GEORGE WASHINGTON Uniform with This Volume THOMAS JEFFERSON By WILLIAM ELEROY CURTIS "The volume is particularly worth reading because it revives the many-sided nature and activity of a truly great man." Springfield Republican. "A most readable and entertaining volume. Jefferson will stand higher in popular estimation because of the human touch in the picture." Brooklyn Eagle. ABRAHAM LINCOLN By WILLIAM ELEROY CURTIS "It is a book to make Americans feel proud and grateful. . . . One that every young American should read." Pittsburgh Gazette. "We do not recall any other life of Lincoln that is better calculated to give an insight into his real nature. No one can rise from a perusal of these pages with- out feeling better acquainted with Abraham Lincoln." Brooklyn Eagle. SHARPLESS MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON, IJ9S 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" WITH TWENTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS "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 PHILADELPHIA & LONDON J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY COPYRIGHT. 1896, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO WILLIAM F. HAVEMEYER IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE INDEBTEDNESS OF THE AUTHOR TO HIS COLLECTION OF WASHINGTON IANA 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 my- thology, no phase is a more curious one than that the keen, practical American of to-day should en- gage 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 practi- cally 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. 5 NOTE 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 Frank- lin, 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 Wash- ington, and making him a man rather than a histor- ical 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. , 6 NOTE 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 Ameri- can, but also for much manuscript material which he has placed at the author's service. Hitherto un- published facts have been drawn from many other sources, but notably from the rich collection of Mr. William F. Havemeyer, of New York, from the De- partment of State in Washington, and from the His- torical Society of Pennsylvania. To Mr. S. M. Hamilton, of the former institution, and to Mr. Fred- erick D. Stone, of the latter, the writer is particularly indebted for assistance. Contents I. FAMILY RELATIONS 15 II. PHYSIQUE 38 III. EDUCATION 60 IV. RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX 84 V. FARMER AND PROPRIETOR 112 VI. MASTER AND EMPLOYER 138 VII. SOCIAL LIFE 163 VIII. TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS 186 IX. FRIENDS 209 X. ENEMIES 240 XI. SOLDIER 268 XII. CITIZEN AND OFFICE-HOLDER 293 List of Illustrations with Notes MM MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON. BY JAMES SHARPLESS Frontispiece. 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 WASH- INGTON, IN SULGRAVE CHURCH, NORTHAMPTON- SHIRE 17 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 BETTY WASHINGTON, WIFE OF FIELDING LEWIS . . 22 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 30 Original in the possession of General G. W. Custis Lee, of Lexington, Virginia. MINIATURE OF ELEANOR PARKE CUSTIS 34 From the miniature by Gilbert Stuart, in the possession of her grandson, Edward Parke Lewis Custis, of Hoboken, New Jersey. II LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS WITH NOTES PAGE FICTITIOUS PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON 47 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' 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. . . 62 The sheet from which Washington modelled his hand- writing, and to which his earliest script shows a marked resemblance. From the original in the possession of the author. LETTER TO MRS. FAIRFAX 67 Showing changes and corrections made by Washington at a later date. From original copy-book in the Washing- ton MSS. in the Department of State. PORTRAIT OF MARY PHILIPSE 90 From the original formerly in the possession of Mr. Frederick Philipse. PORTRAIT OF MARTHA CUSTIS 101 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 Wash- ington 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 114 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 Depart- ment of State. MOUNTAIN ROAD LOTTERY TICKET 135 From the original in the Historical Society of Pennsyl- vania. 12 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS WITH NOTES PAGE FAMILY GROUP 150 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 173 The official invitation while President, from the original in the possession of the author. DANCING AGREEMENT 184 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 204 This is a slight variation fr6m the true Washington coat of arms, the changes being introduced by Washington. From the original in the possession of the author. SURVEY OF WAKEFIELD 210 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 225 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 244 By an unknown artist. From the original in the possession of General G. W. Custis Lee, of Lexington, Virginia. 13 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS WITH NOTES FACB EARLIEST AUTOGRAPH OF WASHINGTON 260 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 Washing- ton's library descended. Original in the possession of the Boston Athenaeum. RULES OF CIVILITY 270 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 . 285 Taken by Houdon in October, 1785. From the replica in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. TITLE-PAGE OF JOURNAL OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1754 294 Of this first edition but two copies are known. From the original in the Lenox Library. PRESIDENTIAL HOUSE IN PHILADELPHIA .... 304 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. George Washington 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 15 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 inap- propriate title for the newly-fledged officer is sup- posed to have been due to the reputation that John Washington had won for his name among the Indians eighty years before. Both John's son, Lawrence, and Lawrence's son, Augustine, describe themselves in their wills as "gen- tlemen," 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 16 ill rr iiiajfljinafil jt5mrrsifiTHirri5ftf W ^.of sttofitt an an VJ 64 TABLET TO LAURENCE WASHINGTON AND HIS FAMILY IN SULGRAVE CHURCH. FAMILY RELATIONS mines, and in other ways proved himself far more than the average Virginia planter of his day. He was twice married, which marriages, with uncon- scious 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 "Augus- tine Washington and Mary Ball was Married the Sixth of March 17$^. Augustine Washington De- parted this Life ye I2th 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 colo- nial consequence, while his mother lived in compara- tively 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, 2 IJ THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 en- deavored 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 uneasi- ness, 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 com- fortable 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 Freder- icksburg, 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 nomi- nation) which has been an annual expence to me 18 FAMILY RELATIONS 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 indig- nation 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 under- 19 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON stood. 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 six- pence 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 con- veyed 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 ac- cepting 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, 20 FAMILY RELATIONS 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 comfort- able," 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 be- cause " 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 inaugu- rated 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 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON a long cloak and a military hat, the difference be- tween 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 I ith 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 hi 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." 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 use- 22 MRS. FIELDING LEWIS (BETTY WASHINGTON) FAMILY RELATIONS fully employed in your own affairs, and should in- cline 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 expec- tations 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-col- lector. Still another son, Lawrence, also served him in these dual capacities, and Washington, on his retire- ment 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 arrange- ments 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 be- quest of Mount Vernon to " my loveing brother THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON George." To Augustine, in the only letter now ex- tant, Washington wrote, "The pleasure of your com- pany 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 corre- sponded 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 inconve- nient" 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, be- cause 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 ex- pence 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 24 FAMILY RELATIONS 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 25 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 ah 1 his business affairs, giving him a residence at and management of Mount Ver- non. 