Washington’s attacks of, + +ALEXANDER, Frances, + +Alexandria, assemblies at, +Washington builds in, +lots in, + +ALIQUIPPA, Queen, + +Alton, John, + +Ames, Fisher, quoted, + +Appleby school, + +ARMSTRONG, John, quoted, + +ARNOLD, B., + +Asses, breeding of, + +_Aurora_, + +BACHE, B.F., writes against Washington, + +BALLS, maternal ancestors of Washington, + +Balls, + +Bank-stock, holdings of, + +Barbadoes, Washington’s visit to, + +BARD, Dr., quoted, + +BASSETT, Burwell, + +——, Frances, + +Bath, Virginia, lots in, + +_Battle of Brooklyn_, a farce, + +Billiards, + +BISHOP, Thomas, + +BLAND, Mary, + +——, T., criticises Washington’s bow, + +“Blueskin,” + +Books, + +Boston, siege of, + +BOUCHER, Rev. J., quoted, +mentioned, + +Bounties, + +BRADDOCK, Edward, Washington and, defeat of, +march of, +mentioned, + +Brasenose College, Lawrence Washington a fellow of, + +BRISSOT de Warville, quoted, + +British forgeries, + +Brixted Parva, Lawrence Washington rector of, + +BROGLIE, Prince de, quoted, + +Brooklyn, battle of, + +CALLENDER, James Thomson, publications of, + +CALVERT, Eleanor, marriage with Jack Custis, +visit to Cambridge, +remarriage, + +Cambridge, head-quarters at, +mentioned, + +CAMPBELL, A., portrait of Washington by, + +Cancer, George Washington’s, +Mary Washington’s, + +Capital. _See_ Washington City. + +Cards, + +CARLYLE, Washington’s friendship for, + +——, Major, + +——, Sally, + +CARROLL, Charles, + +CARY, Mary, + +“Cato,” + +“Centinel,” + +Charity, Washington’s, + +Charleston, ladies of, visit Washington, +jackass at, + +CHASTELLUX, Marquis de, quoted, +marriage of, + +Children and Washington, + +Christ Church, + +Christianity, Washington’s view of, + +CLARK, Abraham, opinion of Washington, + +CLINTON, George, Washington’s investment with, + +——, Sir H., +Washington’s relations with, + +Clothes, Washington’s taste in, + +Clubs, Washington’s share in, + +COBB, David, quoted, +at Yorktown, + +COBBETT, William, quoted, + +Colds, Washington’s treatment of, + +Commissariat, + +Congress, Continental, Washington’s relations with, +jealousy of Washington and the army, +endeavors to insult Washington, +part in the Conway cabal, +Washington’s election to, +Washington in, + +Connecticut troops, misconduct of, + +“Conotocarius,” Indian name for Washington, + +Continental army, +sickness of, +farewell to, +small-pox in, +threatened mutiny of, + +Conway Cabal, + +CONWAY, Thomas, Washington’s relations with, + +CORBIN, Richard, + +CORNWALLIS, Lord, Washington’s relations with, + +Craigie house, + +CRAIK, Dr. James, Washington’s friendship for, +bleeds Washington, + +CULPEPER, Lord, + +Culpeper County, + +CUSTIS, Eleanor P., +marriage to L. Lewis, +quoted, + +——, G.W.P., education, +quoted, +acts, + +——, John Parke, relations with Washington, +education, + +——, Martha. _See_ Washington, Martha. + +——, Martha (“Patsy”), relations of Washington with, +death, +treatment of, +property, + +—— property, + +Dancing, Washington’s fondness of, + +DANDRIDGE, Bartholomew, + +——, Martha. _See_ Washington, Martha. + +——, Mrs. + +DEANE, Silas, quoted, + +DE BUTTS, Lawrence, + +Democratic criticism of Washington, + +DENT, Elizabeth, + +DICK, Dr., quoted, + +Dismal Swamp Company, + +Distillery at Mount Vernon, + +District of Columbia, + +Dogs, + +DUANE, William, writes against Washington, + +Duelling, Washington’s views on, +threatened, + +DUER, W.A., quoted, + +DUMAS, M., quoted, + +DUNLAP, W., quoted, + +Duquesne, Fort, + +“Eltham,” + +Exeter, Bishop of, Sermons, + +FAIRFAX, Ann, + +——, Bryan, Lord, + +——, George William, + +——, Sally, 90-1, + +——, Thomas, Lord, + +——, William, + +Fairfax County, + +Fairfax Parish, + +Farewell Address, +drafting of, + +Fauntleroy, Betsy, +William, + +Federal city. _See_ Washington City. + +Fees, Washington’s gifts