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 26 FAMILY RELATIONS 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 un- profitable 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 resid- uary 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 men- tioned, 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 27 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 sor- row 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 obli- gation 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 28 FAMILY RELATIONS many years whilst my public employments rendered it impracticable for me to do it myself, thereby affording me essential services and always perform- ing 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 con- stantly 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, Barthol- omew 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 prop- erty. The pleasantest glimpses of family feeling are gained, however, in his relations with his wife's chil- dren and grandchildren. John Parke and Martha Parke Custis or "Jack" and "Patsey," as he called them were at the date of his marriage respectively 29 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 " I fashionable- dressed baby to cost IO shillings." When this latter shared the usual fate, he further wrote for " I fash- ionable 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 " I 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." The care of Jack Custis was a worry to Washing- ton in quite another way. As a lad, Custis signed his letters to him as "your most effectionate and dutiful son," "yet I conceive," Washington wrote, "there is much greater circumspection to be observed 30 JOHN AND MARTHA PARKE CUSTIS FAMILY RELATIONS 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, Wash- ington 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 in- struct 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 3 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 Cam- bridge, 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 ex- changed. The acceptance of command compelled Washington to resign the care of Custis's estate, for which service " I have never charged him or his sis- ter, 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 actu- ally paid in attending the public meetings in Wil- liamsburg to collect their debts, and transact these several matters appertaining to the respective es- tates." 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 Wash- ington 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." 32 FAMILY RELATIONS Owing to his public employment, Washington re- fused to be guardian for these "little ones," writing "that it would be injurious to the children and mad- ness 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 home- coming to the family circle at Mount Vernon ; set forth in his note-book as follows : " By Sundries bo*, in Phil*. A Locket $ 5 3 Small Pockt. Books I 10 3 Sashes 150 Dress Cap 28 Hatt 3 10 Handkerchief I Childrens Books 46 Whirligig 16 Fiddle 26 Quadrille Boxes i 17 6." 3 33 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 " ex- ercise 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 Way- worn traveller, a song for Miss Custis," to "a pr. of gold eardrops" and a watch. The two corresponded. One letter from Washington merits quotation : " 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 gen- tlemen, 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 ac- count of any of them.' A hint here ; men and women feel the same inclinations towards each other n 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 Bos- ton 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 con- sciousness 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 appoint- ment, I shall more readily hope that success will attend it and crown our meetings with happiness." 7 97 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON "I entreat you and Mrs. Bassett if possible to visit at Mt. Vemon, 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 uneasi- ness 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 sum- mer 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. Wash- ington to come to me," adding, " I have laid a state of difficulties, however, which must attend the jour- ney before her, and left it to her own choice." His wife replied in the affirmative, and one of Washing- ton'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 today 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 98 RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX marvelled that those about her paid so little heed to it With the opening of the campaign in the follow- ing summer she returned to Mount Vernon, but when the army was safely in winter quarters at Val- ley 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 yes- terday (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 Gen- eral 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 toler- ably 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 toler- able than they were at first" Such "winterings" became the regular custom, and brief references in various letters serve to illus- trate 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. Washing- ton ;' ' and finally, in a letter he draughted for his wife, he made her describe herself as "a kind of 99 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON perambulator, during eight or nine years of the war. " Another pleasant glimpse during these stormy years is the couple, during a brief stay in Philadel- phia, 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 an- niversary of his marriage ; it was just twenty years that night" Again there was junketing in Philadel- phia 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. Wash- ington, myself and family, will have the honor of dining with you in the way proposed, tomorrow, being Christmas day." With the retirement to Mount Vernon at the close of the war, little more companionship was ob- tained, for, as already stated, Washington could only describe his home henceforth as a " well resorted tavern," and two years after his return he entered m 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. Washing- ton was inclined to sulk over the necessary restraints of official life, writing to a friend, " Mrs. Sins will MRS. DANIEL PARKE CUSTIS, LATER MRS. WASHINGTON RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX 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." None the less she did her duties well, and in these " Lady Washington" was more at home, for, accord- ing 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 materi- ally. 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 pri- vate gentleman, with neither hat nor sword, con- versing 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 vis- itors arrived and were presented, and when the clock in the hall was heard striking nine, she ad- vanced and with a complacent smile said, 'The General always retires at nine, and I usually precede him,' upon which all arose, made their parting salu- tations, and withdrew." Nor was it only from the 101 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON fatigues of formal entertaining that the wife saved her husband, Washington writing in 1793, "We remain in Philadelphia until the loth instant It was my wish to have continued there longer ; but as Mrs. Washington was unwilling to leave me sur- rounded 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 Washing- ton's illness first became serious his secretary nar- rates 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 ser- vant ; 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 102 RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX As a man's views of matrimony are more or less colored by his personal experience, what Washing- ton 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 cer- tainty 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 reason- ing, I shall never marry a girl ; and it is not prob- able 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 per- sonal 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, 103 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 re- questing the matter of her ; especially, as the in- ducement which you thought would have a power- ful operation on Mrs. Alexander, namely the birth of a child, has been doubled, and tripled." However well Washington thought of " the hon- orable 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 ad- vise 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 pro- mote nor to prevent a matrimonial connection, unless there should 104 RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX 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 instru- mental therefore in bringing two people together, who are indif- ferent 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 105 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 2lst of May, I heard John Clayford inform the company, that Mary Gibbons was thoroughly in their in- terest, and that the whole would be safe. I learnt from enquiry that Mary Gibbons was a girl from New Jersey, of whom General Wash- ington 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 2lst 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 pock- ets 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." 1 06 RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX 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 com- mittee really named by the Provincial Congress, and the proceedings nowhere implicate the men actually proved guilty. In other words, the whole publica- tion 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 for- gery 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 Har- rison 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 fol- lows : " 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." 107 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 dis- liked 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 oppor- tunities 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 108 RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX 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, Washing- ton did not view himself as host, and "conversed without restraint, generally with women, who rarely had other opportunity of seeing him," which per- haps accounts for the statement of another eye-wit- ness 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 im- 109 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON agined 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 Wash- ington throws off the Hero and takes up the chatty agreeable Companion he can be down right impu- dent 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 play- fully 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 refor- mation ; and so without more hesitation, I shall venture to command the muse, not to be restrained by ill-grounded timidity, but to go on 1 10 RELATIONS WITH THE FAIR SEX 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." 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 land- holder and cultivator, and when Washington had a book-plate made for himself he added to the con- ventional 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 man- agement, 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 corre- spondent that " the more I am acquainted with agri- cultural affairs, the better pleased I am with them ; insomuch, that I can no where find so great satisfac- tion 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 112 FARMER AND PROPRIETOR the task of making improvements on the earth, than all the vain glory which can be acquired from rav- aging it, by the most uninterrupted career of con- quests." 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 s 113 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 Washing- ton'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 addi- tion 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 par- tridges, 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 pos- session of Mount Vernon he was a persistent pur- chaser of lands adjoining the property. In 1 760 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 114 v\ r * c f 0-- -y > ~rr^ -^ x \ (1 > c , / ^ cc/ - <-^ >, t v g s n - ^ x - \-^ A - ->" " K t^ - * rtV ^ % O V rs. j i^ 1 : \. Ci *. \ Tjr^ \ 1 -/^. A . J-*,M.^ .~,y*,^ WASHINGTON'S SURVEY OF MOUNT VERNON, CIRCA 1746 FARMER AND PROPRIETOR 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." In 1778, when some other land was offered, Wash- ington 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 dis- "5 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON advantage 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 oc- curred, 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 hun- dred were actually under cultivation during the latter part of its owner's life. To manage so vast a tract, the property was sub- divided 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 com- mon 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 in- crease 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 in- struction, 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 116 FARMER AND PROPRIETOR taken of the pressure of public affairs that rested upon their writer as he framed them. When Washington became a farmer, but one sys- tem 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 cultiva- tion, first in tobacco, and then in Indian com (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, com- bined with his own practical experience, soon con- 117 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON vinced him that the Virginian system was wrong. "I never ride on my plantations," he wrote, "with- out 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 planta- tion 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 planta- tions, 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 Revolu- tion 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 nine- teen hundred bushels, and how greatly his product was increased after this is shown by the fact that in this same year fre 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 118 FARMER AND PROPRIETOR 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 dimin- ished by this change, the nett profit as great and my attention less divided, whilst the fields will be im- proving." That this was only an abandonment of a "one crop" system is shown by the fact that in 1 792 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, Wash- ington became an early convert to the rotation of crops, and drew up elaborate tables sometimes cov- ering 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 natu- rally very much diversified the product of his estate, and flax, hay, clover, buckwheat, turnips, and pota- toes 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 over- seers the value of fertilization ; in one case, when 119 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON looking for a new overseer, he said the man must be, " above all, Midas like, one who can convert every- thing he touches into manure, as the first transmuta- tion 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 in- vented 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 fertil- izers ; 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 im- provement 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 Revolu- tion practically everything the plantation could not 1 20 FARMER AND PROPRIETOR 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 every- thing 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 in- dentured 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 121 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 es- tate 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 ob- tained, 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 vvell organized an infinite variety of cloths was pro- duced, 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." 122 FARMER AND PROPRIETOR 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 sea- sons of the year ; and, in the spring, with the greatest profusion of shad, herrings, bass, carp, perch, stur- geon, &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 gal- lons ; 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 123 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 bene- ficial to the public to have them sold," not even ob- jecting to those "low in flesh or even crippled," because " I have many large Farms and am improv- ing 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 expor- tation 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 chris- tened "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 Lafay- ette, "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 reluc- tance to play his part Washington concluded was a 124 FARMER AND PROPRIETOR 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 atten- tion 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 man- ners, 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 result- ing profit of six hundred and seventy-eight dollars to his owner. In 1 799 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 1 793 a total of three hun- dred 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, 125 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 plan- tation, 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 im- proved 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 keep- ing 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 occupa- tion." 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^" 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 num- 126 FARMER AND PROPRIETOR her 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 when- ever 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 sup- posed 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. 2 Union Farm . . .529.10.11^ River Farm . . . 234. 4. 1 1 Smith's Shop . . . 34.12. 9^ Distillery .... 83.13. I Jacks 56. I Traveller (stud horse) 9. 1 7 Shoemaker .... 28.17. I Fishery 165.12. o# Dairy 30.12. 3 Cr. lott. Mansion House . . 466.18.2^4 Muddy Hole Farm 60. 1.3^ Spinning 51. 2.0 Hire of head over- seer 140. o.o By Clear gain on the Estate . . . .898. A pretty poor showing for an estate and negroes which had certainly cost him over fifty thousand dollars, 127 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON and on which there was live-stock 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 "discon- tinue my rides or become a cipher on my own estate." When at Mount Vernon, as this indicated, Wash- ington rode daily about his estate, and he has left a pleasant description of his life immediately after re- tiring 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 aston- ishing with what niceness he directs everything in the building way, condescending even to measure 128 FARMER AND PROPRIETOR the things himself, that all may be perfectly uni- form." 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 fron- tier ; 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 in- formation 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 sim- ple Interest," he declared, and went even further when he wrote, "the nature of a Virginia Estate being such, that without close application, it never 9 I2Q THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 Fred- erick "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 thou- sand 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 soid, his inventory valued the holdings at nearly three hundred thousand dollars. 