of, + +Fertilization, Washington’s value of, + +Fish, Washington’s fondness of, + +Fishery at Mount Vernon, + +Fishing, + +Flour, Washington’s pride in his, + +Forged letters, +authorship of, +Bache reprints, + +Fort Necessity, + +Fox hunting, + +FRANKLIN, B., quoted, + +Frederick County, Washington stands for, + +Fredericksburg, +residence of Mary Washington, + +French and Indian War, + +French language, Washington on, + +FRENEAU, P., writes against Washington, + +GAGE, Thomas, relations with Washington, + +GATES, Horatio, Washington’s relations with, +mentioned, + +General orders, quotations from, + +Genet episode, + +GENN, James, Washington learns surveying from, + +Germantown, battle of, + +GERRY, Elbridge, attitude towards Washington, + +GIBBONS, Mary, scandal concerning, + +GORDON, Rev. W., quoted, + +Great Britain, Washington’s attitude towards, + +GREEN, Rev. Charles, + +GREENE, N., friendship with Washington, +quoted, + +GRYMES, Lucy, + +Half-King, + +HAMILTON, A., mentioned, +quoted, +Washington’s relations with, + +HARRISON, Benjamin, +letter of, +asks office, + +——, R.H., + +HENRY Eighth grants lands to Washingtons, + +HENRY, Patrick, quoted, +mentioned, +offered office, + +Herring, sales of, + +Hickey plot, + +Horses, stud at Mount Vernon, + +Houdon bust, + +HOWE, Lord, and Sir William, Washington’s relations with, + +Humphreys, D., quoted, +relations with Washington, + +HUNTER, J., quoted, + +Hunting, + +Independence, Washington on, + +Indians, +Washington’s diplomacy with, + +James River Land Company, Washington’s interest in, + +Jay treaty, + +JEFFERSON, Thomas, Washington’s relations with, +opinion of Washington, +helps Freneau, +quoted, +mentioned, + +JONES, Gabriel, + +Kenmore House, + +KNOX, Henry, +relations with Washington, + +LAFAYETTE, Marquis de, +Washington’s relations with, +quoted, + +——, G.W., + +——, Virginia, + +Land bounties, + +—— companies, + +Latin, Washington’s knowledge of, + +LAURENS, John, Washington’s relations with, +quoted, + +LAWRENCE, Nathaniel, quoted, + +Lawsuits, Washington’s dislike of, + +LEAR, T., friendship for, +quoted, + +LEE, Charles, Washington’s relations with, +libels Washington, +quoted, + +——, Henry, friendship for Washington, +anecdote of, +warns Washington of Jefferson’s conduct, + +——, R.H., opinion of Washington, +re-election of, + +——, William, Washington’s body-servant, + +LEWIS, Elizabeth, + +——, Fielding, + +——, ——. Jr., + +——, Howell, + +——, Lewis, + +——, Robert, + +Lexington, battle of, + +Liveried servants, + +Lotteries, Washington’s liking for, + +LOVELL, John, opinion of Washington, +quoted, 288. + +“Lowland Beauty,” + +LYNCH, Thomas, quoted, + +McHENRY, James, + +McKNIGHT, Dr. C., quoted, + +MACLAY, W., quoted, + +MADISON, James, relations with Washington, +quoted, +drafts papers, + +“Magnolia,” + +MARSHALL, J., quoted, + +MARYE, Rev. T., Washington’s teacher, + +MASON, George, quoted, + +Massachusetts, difficulties of, +“slam” at officers of, + +MASSEY, Rev. Lee, quoted, + +Mather’s _Young Man’s Companion_, + +Matrimony, Washington’s views on, + +Medical knowledge of Washington, +treatment of last illness, + +Medicine, Washington’s aversion to, + +MERCER, George, quoted, + +MIFFLIN, Thomas, Washington’s relations with, +mentioned, + +Military Company of Adventurers, + +—— science, books on, +Washington’s knowledge of, + +Militia, evils of, + +“Minutes of the Trial,” authority of, + +Mississippi Company, + +Monmouth, battle of, +allusions to, + +MORRIS, Gouverneur, quoted, +friendship with, + +——, Robert, + +——, Roger, + +Mount Vernon, boyhood home of Washington, +division of estate by will, +invitation to visit, +history of, +name, +house at, +grounds, +additions to land, +management of, +absence of Washington from, +system at, +work at, +fishery of, +distillery at, +stud stable of, +live stock of, +profits of, +desire to rent farms of, +Washington’s superintendence of, +Washington’s life at, +slaves at, +overseers of, +British visit to, +hunting at, +shooting at, + +MOYLAN, S., + +MUSE, George, relations with Washington, + +Music, Washington’s fondness of, + +“Nelson,” + +Nepotism, Washington’s views on, + +Newburg, threatened revolt of army at, +New England, opposition to Washington, +jealousy of, +arranges deal, +journey in, +conduct of troops, +officers, + +New Jersey troops, desertion of, + +New York, Washington’s visit to, +borrows money for journey to, +head-quarters at, +warfare at, +_Minutes of the Trial in_, +proposed attack on, +farewell to army at, +presidential house at, + +Newspapers, + +Nuts, Washington’s fondness for, + +Oaths, Washington’s use of, + +Office-seekers, + +Ohio, march to, +journey to, +_Journal_, + +Ohio Company, + +_Old Soldier_, + +PAINE, Thomas, relations with Washington, + +Paper money, depreciation of, + +Pension of Mary Washington, + +PEYRONEY, Chevalier, + +Philadelphia, visit to, +fever at, +proposed attack on, +capture of, +Presidential house in, +Washington’s attempted purchase near, + +PHILIPSE, Mary, + +PICKERING, Timothy, quoted, + +Pohick Church, + +Potomac Canal Company, + +Presidency, Washington in the, +duties of, +hospitality of, + +Privateer, Washington tries to secure share in, + +Purleigh, Lawrence Washington, rector of, + +Raffles, Washington’s liking for, + +RAMSAY, W., + +RANDOLPH, Edmund, Washington’s relations with, +quoted, + +——, John, forges letters, + +REED, Joseph, sends print to Washington, +relations with Washington, +quoted, + +Revolution, Washington’s service in, + +ROBIN, Abbé, quoted, + +ROBINSON, Beverly, + +——, John, + +ROCHAMBEAU, Count, + +Ross, James, quoted, + +“Royal Gift,” jackass, + +Rules of civility, + +RUSH, Benjamin, anonymous letter of, +Washington’s relations with, +quoted, + +RUTLEDGE, E., + +St. Clair’s defeat, + +St. Paul’s Church, + +SARGENT, J.D., opinion of Washington, + +SCOTT, Charles, quoted, + +Servants, Washington’s, + +Shad, sales of, + +Sharpless portrait, + +Sheep at Mount Vernon, + +Shooting, + +Skenesborough, mosquitoes at, + +Slavery, Washington’s views on, + +Slaves, Washington’s, +runaway, +carried off by British, +sickness, +laziness, +punishment, +rations of, +thieving by, + +Small-pox, Washington’s attack of, + +SMITH, Rev. W., quoted, + +Southern tour, + +Spain, king of, gift of jackass to Washington, + +SPEARING, Ann, + +STEARN, Samuel, quoted, + +STEWART, R., + +STUART, Gilbert, opinion on Washington’s face, +quoted, + +Stuart portrait, + +Stud stable at Mount Vernon, + +SULLIVAN, John, quoted, + +——, W., quoted, + +Sunday, Washington’s observance of, + +SWEARINGEN, Thomas, + +Taverns, Washington’s view of, + +Tea, Washington’s fondness for, + +THACHER, Dr. James, quoted, + +Theatre, + +THORNTON, Edward, quoted, + +TILGHMAN, Tench, Washington’s relations with, +quoted, + +Tobacco, Washington’s crop of, + +Trenton, battle of, + +TRUMBULL, Jonathan, wishes Washington removed, + +Truro Parish, + +University, National, Washington’s wish for, + +Valley Forge, + +VAN BRAAM, J., + +VARICK, Richard, + +VERNON, Admiral E., Mount Vernon named after, + +Virginia, social life of, +clubs, +British invasion of, +convention, +land bounties, +elections, +agricultural system of, +deal with New England, +Washington’s office-holding in, +estates, Washington’s opinion of, + +—— Regiment, drunkenness of, + +VOLNEY, C., Washington’s diplomacy with, + +WADSWORTH, J., quoted, + +“Wakefield,” + +Walpole grant, + +WANSEY, H., quoted, + +Warm Springs, visit to, + +WASHINGTON, Augustine, + +——, Augustine (Jr.), + +——, Bushrod, +letter to, + +——, Charles, + +——, Elizabeth (Betty). _See_ Fielding. + +——, Frances, + +——, George, ancestors