130 FARMER AND PROPRIETOR In addition, Washington was a partner in several great land speculations, the Ohio Company, the Walpole Grant, the Mississippi Company, the Mili- tary 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 de- scribed. 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 per- sonal 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 re- duced 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 ne- 131 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON glected 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 disap- pointed, but six thousand acres in the Mohawk valley were obtained "amazingly cheap." Wash- ington'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 prop- erty 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." 132 FARMER AND PROPRIETOR 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 invest- ments. Thus, in 1799 he complains of slow pay- ments from tenants in Washington and Lafayette Counties (Pennsylvania). Instead of an expected six thousand dollars, due June I, but seventeen hundred dollars were received. Income, however, had not been his object in load- ing 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 planta- tions " 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." 133 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 inclina- tion, 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 hun- dred 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 134 i I 1 *" "4 -* * -Hj ^. f ^ * _ O s ^ FARMER AND PROPRIETOR 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." As these extensive land ventures bespoke a na- tional characteristic, so a liking for other forms of speculation was innate in the great American. Dur- ing 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 61 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 2O/," "for a Necklace '35 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON l." " 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 be- sides. 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 ;io,ooo 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 busi- ness man. 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 136 FARMER AND PROPRIETOR 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" "Artifi- cers & 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 pos- session 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 4$ ', and a woman (Hannah) and child, 80. In 1762 he added to the number MASTER AND EMPLOYER 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 an d S> 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 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 up" of "Negro Tom" and 140 MASTER AND EMPLOYER "Negro Bett" The "taking up of Harry when Runaway" in 1771 cost,i.i6. 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 re- ward 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 dis- content others." Another source of loss was sickness, which, in 141 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 ab- sent 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 ; neglect- ing 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 atten- tion to my negros in sickness, it was that the first stage of, and the whole progress through the dis- orders with which they might be seized (if more than a slight indisposition) should be closely watched, and timely applications and remedies be adminis- 142 MASTER AND EMPLOYER tered ; especially in the pleurisies, and all inflamma- tory 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, inform- ing me that the Small pox had got among my quar- ters 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 fol- lowing entries in his diary show : " visited my Plan- Ms THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON tations 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 111 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 neces- sary 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 com- plaining from the fatigue and drowsiness which they feel as the effect of night walking and other prac- tices 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 144 MASTER AND EMPLOYER aiming for some time past to get into the house, ex- empt 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 de- pleted 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 1 766 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 1 One ditto of best rum ' One barrel of lymes, if good and cheap ' One pot of tamarinds, containing about 10 Ibs. ' Two small ditto of mixed sweetmeats, about 5 Ibs. each. And the residue, much or little, in good old spirits. That this fel- low is both a rogue and a runaway (tho 1 he was by no means re- markable 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 lo 145 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 Wag- oner 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 de- sire 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 in- stance 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, 146 MASTER AND EMPLOYER 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 (with- out 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 b& 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 " en- deavor to make the Servants and Negroes take care of their cloathes ;" to give them "a weekly al- lowance 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 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON nails by the carpenters, . . . [for] I cannot con- ceive how it is possible that 6000 twelve penny nails could be used in the corn house at River Plan- tation ; but of one thing I have no great doubt, and that is, if they can be applied to other uses, or con- verted 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 re- cepticle 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 ex- cepted), 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 car- ried 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 Ihey 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 148 MASTER AND EMPLOYER among all mine, whose capacity, integrity and atten- tion 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 em- bezzlement 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 pur- chased ; 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 re- 149 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON luctantly 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 Hum- phreys'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 Wash- ington 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 150 MASTER AND EMPLOYER 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." When acting as chain-bearer in 1785, while Wash- ington 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 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 attach- ment 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 " car- ried 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 MASTER AND EMPLOYER 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 pro- prietor, 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 Assem- bly discusses the matter ; I will address a letter to '53 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 mo- tives of policy as well as other good reasons, sup- ported by the direful effects of slavery, which at this moment are presented, would have operated to pro- duce 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 Pennsyl- vanian 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 MASTER AND EMPLOYER "A most serious inconvenience attended me in my sickness, and that was the losing the use of my ser- vant, 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 Wash- ington 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 even- THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON ing 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 attach- ment 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 famil- iarity, 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 io/." " 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 i. 17.6." The majority will sympathize rather than disapprove of his opinion when he wrote, " Workmen in most Countries I be- MASTER AND EMPLOYER Heve 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 calcula- tion 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 Ste- phens 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 Ste- phens 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 ex- treme 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 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 dy- ing ; . . . frequent natural deaths is a very strong evidence to my mind of the want of care or some- thing worse." Curious distinctions were made oftentimes. Thus, in the contract with an overseer, one clause was in- serted to the effect, " And whereas there are a num- ber of whiskey stills very contiguous to the said Plan- tations, 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 3ist 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 your- 158 MASTER AND EMPLOYER self, and thereby render me a disservice. ... I had rather therefore hear that you had nursed than ex- posed 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, Wash- ington 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 intelli- gence." Yet when the man was discharged his em- ployer 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 satis- fied of Thomas Green's unfitness to look after Car- THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON penters," 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 thougiit of add- ing to the distress I know they must be in, by turn- ing 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 em- ployees, 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 l. ;" "By a begging woman /5 ;" " By Cash gave for the Sufferers at Boston by fire 12 ;" " By a wounded soldier lo/ ;" " Alexandria Academy, support of a teacher of Orphan children s>" " By Charity to an invalid wounded Soldier who came from Redston with a petition for Charity l8/ ;" " 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 $i " " 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. 160 MASTER AND EMPLOYER 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 rela- tive, " 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 II 161 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON done to my motives for giving you this trouble. To obtain informa- tion, 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, sup- ply 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 be- stowed. 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 pleas- ure 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 163 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 Com- pany 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 par- ties, 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 I/ ;" "To Cash in part for a Bowl of fruit punch 1/7^." 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 wel- 164 SOCIAL LIFE come 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 1 768 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 today," the General wrote John Adams in 1776, "I shall be glad of your com- pany." 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." 165 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON Oftentimes there were difficulties in the hospitality. "I have been at my prest quarters since the istday of Deer.," Washington complained to the commis- sary-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 cor- respondent, 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 1 66 SOCIAL LIFE 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 never- theless desires the Generals, Field Officers and Bri- gades 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 busi- ness 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 com- pany to dinner, without further or special invitation." THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 1 5 Officers, be- sides 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 menage of the General unequal to unexpected calls. Chastellux tells of his first arrival in camp and introduction to Washington : " He con- ducted 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 Iff SOCIAL LIFE 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 Wash- ington 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 fale ? As I hate deception, even where the imagination only is con- cerned ; 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, (some- times 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, (al- most imperceptible,) decorates the center. When the cook has a mind to cut a figure, (which, I presume will be the case tomorrow) 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 dis- tance 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 entertain- ment, 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 cele- 169 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON brate, 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 Philadel- phia, 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 Presi- dential 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 Washing- 170 SOCIAL LIFE ton, 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 din- ner 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 " Wash- ington'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 of absent, who- ever might He kept his own clock in the hall, just within the outward door, and always exactly regu- lated. 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, ' Gen- tlemen (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 171 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 Presi- dent 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 con- sistency, 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. Wash- ington 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 in- dividual 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. " Bradbury gives the menu of a dinner at which he 172 SOCIAL LIFE was, where " there was an elegant variety of roast beef, veal, turkey, ducks, fowls, hams, &c. ; pud- dings, 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. Wash- ington 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 Presi- dent'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 re- main to be described. William Sullivan, who at- tended many, wrote, " At three o'clock or at any time within a quarter of an hour after- ward, the visitor was conducted to this dining room, from which all seats had been removed for the time. On entering, he saw" Wash- ington, 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 173 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON so disposed of as to indicate, that the salutation was not to be ac- companied 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 conduct- ing himself like a king. Even his bow was a source of criticism, and Washington wrote in no little irri- tation 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, as- cribing 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 SOCIAL LIFE 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 at- tendance, 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 Green- ville, and in spite of every endeavor which could THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 conse- quence 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 176 SOCIAL LIFE 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, be*f, 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. Wash- ington, 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 pow- dered, 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 12 177 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 cham- pagne 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 candle- light ; previous to which, if not prevented by com- pany 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 post- ponement, and effect, and so on." The foregoing allusion to Washington's conver- 178 SOCIAL LIFE sation is undoubtedly just All who met him for- mally 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 in- clined 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 some- times 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 179 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON in Boston as a token of the deep impression the speech had made upon us, and as a signal of sub- mission." 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 your- self in the acceptance of a paltry bribe a $100.000 perhaps." He once even attempted a pun, by writ- ing, " 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 com- mand 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 1 80 SOCIAL LIFE 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 in- dulged 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 ma terials but those of simple reality, would be as cruel as the Edict of Pharoah which compelled the chil- dren 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 ; con- ceiving 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 intp an engagement . . . not to quit this world be- fore the year 1 800, 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 181 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 be- low. 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. Bing- ham's in great splendor." Such are the entries in his diary whenever the " kettle-a-boiling-be" was within reach. Pickering's journal shows that tea was 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, Wash- ington 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 After- 182 SOCIAL LIFE noon agreeably Returning home by Sun down or a little after it," is noted in his diary on one occa- sion, 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 Wash- ington and afterwards dined on a dinner provided by Mr. Mariner." Launchings, barbecues, clam- bakes, 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 mel- ancholy 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 con- stant 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 dis- tinguish from hot water sweet' ned Be it remem- bered that pocket handkerchiefs servd the purposes of Table cloths & Napkins and that no apologies were made for either. I shall therefore distinguish 183 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 alli- ance, "the celebration," according toThacher, "was concluded by a splendid ball opened by his Excel- lency General Washington, having for his partner the lady of General Knox." Greene describes how " we had a little dance at my quarters a few even- ings 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 gentle- men. 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 Cam- paign," then in high favor, and the French officers took the instruments from the musicians arid played while he danced the first figure. While in winter quarters he subscribed four hun- dred dollars (paper money, equal to eleven dol- lars 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 184 SOCIAL LIFE 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 ser- vant, "GEO. WASHINGTON." 185 VIII TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS A MARKED 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 Waist- coat full Lac'd," and a quantity of "silver lace for a Hatt," and from another source it is learned that at 186 TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS 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," " i piece of finest and fashionable Stock Tape," " i 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, I 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" "What- ever 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 187 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 dis- carded. 