of, +birth of, +his resemblance to the Balls, +relations with his mother, +his dislike of public recompense, +views on public office, +financial help to relatives, +will of, +views on drinking, +loans, +care of Custis property, +adoption of Custis children, +physique, +weight, +eyes, +hair, +teeth, +nose, +height, +mouth, +expression, +gracefulness, +complexion, +pock-marked, +modesty, +manners, +portraits of, +strength, +illnesses of, +his last, +medicine, his dislike of, +fall of, +hearing, +education, +handwriting, +spelling, +surveyor, +secretaries of, +journal to the Ohio, +messages, +farewell address, +languages, +music, +reading, +religion, +church attendance, +Sunday conduct, +hunting, +tolerance, +love affairs, +poetry, +Barbadoes, visit to, +Ohio, mission to, +Boston, visit to, (1756) +New York, visit to, (1773) +marriage, +appointed commander-in-chief, +matrimony, his views on, +morality, +forged letters, +agriculture, fondness for, +[agriculture] system, +[agriculture] study of, +coat-of-arms of, +as farmer, +land purchases of, +invents a plow, +humor, +income, +accounts, +property of, +bounty lands of, +investments in land companies, +borrower, +speculation, liking for, +lotteries, liking for, +raffles, liking for, +interest in Potomac Canal Company, +wealth of, +slaves of, +[slaves] care of, +slavery, views on, +charity, +social life, +headquarters life, +dinners, +levees, +bows, +ceremony, hatred of, +conversation, +tea, liking for, +dancing, fondness of, +staff, +simple habits, +dress of, +Rules of Civility, +neatness of, +food, +horsemanship, +fishing, fondness for, +card-playing, +theatre, fondness for, +embarrassment, +library of, +newspapers, +abuse, sensitiveness to, +friendships of, +godfather, +pall-bearer, +Indian friends, +[Indian] name, +assassin, +temper, +quarrel of Hamilton with, +children, relations with, +enemies, +[enemies] duelling and, +drinks toasts, +intrigues against, +attacks on, +insulted, +Presidency, +judgment, +liveried servants of, +courage of, +swears, +Fabian policy, +rashness of, +indecision of, +lack of military knowledge, +generalship, +severity to soldiers, +relations with Continental Congress, +New England, dislike of, +farewell to army, +adjutant of Virginia, +burgess, +stands for Frederick County, +elected, +election expenses of, +drafts law, +inability to make speeches, +stage fright, +inauguration, +in the Continental Congress, +attitude towards Great Britain, +threatened, +popularity of, +diplomacy of, +truthfulness, +serves on jury, +attends elections, +honesty, + +——, George Augustine, + +——, Harriot, + +——, John, + +——, John Augustine, + +——, Lawrence, Rev. (1st), + +——, Lawrence (2d), + +——, Lawrence, Major (3d), + +——, Lawrence, of Chotanck (4th), + +——, Lund, + +——, Martha, sickness of, +meets Washington, +engaged, +Washington’s letters to, +marriage, +character, +Washington’s fondness for, +wealth, +clothing, +housekeeper for, +orthography, 93, +children, +visits to head-quarters, +social life, +mentioned, +dower slaves, +drafts of letters for, +receptions, + +——, Mary (Ball), + +——, Mildred, + +——, Robert, + +——, Samuel, + +——, Thornton, + +Washington City, + +WATSON, Elkanah, quoted, + +WAYNE, Anthony, quoted, + +Weaving at Mount Vernon, + +WEEMS, M.L., quoted, + +WELD, Isaac, quoted, + +Wheat, Washington’s production of, + +Whiskey, distilling of, at Mount Vernon, + +WHITE, Rev. W., quoted, + +William and Mary College, + +Williamsburg, +lots in, +Washington goes to, for medical advice, + +WILLIAMS, William, wishes Washington removed, + +WILLING, Ann, quoted, + +Winchester, lots in, +election at, 295, + +WOLCOTT, Oliver, + +WOOD, John, + +Yorktown, siege of, + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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