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 proceed- ing as light as any Indian in the Woods. 'T is 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 .188 TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS 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, atti- tude, &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 189 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 Hart- ford, 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 de- scribed 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 ; hold- ing 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." 190 TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS About his person Washington was as neat as he desired his clothes to be. At seventeen when sur- veying 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 car- ried 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 menage was in running order, was for "6 Ruffled shirts, 2 plain shirts, 8 stocks, 3 pair Silk Hose, 2 White hand. 2 Silk Handks. I pr. Flanl. Drawers, I Hair nett" The barber, too, was a constant need, and Wash- ington's ledger shows constant expenditures for per- fumed 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 191 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON injury to William Lee unfitted him for the service), " I do not as yet know whether I shall get a substi- tute 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 Wil- liam 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 philos- ophy. " 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 con- fined 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 sev- eral times ate dolphin ; he notes that the bread was almost " eaten up by Weavel & Maggots," and be- came quite enthusiastic over some "very fine Bris- tol tripe" and "a fine Irish Ling & Potatoes." But 192 TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS all this may have been due to the proverbial sea appetite. Samuel Stearns states that Washington "break- fasts about seven o'clock on three small Indian hoe- cakes, and as many dishes of tea," and Custis re- lates 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 be- fore sun-setting) constitutes his whole sustenance till the next day." (Stearns.) Ashbel Green relates that at the state banquets during the Presidency Wash- ington "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' ob- served the fasts proclaimed in 1/74 and 1777, going without food the entire day. A special liking is mentioned above. In 1782 Richard Varick wrote to a friend, "General Wash- ington dines with me tomorrow ; 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 13 J 93 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON as would serve a pretty large company tomorrow (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 tomorrow morn- ing?" When procurable, salt codfish was Wash- ington'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 enter- taining 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 194 TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS 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 digni- fied 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 Gen- eral'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 bear- ing 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 ex- tremely quick, without standing upon his stirrups, 195 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 sub- scribed 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 y ester, day. . . . 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 Planta- tion 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 196 TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS 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, Sweet- lips, Vulcan, Singer, Music, Tryal, 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 Ver- non, 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 reKsh for this sport when I find time to indulge myself in it, and Gentlemen who come to the House are pleased 197 with it, it is my wish not to have game within my jurisdiction dis- turbed." 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 1/87 he went up to the old camp at Valley Forge and spent a day fishing, and in 1789 at Portsmouth, "having lines, we pro- ceeded 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 ex- tremely agreeable, and cannot fail, we hope, of being serviceable to a speedy and complete restora- tion 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 " I 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, 198 TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS "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 seven- teenth 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 ex- penditures 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 extrava- gant 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 : 199 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON Mrs. Adams T (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 Minis- ters, 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 incuicated 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 TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS "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 wo, 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 ot 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 appre- hension of further personality, and he indulged in that which was with him extremely rare, a hearty laugh." Washington did not even despise amateur per- formances. 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 201 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON "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 per- sona, but once had the honor of appearing before him as one of the dramatis persona 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 Com- pany') 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 wax- works, 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 men- tioned. 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 TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS 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 memo- randum of "where and how my time is spent" In his ledger, too, almost the least common expendi- ture 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 settle- ment 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 appraise- ment, to make them my own property at it, and that to sell them was not an object" With the broadening that resulted from the com- mand 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 Eng- lish Dictionary," Locke "on the Human Under- standing," 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 203 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON gifts. On politics he seems to have now read with interest ; yet in 1 797, 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 sug- gest gifts rather than purchases, a miscellany of con- temporary politics, and a very little belles-lettres. In political science the only works in the slightest de- gree 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, Field- ing, 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 204 WASHINGTON'S BOOK-PLATE TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS 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 read- ing (by this, I mean books of little importance) may amuse for the moment, but leaves nothing solid behind" One element of Washington's reading which can- not be passed over without notice is that of news- papers. 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 news- paper, but the printer apparently declined to print it, for it never appeared. After the Revolution he complained to his Phila- delphia 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 en- gaged for the year, I am Content to let the matter run on to the Expiration of it" During the Presi- dency he subscribed to the Gazette of the United States, Brown's Gazette, Dunlap's American Adver- 205 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON tiser, 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 ques- tions." 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 Wash- ington " 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 pro- duce 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 206 TASTES AND AMUSEMENTS be in his grave than in his present situation. That he had rather be on his farm than to be made em- peror 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 pro- gress 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 corre- spondents." 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 per- ceived with what malignant industry and persevering 207 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 Ga- zette ? 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 cir- cumstances, be the best decision ; I mean not sub- scribing 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 de- scribes 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 Vir- ginia Assembly, on the election of a Senator and Governor ; which I did and, on hearing Mr. Madi- son's observations respecting Mr. Monroe, he ap- peared much affected, and spoke with some degree of asperity on the subject, which I endeavored to moderate, as I always did on such occasions." 208 IX FRIENDS THE frequently repeated statement that Wash- ington 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 neg- lected in the study of his public career. In his will Washington left tokens of remem- brance "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 con- vinced I am still in the memory of so worthy a friend, a friendship I shall ever be proud of in- creasing." Next in time came his intimacy with the Fair- faxes 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 14 2 9 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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. In 1755 Washington told his brother that "to that family I am under many obligations, particu- larly the old gentleman," but as time went on he more than paid the debt In 1757 he acted as pall- bearer to William Fairfax, and twelve years later his diary records, "Set off with Mrs. Washington and Patsey, ... in order to stand for Mr. B. Fair- fax'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 unex- pectedly 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," Washing- ton 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 persecu- 210 c fc i /*?">' ., \ * V$7i<*< ,- / '" 'IV&XUSiyfrn^^ ftrr^'a n^ffT^^^a^rlra^ l''<&afo tjt y ^^M^^^y/^ * / / * i wuuw$mvn4&jL^^^ & , - . / '' ~ ^ I *&^4j^fa$^fa : ^t'S^^.i^&TK^a /J^^tfl,^ / WASHINGTON FAMILY RECORD FRIENDS ing 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 your- self 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, Wash- ington 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 deep- est affection and admiration for " my friend." 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 is 22 5 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON that Washington spoke of him as "my boy." Whatever friendliness this implied was not, how- ever, reciprocated by Hamilton. After four years of service, he resigned, under circumstances to which he pledged Washington to secrecy, and then him- self, 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 con- versed 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 neces- sary 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 dttar 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 226 FRIENDS 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 de- scribed he would never have forgiven this treatment On the contrary, only two months later, when com- pelled 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 com- mand." 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 dis- paragingly of Washington's talents, particularly after the Revolution and at the first part of the presi- dentcy," and Benjamin Rush confirms this by a note to the effect that " Hamilton often spoke with con- tempt 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 227 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 Treas- ury 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" 228 FRIENDS 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 jgis 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 friend- ship." He was appointed Secretary of War in the first administration, and in taking command of the provisional army Washington secured his appoint- ment as a major-general, and at this time asserted that, " with respect to General Knox I can say with 229 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 in- volving his financial honesty, of which he said, " per- suaded as I always have been of Genl Greene's in- tegrity and worth, I spurned those reports which tended to calumniate his conduct . . . being per- fectly convinced that whenever the matter should be investigated, his motives . . . would appear pure and unimpeachable." When on Greene's death Wash- ington heard that his family was left in embarrassed circumstances, he offered, if Mrs. Greene would "en- trust 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 230 FRIENDS shall do it with awkwardness. . . . My reluctance to trespass & moment on your time would have operated to a further procrastina- tion 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 manoeuvres in Virginia. Washington intrusted to him the com- mand 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 be- tween Washington and Lafayette. In the advent of this young Frenchman the commander saw only "embarassment," but he received " the young vol- unteer," 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 pop- ular 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. 231 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON Lafayette promptly declined the command, unless subject to the General, and furthermore he " braved the whole party (Cabal) and threw them into con- fusion by making them drink the health of their general." At the battle of Monmouth Washington gave the command of the attacking party to Lafa- yette, 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 Mar- quis, not to let you leave this country without carry- ing 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 pleas- ure 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, 232 FRIENDS 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 separa- tion, upon the road as I travelled, and every hour since, I have felt all that love, respect and attach- ment for you, with which length of years, close con- nexion, 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 inexpres- sible 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 inexpres- sible 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 233 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 con- fessed 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 re- sponded, " 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 pleas- ure 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 Wash- ington wrote a personal letter to the Emperor of Austria. Before receiving her letter, on the first 234 FRIENDS news of the "truly affecting" condition of "poor Madame Lafayette," he had written to her his sym- pathy, and, supposing that money was needed, had deposited at Amsterdam two hundred guineas " sub- ject to your orders." When she and her daughters joined her husband in prison, Lafayette's son, and Washington's god- son, came to America ; an arrival of which the god- father 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 Washing- ton'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 pre- sented to you by your son, who is highly deserving of such parents as you and your amiable lady." 235 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 affec- tion, 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 Wash- ington'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 236 FRIENDS 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 lor 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." 237 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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, my- self 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 sick- room 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 ap- peared 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 838 FRIENDS 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." 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 sub- ject offers some difficulties, for most of his ene- mies 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 2 do ENEMIES 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 ungrate- ful, Muse seems to have written a letter to Washing- ton 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 hi 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 ,6 241 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON amicable the beginning. There can be little doubt that there was cameraderie with the then Lieutenant- Colonel Gage, for in 1 773, 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 corre- spondence between the commanders-in-chief of two hostile armies, Washington inquiring as to the treat- ment 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 with- out 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 042 ENEMIES to him a dog, which accidentally fell into his hands, and, by the inscription on the collar, appears to be- long to General Howe." Even politeness had its objections, however, at moments, and Washington once had to write Sir William, "There is one passage o< 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 repre- sentatives 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 de- vice 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 Washing- ton." 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 Ex- cellency 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." 243 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 surrender- ing their swords, but the chief among them were entertained at dinner by Washington. At this meal, so a contemporary account states, " Rocham- beau, being asked for a toast, gave ' The United States' Washington gave ' The King of France' Lord Cornwallis, simply ' The King ;' but Wash- ington, 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 touch- ing 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 MRS. WASHINGTON ENEMIES 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 him- self he "continued in troubled waters." 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 Wash- ington had become acquainted in the Braddock campaign, and with whom there was friendly inter- course from that time until the Revolution. In 1775, at Washington's express solicitation, Gates was ap- pointed 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." Never- theless, 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 cold- ness & constraint in General Gates' behavior to me. These increased as he rose into greater conse- quence." 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 com- mander-in-chief had sent him, he endeavored to 245 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 knowl- edge 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 " con- sidered the information as coming from yourself, and given with a friendly view to forewarn and con- sequently 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 ex- pressing 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, 246 ENEMIES 11 1 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 con- tinually giving me fresh proofs of malevolence and opposition. It will not be doing him injustice to say, that, besides the little under- hand 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, ap- parently 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 re- sponded with that shade of respect which was proper towards his general." And how fair-minded Wash- ington was is shown by his refusal to interfere in an army matter, because, "considering the delicate situ- ation 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 con- cerned, lest my sentiments (being known) should have unfavorable interpretations ascribed to them by illiberal Minds." Yet the friendship was never re- stored, and when the two after the war were associ- ated in the Potomac company, Washington's sense of the old treachery was still so keen that he alluded 247 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 pro- posed 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 com- mander, 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 Washing- ton 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 Con- way. This drew an answer, in which he first at- tempts to deny the fact, and then in a most shame- less 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 in- 348 ENEMIES quiry from a member the General acknowledged that, " If General Conway means by cool receptions mentioned in tha last paragraph of his letter of the 3 1st 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 con- cern'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 pres- ently he sent one to Congress threatening to resign, which so angered that body that they took him at 349 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 Mirflin. 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 Wash- ington to be quartermaster-general. In this posi. tion 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 in- formed 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 de- scribed 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 con- duct to his own feelings, as an officer and a man of honor, and Con- ENEMIES gress hath no objections to his leaving his seat in another department, I have nothing personally to oppose it. Yet I must think, that gen- tleman'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 gen- eral 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 osten- sible 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 criti- cism 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 gen- tlemen 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 251 above all see a country saved by his exertions. See the other outgen- eral" d and twice beated obliged to witness the march of a body of men only half their number thro' 140 Miles of a thick settled coun- try forced to give up a city the capitol of a state & after all out- witted by the same army in a retreat." Had Rush written only this, there would be no grounds for questioning his methods ; but, not con- tent 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 re- quest 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 profes- sions 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 com- mander-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 252 ENEMIES 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 an- other 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 253 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 unaccount- able 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 Washing- ton on the subject of duelling. From his earliest manhood I have heard him express his contempt of 254 ENEMIES 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 con- sider' d as an infallible Divinity and that those who have been sacrific'd 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 dis- appearance 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 .255 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON only, as I conceived myself indispensably bound to adopt in dis- charge 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 un- friendly 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 ene- mies no army rival would have ventured to push for- ward. 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 Fa- bius, five recruits will be wanted annually during the war." William Williams agreed with Jonathan Trum- bull that the time had come when " a much exalted character should make way for a general" and sug- gested if this was not done " voluntarily," those to whom the public looked should "see to it" Abraham 256 ENEMIES Clark thought " we may talk of the Enemy's Cruelty as we will, but we have no greater Cruelty to com- plain of than the Management of our Army." Jona- than 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 " pro- cure the indispensable changes in our Army." Other Congressmen who were inimical to Washington, either by openly expressed opinion or by vote, were El- bridge Gerry, Samuel Adams, William Ellery, Eliph- alet 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 \ne 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 ene- mies whose ill will only arises from their common hatred to the cause v 257 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON we are engaged in, are to me tolerable ; yet, I confess, I cannot help feeling the most painful sensations, whenever I have reason to be- lieve 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, be- cause he has been happy enough to be the object of his country's favor." The political course of Washington while Presi- dent 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 inter- course 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 ad- ministration 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 en- gaged in the bustle of politics & in turbulence & intrigue against the government I never believed for a moment that this could make any impression 258 ENEMIES on you, or that your knowledge of me would not overweigh the slander of an intriguer dirtily em- ployed 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 rep- resented as derogating from that opinion /had conceived you enter- tained 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 othet 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 re- trace 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 dis- claimers, 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 estima- tion of the people, and are stumbling blocks in the way, by misrepresenting their political tenets, thereby to destroy all confidence in them, are among 259 THE TRUE GEORGE WASHINGTON 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 ad- miration 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 him- self first advanced or not' " A third Virginian who was almost as closely asso- ciated 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. 260 SUFFICIENCY C x . idt^sz/; O F A &tf&SrrZig4^ * Standing REVELATION in General, /77 a >T _/ And of the /u E V E L A T I O N i/l /?<<'ayy*<, c ,tf. *7,//te*e fi-*^/t7; /n tJO-lJ^ <4rctno l/ia O m a alfrca^ 6 ntm <~ t / - x 1 P / /r ., ni'T^J'rrt -fsi tt>r S/t> */* f f r tr6rt narC/tovn i*n>Ot/irrt,-*s (etJOL^rm Ac^r\ } no-r*Jf.^> if&*4Jf~~iS'c&>;t/jtrri (fit* ! / C iCj tt< tc [Ac ns{f*.m>-*s (et fij tTrfAf <~>6tsnea'(> fc?j/tr 'ht tfvu, ttffzm an*, t- f, M i^oTXf- r cT" r*r6,no - ^.frS^or-JVA/ t^^o3 severity to soldiers, 282 ; rela- tions with Continental Congress, 284 ; New England, dislike of, 286-7 ; farewell to army, 291 ; adjutant of Virginia, 294; bur- gess, 294-8 ; stands for Freder- ick County, 295 ; elected, 297 ; election expenses of, 297-8 ; drafts law, 298 ; inability to make speeches, 299-301 ; stage fright, 299-300 ; inauguration, 300; in the Continental Con- gress, 301 ; attitude towards Great Britain, 302 ; threatened, 303 ; popularity of, 297, 305 ; diplomacy of, 305-6; truthful- 318 INDEX ness, 307-9 ; serves on jury, 309 ; attends elections, 309 ; honesty, 310. , George Augustine, 27, 101, 196. , Harriot, 25. , John, 13, 16, 268, 294. , John Augustine, 26, 27, 37, 98, 294. , Lawrence, Rev. (ist), 16. , Lawrence (2d), 16, 113. , Lawrence, Major (sd), 23, 60, 113-4, X 3 r . 20 4. 268, 294. , Lawrence, of Chotanck (4th), 209. , Lund, 196. '- , Martha, sickness of, 76 ; meets Washington, 92 ; engaged, 92 ; Washington's letters to, 93, 97 ; marriage, 93 ; character, 93, 101 ; Washington's fondness for, 94; wealth, 94, 131; clothing, 95 ; housekeeper for, 95 ; or- thography, 93, 96 ; children, 96 ; visit") to head-quarters, 98, 169 ; social life, 100-1, 169, 185 ; mentioned, 108-9, 208 ; dower slaves, 139, 152-3 ; drafts of let- ters for, 181 ; receptions, 101, 109. , Mary (Ball), 17-21, 74, 138. , Mildred,"ii3. , Robert, 209. , Samuel, 24. , Thornton, 24. Washington City, 73, 75, 121, 133, 238. WATSON, Elkanah, quoted, 56. WAYNE, Anthony, quoted, 277. Weaving at Mount Vernon, 122. WFEMS, M. L., quoted, 307. WELD, Isaac, quoted, 44, 309. Wheat, Washington's production of, 117. Whiskey, distilling of, at Mount Vernon, 123. WHITE, Rev. W., quoted, 82. William and Mary College, 65. Williamsburg, 68, 93, 94; lots in, 132 ; Washington goes to, for medical advice, 50, 92. WILLIAMS, William, wishes Wash- ington removed, 256. WILLING, Ann, quoted, 273. Winchester, lots in, 132 ; election at, 295, 298. WOLCOTT, Oliver, 71. WOOD, John, 296-7. Yorktown, siege of, 32, 47, 223-4, 287, 232, 244, 270, 276, 279. THE END. 3*9 THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. Series 9482 3 1205026553626 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000917136 4